Saturday, September 5, 2015

North Pole II.

This is coolbert:

From the headlines of the New York Times as it was decades ago now. Extracts concerning the difficulties of a submarine navigating strictly under the polar ice unable to surface and confirm position using the traditional methods!

"Nautilus Sails Under the Pole and 1,830 Miles of Arctic Icecap in Pacific-to-Atlantic Passage"

"FOUR-DAY VOYAGE"
  
"Washington, Aug. 8 -- History's first undersea voyage across the top of the world, a distance of 1,830 miles under the polar icecap, was disclosed at the White House today."

All quotations thanks to Commander Anderson.

"'I am able to tell you,' . . . 'that the Nautilus cruises at lower than 400 feet. I am able to tell you that we made better than 20 knots. The speed is somewhat faster in cold water.'"

"'I really think that this is the most remarkable job in ship navigation that has ever been done,'"

"'A trip across the North Pole, where there is no opportunity to observe anything outside of the ship, no opportunity to observe stars or do any type of electronic navigation, presents a very formidable problem- or what has been up to now a very formidable problem,'"

"'For example, it would be possible for a ship equipped with conventional navigation equipment to become so confused at the North Pole that they might actually work themselves around in a slow circle, thinking that they were going in a straight line, and end up coming into perhaps the ice-locked coast off Greenland, or even more disappointing, back where they came from.'"

"'having superb navigation equipment- superb compasses- by having this advanced inertial type navigation system, and by having such a complex of navigation equipment to check one thing against the other, and the other thing against something else- repeated over and over again, that we knew we were in business,'"

AN ADVANCED INERTIAL GUIDANCE NAVIGATION SYSTEM [INS] AUTOMATIC HOWEVER REQUIRING A DEGREE OF CORRECTION ON A PERIODIC BASIS. DEAD RECKONING HAND CALCULATED NAVIGATION THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE.

Normal error for the ninety-six hours under the ice cap using solely INS would have been about sixty-two kilometers [thirty-nine miles]. Correction as obtained from hand navigation [presumably several navigators at work simultaneously for cross-checking purposes] allowing for successful voyage under the pole.

COMMANDER ANDERSON HIS MEDIA PERFORMANCE DONE SO WELL IN ADDITION TO HIS MILITARY EXPLOITS THE MAN CONSIDERED TO BE POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL MATERIAL. SUCH DID NOT TRANSPIRE.

coolbert.

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