Category Archives: Naval History

I liked reading the book Longitude by Dava Sobel and I also enjoyed the television movie version. I was recently doing some reading about the Bounty mutiny when I realized that the problem of measuring longitude played a role in that tale as well. The story of longitude is one of technology and obsession. While mariners had been able to measure their latitude accurately for centuries, measuring one's longitude required the development of accurate timepieces. Longitude is the story of the development of the marine chronometer. In essence, our modern GPS systems are extremely accurate clocks that provide the ultimate realization of the longitude goal. Continue reading →

Sextants make measurements that are subject to systematic errors – all instruments are subject to systematic errors. Alas, much of my career has been spent on calibrating out systematic instrument errors. Even with all my efforts, residual systematic errors remain. Continue reading →

I love to read stories of the sea and about the voyages made during the age of sail. I personally have never thought that I would have an opportunity for ocean sailing, but I recently began working with an engineer who is an avid sailor and teacher of sailing. He has sailed all over the world and recently trained another engineer in my group to sail. This newly trained sailor just returned from a trip to Bora Bora, which he found to be enjoyable and the sailing uneventful. Continue reading →

I have lived most of my life in Minnesota, which is about as far away from the oceans as you can be in the United States. The idea of a planet mainly covered with water has always fascinated me. I will never forget the first time I saw an ocean (Pacific, Santa Monica, CA 1982). Fortunately, my work has provided me a bit of experience on ships and that experience was career changing − my early ocean experience involved laying fiber optic cable and that set the course of the rest of my career. Continue reading →