NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Cel Nav and missile submarines
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2012 Apr 10, 20:14 -0400
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2012 Apr 10, 20:14 -0400
Thanks to Fred and Gary who helped to clarify the picture. And I apologise again for the message which begins with "Fred,..." while this was really an answer to Gary:-) Here is a short chronology. The first submarine ballistic missle was Zemlia R-11FM (SS-1 Scud A). It had an inertial guiding system. It was launched from the submarine Zulu B-67, some say in 1956, and even give exact date: September 16, others say in 1955, and became operational by 1959. It had a nuclear warhead, and was liquid-propelled. There was only one missile on the sub, it was launched from surface position, and had to be put vertically before the launch. (I imagine this mess: fuleing the missile standing vertically on the deck, with liquid fuel. The fuel was nitric acid + liquid oxigen :-) I would be delighted to see this:-) As the very first satellite was launched only in 1957, the submarine clearly relied on Cel Nav. And the whole accuracy of the missle depended on Cel Nav. Inertial navigation for the submarine itself is a short time solution; inertial navigation cannot give your position for long time without checking it with some other means. Further development on the Soviet side were R-13, R-21 (1962) and R-27 (1967) missiles, (SS-N-4, SS-N-5, SS-N-6), all with inertial navigation, and Yankee class submarines. They already had missiles permanently in vertical position but the missiles were still liquid fuel propelled. Now, in the 50-s (don't know exactly when) Soviet dip meter spreads, and on the US side, Shufeldt makes his research in 1958-61. Which was first classified, but then quickly unclassified, and the satellite system Transit 1 comes in use in 1964, and is made open to everyone in 1967. This system does not measure any angles (as I wrongly assumed in the beginning) but uses the Doppler effect created by the motion of the satellites. Few satellites do not cover all Earth surface. The accuracy 0'1-0'2 is better than Cel Nav. Only by 1980-s the Soviets apparently developed their own satellite system. Concerning other non-Cel nav systems. Inertial system for submarines is probably insdispensible when the submarine sails under ice (or under a helicopter which tries to find it). When it is near the water surface, a sextant can be used through the periscope, and I read somewhere about such sextants. The systems based on shore radio stations, like LORAN, have limited range. Now, in te case of a nuclear attack, all satellite systems might be switched off, and it will remain to rely on Cel Nav for missile launch from a submarine... if there still will be people who know how to use it:-) Alex.