NavList:

>From: Brad Morris
>Date: 11 Feb 2013 13:40
>I cannot imagine that the sub surfaced, except very rarely, for a round of sights. Was celestial performed through the periscope or is that dispensed with?
>

It is my understanding that back in the 1960's, celestial navigation was just one of several secondary backup systems for Polaris submarines. The primary ship navigation was by inertial guidance. Because of long term drift issues, periodic corrections were made, mostly by satellite signals, or land-based radio such as Loran. Star sightings through a periscope were a backup to the radio corrections.

For the last few decades, GPS satellites provide the corrections to the ships inertial nav systems.

Don Seltzer

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