NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: US Navy and celestial...
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2017 Sep 15, 09:48 -0700
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2017 Sep 15, 09:48 -0700
Alex, you wrote:
"If CelNav is still practiced in the US Navy, the ships must be equipped with sextants.
I wonder which brand do they use?"
This is one of those cases where the USN still commissions their own model. Presumably it's the "USN Mk III sextant" (mark 3). I have still never seen one of these in the real world, though they do apparently sell at auction now and then, like here: skipjackmarinegallery.com/us-navy-mk-iii-sextant.html. From what I understand, the design of the instrument dates from the end of the Second World War. Because twilight star sights had recently become all the rage in navigation fashion, there was demand for larger mirrors and a scope with a bigger aperture compared to the earlier "Mk II" sextant.
Frank Reed
