ArdWrknTrk Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 My very first introduction to any kind of computer was the ballistic computer at the then Naval Proving Ground Dahlgren VA. It was in a pair of rooms, one was the actual processing (tons of vacuum tubes) the other was the memory and data entry, a room full of tape drives, like old reel to reel recorders. As an 8 year old (probably) it was fascinating to watch them spin first one way then the other, pause and run a bit slower. Dad was main battery (16" Naval Rifles) officer and when he was duty officer on weekends he would take me with him in the gray USN pickup. While we were there they built two interesting items, one was the Terrier test track, the other, I found out later, was the Polaris test launch tank. I thought it was a pond for fishing as, since it was visible from US 301 and right near the Potomac River South Shore, it was probably somewhat of a protective "cover" for it's main purpose. Years later, it a documentary on the Polaris development, I saw some of the early test launches and instantly recognized the "pond" with the 3 story "tower" next to it. The 16" test firings would shake the whole base, the dummy projectiles were fired through induction sensing rings to measure their velocity at various distances from the muzzle. This data became part of the powder lot qualification and was one of the pieces of information cranked into the fire control computers in the battleship turrets. During Vietnam, they were still using some of the powder lots dad qualified between 1951 and 1955. The plate battery, where AP rounds (5" - 38 usually) were shot against samples or armor (probably German and Japanese from WWII) always ran at night since shrapnel was an issue and whole areas needed to be off-limits. Cool story! My dad did electronics prototyping for various military/aerospace contractors. I got to play with lasers and tracking radar but never anything that went BOOM! like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 Cool story! My dad did electronics prototyping for various military/aerospace contractors. I got to play with lasers and tracking radar but never anything that went BOOM! like that. Speaking of tracking systems, dad and 3 others were sent to MIT in the 1946-48 time frame for post graduate work (they all had EEs from Severn River Tech (Naval Academy) and were sent to MIT for their masters degrees. The subject matter concerned the partially declassified piece of gear the British gave us when they were dealing with German air raids, microwave radar. They shared a room, and built a little tracking system, if you entered the room it would just be doing slow sweeps, until it detected you at which time it would lock on you. Dad had converted the simple fixed display on the USS Gamble, a WWI destroyer converted to minelayer to display on an oscilloscope as a sweep during the Guadalcanal battles. I am pretty well certain that a lot of our current autonomous systems on the newer ships are based on the work dad and his classmates did at MIT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 Speaking of tracking systems, dad and 3 others were sent to MIT in the 1946-48 time frame for post graduate work (they all had EEs from Severn River Tech (Naval Academy) and were sent to MIT for their masters degrees. The subject matter concerned the partially declassified piece of gear the British gave us when they were dealing with German air raids, microwave radar. They shared a room, and built a little tracking system, if you entered the room it would just be doing slow sweeps, until it detected you at which time it would lock on you. Dad had converted the simple fixed display on the USS Gamble, a WWI destroyer converted to minelayer to display on an oscilloscope as a sweep during the Guadalcanal battles. I am pretty well certain that a lot of our current autonomous systems on the newer ships are based on the work dad and his classmates did at MIT. So your dad worked in the radlab?!?! *expletive! Yeah, my dad did stuff for Norden and Raytheon and had (little) servo mounts that would track you. I guess this went into Aegis later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 So your dad worked in the radlab?!?! *expletive! Yeah, my dad did stuff for Norden and Raytheon and had (little) servo mounts that would track you. I guess this went into Aegis later.... His stuff was probably derived from dad and his classmates stuff. Side note, when I was assigned to the USMCR unit in Norfolk, it was possible to get base stickers issued from Little Creek amphibious base, the stickers had to be approved by the base CO, a Rear Admiral who just happened to be one of dad's MIT classmates. When my request came to him, he approved me for 2 stickers, one for each vehicle, my 66 Shelby and 63 Jetfire. The Liaison people at the reserve unit were amazed that not only was it approved rapidly, but for two vehicles. I told them it was a family connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttman4 Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Â Just stumblin round...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 Â Just stumblin round...... Glad you stumbled into us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttman4 Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Glad you stumbled into us. Â Yeah I was stumblin round looking for info & found Gary's Bullnose Forum. I've heard of it before but finally found it. Can tell it's overloaded & brimming over with good info!! Need to spend some time looking!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old55pete Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 I found your page on Facebook and you invited me to join here. The tec stuff, wiring diagrams and all of the other stuff have been a great help to me. Not to mention some great folks here too. I have gotten a lot of ideas and trouble shooting ideas from some of them. Strange, I am not on Facebook any more, But I am still here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted December 7, 2019 Author Share Posted December 7, 2019 I found your page on Facebook and you invited me to join here. The tec stuff, wiring diagrams and all of the other stuff have been a great help to me. Not to mention some great folks here too. I have gotten a lot of ideas and trouble shooting ideas from some of them. Strange, I am not on Facebook any more, But I am still here. LOL! I'm still "on" FB, although mainly just cherry-picking the questions to point people to the documentation here for their answers. But I don't tend to spend much time there as it can really be frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old55pete Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 LOL! I'm still "on" FB, although mainly just cherry-picking the questions to point people to the documentation here for their answers. But I don't tend to spend much time there as it can really be frustrating. I had to dump Facebook. I got tired of having my profile hacked, what seemed like, every 20 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts