Cyber threats prompt return of radio for ship navigation.

I'd argue that a proper radar plot is also invaluable when navigating in high traffic areas, especially with lots of fishing boats all around.

 

So if the Navy is finished with celestial, will they be closing the USN Observatory? Seems there wouldn't be much point in continuing it.

 

The US Naval Observatory is home to the Master Clock which is critical to all time-based solutions, such as GPS: http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/time/master-clock. The USNO will not be closing anytime soon (no pun intended).

 

Talk about your nuke target...

 

The US Naval Observatory is likely already high on the list of nuke targets as it is the official residence of the vice president of the United States. I'm quite certain that the US has multiple time keeping systems. Only one VPOTUS though.

 

When I flew C-130's in the USAF almost 40 years ago, our navigators had to use three methods of navigation when we flew overwater. They were usually pressure pattern navigation (think dead reckoning), celestial, and Omega. We had to hit a 15 (maybe 18) mile wide gate as we entered controlled airspace. Since those days, the navigator position has been eliminated as well as the flight engineer. I don't even know if the USAF has a navigator school anymore. I'm guessing they must have some type of schooling to supply crew members for the back seats of aircraft like the F-15E and EWO's and radar nav's for the B-52. It is a different world from all that I knew. I did fly GPS approaches as a civilian pilot, so I am well versed in GPS capabilities.