Holodeck on Navy’s Wish-list
Simulation training in the Navy. (Navy)
Remember the collisions that the USS John McCain and the USS Fitzgerald were involved with? Back in 2017, these ships were involved with two different collisions with civilian ships. Many of us, with relevant experiences, wondered how something like this could happen.
Basic procedures that we were used to, if followed, should’ve averted both instances. Since then, an investigation has led to the development of many recommendations. Fingers pointed to the need for more training, especially with communications.
One of the ideas that was floated around involved bringing simulation capability, Star Trek style, on board ship. Different training scenarios, tailored to the different ratings that need the training, would be available.
From National Defense:
“We need a Holodeck for our ships,” he said. “[You can] get a Conex box, you can load it off the pier onto the ship … and in that Holodeck box, you can go in as an engine man, as an STG [sonar technician], you name it, and swipe your ID card” to get in, he explained.
The Navy utilizes simulation with regards to aviation and littoral ship operations. The hope is to spread this type of training to to the rest of the fleet.
More from National Defense:
Moran noted that the littoral combat ship already employs a powerful simulator, but that capability must be pushed out to the rest of the fleet. “You should have that for every ship class in the Navy, or at least be able to reconfigure a simulator to mirror or mimic the ship that you’re going to” deploy sailors on, he said.
The initiative will require the Navy to set up new facilities at its bases in San Diego and Norfolk, Virginia, to house simulators, Moran said.
These systems “will make the biggest difference over time in terms of proficiency [and] experience” for sailors, he said.
The current generation, dominating the numbers in the military, have extensive video game experience. This concept is a logical option. Even the Army has simulated training for basic soldiering operations.
Now they have virtual reality equipment that you could put on. This includes “dummy” weapons that the Soldier carries, and is incorporated into the scenario. You’re “inside” a “video game” simulating a deployed environment.
You can read more here.
Category: Navy
Does this mean that I could spend some quality time in a bar with a bunch of Klingons?
Klingons are such jerks! Get a few drinks in them and they start calling everyone a Rotting Pile of Vorshak and pulling blades. The Cardassians are more mellow and less stabby.
Nah. The Cardies stab you in the -back-. The Klingon barflies at least face you in a stand up fight.
Qaplah’
Well, really, if you want to hang out with the Kardashians, go ahead, but they’re really quite useless.
Maybe the h’Osta….
They should probably make sure the littoral combat ships are operationally effective, before they continue to dump millions of dollars into the program and mass producing them.
Its only money.
I wouldn’t mind being on deck with Jazera Dax, or maybe 7 of 9 or Counselor Troi. Now THAT would be very stimulating! Oh, you said simulating. My bad. Maybe all three of them should punish me. Could crash my spar into their port of entry.
There will be endless games of Pong, Space Invaders, Tron, and PacMan, all with free popcorn.
Oh FFS!! Back in the antedeluvian era ships were safely navigated with maneuvering boards, relative bearings, and a knowledge of your own ships speed and heading. There were collisions, but it seems we’ve gotten worse instead of better. The answer is a video game environment?
Not that simulators are bad – I spent my fair share of time in aircraft simulators. One of my college friends, also an NROTC student, went the surface warfare path. His first assignment was Surface Warfare Officer school, which at the time included simulator activity but the maneuvering was still done the old fashioned way in the drills of piloting through congested shipping areas. Then you got to use the fancy radar+computer stuff which was in it’s infancy at the time.
Some time ago I read somewhere that SWOS was cancelled to save money and replaced by self-paced Powerpoints. That’s worked well.
So, instead of investing yet another bajillion bucks, how’s about going back to what WORKED IN THE PAST!!!! and then see what can be improved?
Why not go back? Because that would make sense.
That would put the Good Idea Fairies, who love to throw money around, out of work.
I remember those times, using the maneuvering board, Dead Reckoning Tracer, manual plotting, etc., to make computations for courses and speed. With the maneuvering board, computations for avoiding course to avoid a collision. We called this, “conventional operations”, as opposed to “automated”. Operations Specialists, on automated platforms, had to also be proficient at conventional operations.
Having on-board simulations would’ve been helpful when I was an OS. We did spend more time out at sea per year, then we did import, during my first sea duty run. It was easy to get back into the swing of things. However, there were times when we were moored for a long period, due to availability or during a shipyard period, when we received plenty of new sailors. We could’ve gotten them some “hands on” training that they otherwise would not get unless they attended formal training.
CBDR, day or night, obey the f’ing Rules of the Road. It doesn’t require a computer, just the Mk1-Mod0 eyeball and a brain. And surface radar if visibility is degraded.
Navigator when we still used sextants and star charts.
For us, communication with the bridge was important. We also had multiple lines of communication with the bridge, depending on restricted maneuvering conditions. Communication back and forth between CIC and the bridge went smoothly on both ships that I deployed as an OS. Back when the Navy had to do certification training at GITMO, the cadre placed cardboard on the bridge windows, increasing the need for communication between the bridge and CIC, as well as between the bridge and aft steering.
Somehow I don’t think a simulator is going to help much, when the problem seems to be that the folks driving the boat have their heads firmly planted up their asses. Situational Awareness and (as Sea Dragon said) obey the Rules of the Road!
Navy admiral wants better training simulators for sailors in response to deadly ship collisions In a July, 2018 file photo, a Basic Division Officer Course student at Surface Warfare Officers School, Det. San Diego, practices navigation in the Conning Officer Virtual Environment (COVE) shiphandling simulator, which provides state-of-the-art navigation and shiphandling training and can emulate the Navy’s homeports and almost every routine port of call around the world. Constructing better training simulators for sailors on surface ships is one of the initiatives being undertaken by the Navy. SAM HARDGROVE/U.S. NAVY Email Print Reddit Tweet Share Pinterest More By CAITLIN KENNEY | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 16, 2019 WASHINGTON — Constructing better training simulators for sailors on surface ships is one of the initiatives being undertaken by the Navy as it implements recommendations made after the deadly USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald collisions, Adm. William Moran, the vice chief of naval operations, said Tuesday. Moran discussed the Navy’s efforts as a result of the 2017 collisions during a maritime security discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Moran, who leads the Navy’s Readiness Reform Oversight Committee that oversees the implementation of 111 recommendations that came out of two reports after the McCain and Fitzgerald collisions, was nominated last week to be the next chief of naval operations, the Navy’s most senior officer. During the discussion, Moran said he was encouraged by the progress of the implementation, and that part of the progress included building better training simulators in the Navy. He was “very disappointed” in the simulators that he saw used by the surface force compared to what he was used to as a naval aviator. The aviation simulators that he used could train pilots under stressful conditions without risking an aircraft, but they did not exist for surface forces in areas where it was needed, Moran said. The Navy has looked at ways to modify and modernize some of the simulators. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William F. Moran, left, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee, Feb.… Read more »
The Naval Acadamy went back to Sextant usage after the collisions along with basic Seamanship training. My Blue Jackets Manual 16th edition (1962) Has navigation and rules of the road in it plus types of lights on various vessels. My 24th edition (2009) has some navigation but no rules of the road in it and my 25th edition (2017) has no navigation in it but under watch standing mentions compass relative bearings to id directions of an object.
It’s like the Army’s “Warrior Tasks and Drills” skill level manuals. The one that I have, from the last decade, is better in quality, detail, and applicability, then the ones that they have now.
My entire time on active duty, we in the submarine force used simulators for piloting, navigation, attack training, damage control, firefighting, and escape. Some of the simulators were more realistic than others. Some of the ones I see more recently at SUBSCOL are half a step below a Star Trek holodeck.
It comes as a complete shock to me that the surface fleet would not likewise employ simulators like the sub-surface fleet has been doing since the 1930’s!
This is a really bad idea. From what I recall the Holodeck was always malfunctioning either trapping everyone inside or trying to take over the ship and doing bad things. Do we really want the computer taking over a nuclear powered air craft carrier?
What if the holodeck decides you’re a threat to the entire galaxy and refuses to let you back into the ship after EVA to check the hull.
https://www.gulflive.com/news/2019/04/uss-fitzgerald-hits-milestone-during-repairs-at-ingalls.html
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — For the first time in over a year, the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) left drydock at Ingalls Shipbuilding and was successfully relaunched, marking a milestone in the damaged destroyers path to returning to active duty.
The guided-missile destroyer had been drydocked since it first arrived at the Pascagoula shipyard in January 2018 after being heavily damaged in a June 2017 collision with a container ship during which seven Fitzgerald crew members were killed and several others injured, including the commanding officer.