How Did Aircraft Carriers NAVIGATE the Seas? (History Documentary)

In 1942, the USS Hornet launched the daring Doolittle Raid—navigating through total darkness with nothing but the stars. No satellites. No computers. Just pure skill. Today’s aircraft carriers are packed with cutting-edge technology, pinpointing their position within centimeters. But here’s the shocking truth: even now, these massive warships still rely on old-school navigation methods. Because when you’re launching multi-million-dollar jets from a moving runway in the middle of the ocean, there’s no room for error.
So, what happens when all modern systems fail? And how did aircraft carriers navigate the oceans before GPS?

In the early decades of aircraft carrier operations, navigation relied on time-honored methods honed over centuries of maritime practice. The most fundamental of these was dead reckoning – estimating the ship's position based on its speed, heading, and the elapsed time since its last known location. Carrier navigators would carefully plot the ship's track on paper charts, accounting for the effects of wind and current, and using periodic depth soundings to check their progress.
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Видео How Did Aircraft Carriers NAVIGATE the Seas? (History Documentary) канала Navy Media