Old Skool Navigation

Do we have any navigation experts here?

In high school, I learned the old methods for navigation using a basic compass, lensatic compass, sextant, parallel ruler, protractor, mechanical compass and triangles.

Since we cannot rely on GPS in a SHTF situation, I think maybe learning some of the most basic skills of land and sea navigation is in order.

Unfortunately I learned all this stiff like 45 years ago and forgot most all of it. I’m certain we have a coupl’a few pilots and sailors here that can help out.

I am extremely familiar with old school navigation. Terrestrial, and celestial. I even own a sextant, and a copy of Bowdich. I need new sight reduction tables though.

While my primary job in the Navy was electronic surveillance, I also qualified as the ‘Quartermaster of the Watch’, who was responsible for the submarine’s navigation, both surfaced and submerged.

That became a collateral duty for me, when we weren’t at periscope depth.

I have always been fascinated by navigation at sea, and I enjoyed that part of my duty very much.

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Here’s your land solution, no batteries required:

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Good with terrestrial navigation with a map and compass but would be totally lost at sea. Always wanted to learn celestial navigation but I’d likely never use it enough to actually remember it.

But for 99% of people, learning to read a road map is a huge boost. I keep a Rand McNally road atlas in all my cars in case I’m somewhere without cell service.

What if you are 100 miles from a road, or even just 20. If you were air dropped in the middle of nowhere, how would you get from A to B?

Most people these days get lost while they’re already ON a road when the GPS doesn’t work. So for those people, learning to read a road map is a big boost.

This is an old Husun sextant, this one was made in 1921. I also have a more modern Tamiya Spica in a box somewhere.

With a good chronometer, a chart, and some celestial tables, it’s fun to work out your position at sea.

A lot of math.

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They tortured me with trigonometry in Naval Science when I was still pre-algebra. Practically child abuse.

I LOVE the math!

Funny I see this on my weekend from work. Had a discussion with an old timer regarding DC-8’s and their backup navigation equipment of sextants and a periscope they used to take star shots. When I did Civil Air Patrol they were very big on using Lat/Long along with their own grid system (apparently different from the military one) besides the usual Chart and electronic navigation stuff, so that was a good learning experience. Lately I’ve been trying to branch off on the land side of things, there’s a place I took Wilderness First Aid from that also does land navigation courses and I’m waiting for them to post dates so I can go. Still have most of my old Hagstrom Road Atlases if anyone remembers those.

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That is very cool.

I’d love to learn how to navigate with a sextant - always been fascinated by the era of exploration by sailing ships. Most likely ain’t gonna happen though - why is it as you get older the amount of time you have to spend on hobbies just continues to shrink?

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The foundation of navigation are maps, and what better place to get maps than the USGS. The link will bring u to the USGS website for topographical maps you can download in PDF format.

Part of my SHTF plan is a tablet with all kinds of useful info like herbal medicines, edible plant identification, first aid, some basic chemistry, survival skills and all the usual prepper stuff.

I’ll be downloading a bunch of maps off the USGS site.