US Navy to go away from touchscreens

[StuM]

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/09/nav...creen-controls


The Navy will begin reverting destroyers back to a physical throttle and traditional helm control system in the next 18 to 24 months, after the fleet overwhelmingly said they prefer mechanical controls to touchscreen systems in the aftermath of the fatal USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) collision.

and AIS, apparently it's just a laptop somewhere on the bridge :



... the ships have a laptop in the bridge that runs the Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver. Ship crews have, in the aftermath of the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions, complained that the laptops have a finicky connection to the ship via cables, and that they are located behind other gear and hard to access,...

[Snore]

Stu

Thanks for that post. So we can can add the USN to those of us who despise touch screens at sea. And AIS just on a laptop???

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by Snore

Stu

Thanks for that post. So we can can add the USN to those of us who despise touch screens at sea. And AIS just on a laptop???

War ships do not want to be seen on the charts of all other vessel, they receive only AIS, but rarely send. Worse than charter sailing boats. But they do have great radars, infrared vision, sonar, satellite imagery, whatever.

Btw I am forced to disable the touch function on my raymarine plotter, in warm enwironmet it creates automagically erratic touches and messing up the display, fortunately there are hard controls and touch lock.

[Pelagic]

I think this is worth discussing.

"The U.S. Navy is ditching touchscreen controls on destroyers following fatal collisions involving the USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald.

The United States Naval Institute website reported*that the Navy will be reverting its destroyers back to a physical throttle and traditional helm control system over the next 18*to 24 months."

[belizesailor]

My experience is get one w buttons too.

Related thread:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=220279

[GordMay]

"Collision Cours"
When the USS John S. McCain crashed in the Pacific, the Navy blamed the destroyer’s crew for the loss of 10 sailors. The truth is the Navy’s flawed technology set the McCain up for disaster.
The Navy installed touch-screen steering systems to save money.
Ten sailors paid with their lives.
➥ https://features.propublica.org/navy...=pocket-newtab

[JPA Cate]

Well, there's always time to learn "new" tricks. I just recently discovered our AIS touchscreen prefers fingernail taps to finger pad taps.

I had never thought about the possibilities of different types of touch screens, but the AIS ones have to be water proof, and at least on ours, there is a thin plastic film over it....that has worn through entirely over the anchor symbol and over the scale changer.

Go figure.

Based on my experiences with it when my hands are damp, I'd say maybe it is a good idea for the Navy to change.

Ann

[Gtstricky]

I wonder if the AIS issue is a fear of system hacking somehow and therefor they want to keep the AIS on an isolated system from all other components.

[Black Diamond]

I also am not a fan of touchscreens. In cold and wet weather they have proven problematic. That said, I'm not about to spend thousands of dollars to replace them. I've found workarounds.

The government using LAPTOPS is surprising as these are usually not that reliable or durable (even if MILSPEC) for something like this.

As to CatNewBee's comment on the US Navy rarely broadcasting AIS, I imagine that is true offshore, but I've seen them regularly do it when approaching port. They never give the ship ID or information, but will say something like "US SUBMARINE" or "US WARSHIP" on the display.

[tkeithlu]

A Canadian Warship was called "Canadian Warship" on AIS in my one close encounter of the undesireable kind.

Need I remind everyone that for a number of years the US Naval Academy did not teach celestial navigation? They finally figured out that the bad guys are fully capable of messing up GPS, and made celestial plotting a specialty for petty officers.

[belizesailor]

After my recent experiences with brand new Raymarine touch screens on a friend's boat, I cant blame them for moving away from touch screen. The Raymarine's at least did really poorly in exposed locations...sea water makes them unusable. We had to disable the touch screen on the one in the cockpit in foul weather. The next version up with buttons & touch screen should be much better...disable the touch and use good old buttons.

Imagine being in battle and having misbehaving touch screens! [emoji33]

[sailjumanji]

I read the announcement as the navy getting away from touchscreen throttle control. I would rather have mechanical throttle as well. But for chartplotter, i really liked our Zeus 2 and now Zeus 3, both with touchscreen. Been flawless in that aspect. And touch, drag, expand, all so easy.

I can operate the autopilot using the touchscreen, but have always preferred the simplicity of the control panel with buttons.

[HankOnthewater]

For those interested, here is shortened report of the US McCain accident:
https://gcaptain.com/flawed-bridge-t...eid=82482d75cd

Regarding touchscreens: my experience is similar to some of the previous posters: not very reliable in the wet, and definitely near impossible to use on a bouncy boat.

[Lepke]

If the navy has a laptop, you can bet it's special made and cost millions.
US warships don't have their AIS on so countries without an extensive intelligence systems can follow their movements.

[OneHullPaul]

All the major manufacturers only sell chartplotters with both touchscreen and physical buttons presently so the discussion seems a bit moot. Use whichever you like when you like. If buying new, there is no decision to be made on cruising level hardware.