APPENDIX A 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF RADiOBEACON, LORAN SYSTEMS 



AND RADAR 



The sea or coast may be blanketed in fog, visibility may be reduced to zero 

 due to rain or snow, sound warnings may be completely drowned out by 

 storm, and yet, in this day of available navigational aid systems, the navigator 

 may obtain with confidence positional information or actually fix his posi- 

 tion through the medium of electronics. 



For over 2,000 years there have been lighthouses to guide ships, and for 

 more than 200 years there have been sound fog warnings of some sort to aid 

 the mariner in thick weather, but until the introduction of electronic naviga- 

 tional aids he did not have a practicable method of taking accurate bearings 

 on invisible objects. Electronics has supplied this most urgent need of navi- 

 gation by allowing the navigator to locate his vessel without depending on 

 visual methods. 



Today the navigator may take bearings on established marine radiobeacon 

 stations which provide reliable service from 10 to over 200 nautical miles 

 and may by the use of Loran fix his position, when in the service area of the 

 stations, up to 1,400 nautical miles offshore. The present day electronic 

 navigational aid systems contribute greatly to the safety and operational 

 efficiency of transportation whether it be on or over the high seas or in coastal 

 or lake waters. 



MARINE RADIOBEACONS ' 



United States marine radiobeacons were first placed in regular operation 

 in May 1921, when three installations were placed in commission in the 

 vicinity of New York Harbor on Ambrose Channel Lightship, Fire Island 

 Lightship, and at Sea Girt Light Station. The system has expanded from 

 the original three installations in 1921 to 186 United States radiobeacons 

 in 1949. 



The present United States marine radiobeacon system includes installa- 

 tions on the Great Lakes, along the coasts of the United States, its territories 

 and at outlying bases. The most northerly and westerly radiobeacon in the 

 United States system is on St. Paul Island, Alaska, in the Bering Sea; the 

 radiobeacon at Point Tuna, P. R., is situated farthest east; and the installation 

 at Cape Mala, C. Z., is most southerly. 



LORAN SYSTEM 2 



The Loran system has its roots directly in the vast program of development 

 in the field of electronics which has been unfolded with dramatic import 

 during World War II. 



With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in the latter part of 1939, the 

 probability of our ultimate military involvement became apparent. We 

 were thoroughly unprepared to meet the demands of a new and rapidly 

 changing technology of modern warfare, and no mechanism existed for the 

 mobilization of civilian scientific resources to meet wartime technical 

 problems. 



The first step to remedy this situation was taken in June 1940, when 

 President Roosevelt appointed the National Defense Research Committee to 

 mobilize our great scientific resources for research and development of 

 weapons of war. 



In June 1941, the Office of Scientific Research and Development was 

 established by an Executive order of the President. This group was vested 



^ The word "radiobeacon" was coined by an official of the former U. S. Lighthouse 

 Service (now U. S. Coast Guard) and is now generally listed in dictionaries. 



^ The word "Loran" was coined by a Coast Guard officer and was officially adopted 

 by the U. S. Navy in 1942. 



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