54 OCEAN ELECTRONIC NAVIGATIONAL AIDS 



With the responsibility of coordinating the activities of the National Defense 

 Research Committee with those of the Committee on Medical Research and 

 of assuming general responsibility for the over- all coordination of the coun- 

 try's industrial technical program. 



The Loran program was an outgrowth of a special division of the National 

 Defense Research Committee working with the armed services. The initial 

 techniques were closely allied to those of Radar. When the Navy began to 

 work closely with National Defense Research Committee it was recognized 

 that an accurate and reliable long distance navigational aid would be in- 

 valuable to insure coordination and control in carrying out a myriad of 

 military operations both offensive and defensive. It was of prime importance 

 to minimize losses of ships, aircraft, and the crews aboard as the result of 

 enemy action. Culminating a following period of intensive research and 

 laboratory investigation, Loran was born. 



The early beginnings were in 1941 at the Radiation Laboratory of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Institute of Technology and by the end of 1942, the first of the 

 Loran transmitting stations which were later to lace the world with electronic 

 lines of position were placed in experimental operation. These first units 

 were set up in the North Atlantic area by the United States Navy in co- 

 operation with the National Defense Research Committee, the Royal Can- 

 adian Navy and the United States Coast Guard, and later were taken over 

 in their entirety by the United States Coast Guard and the Canadian Navy. 

 Coast Guard officers and men were actively associated with the project from 

 its earliest applications to the war effort. 



The dramatic growth of the operating Loran system was intimately con- 

 nected with the progress of military and naval operations against the enemy. 

 During the bitter cold of midwinter of 1942 and the hazards of the Battle 

 of the Atlantic the North Atlantic Loran chain was established to serve our 

 men and ships. 



Likewise, activity of the Japanese in the Aleutian Campaign led to the 

 establishment of the Aleutian Loran chain in the latter part of 1942 and the 

 spring of 1943. These installations were made in the face of very severe 

 weather and were located at strategic points in treacherous terrain. The 

 landing of men and equipment and the ensuing construction program proved 

 to be an exceptionally hazardous operation. 



These early Loran installations proved to be well worth their cost in effort, 

 sweat and dollars — because, by virtue of these achievements, navigators 

 aboard naval craft sailing the northern routes were given "electronic eyes" 

 to combat the intensely bad weather and other hazards of the sea at a critical 

 time of the war, when uncertainty of position at sea would in all probability 

 spell disaster at the hands of the enemy. 



As the war against the Japanese was pursued with increasing vigor and 

 our forces began their long and successful offensive, Loran took its rightful 

 place in these military developments. Joint planning of the attack by Army 

 and Navy commands emphasized the need for adequate means of long range 

 navigation to protect our supply ships and to aid our fleet and aircraft opera- 

 tions. As a consequence, Loran "system building" became a program of ever- 

 increasing tempo. 



In rapid succession Loran stations were placed in operation in the many 

 island chains of the Pacific; Hawaii, the Phoenix, Caroline, Marshall, and 

 Admiralty groups — were covered, and thus Loran lines of position were ex- 

 tended over many millions of square miles of the Pacific. All of these in- 

 stallations were made by the United States Coast Guard and some others on 

 the outer fringes of the combat areas were made by other military services. 



In the fall of 1945, a joint release was made to the public by the United 

 States and its allies of the secrets of Radar and Loran, so that the public 

 transportation services could henceforth make use of these developments. 



In December of 1945, Science Service named "Development and use of 

 Loran which allows determination of exact positions at sea and in the air 

 through use of exactly timed radio signals" as one of the Ten Most Important 

 Advances in Science Made During 1945. The same lists contains the "atomic 

 bomb" and explains that "some of these developments were actually made 

 before 1945 but on account of war secrecy were not announced before." 



Although Loran had its inception and growth as a product of technological 

 warfare, the extensive "system building" program of wartime leaves a valu- 

 able heritage to the art of peacetime navigation in that, today, a nearly 

 world-wide Loran system is an operating actuality. 



