May 2, 2007:
Two years ago, the U.S. Navy is
finally entered the digital age for navigation. That was when the first all
digital navigation system was installed on the
cruiser USS Cape St. George. Called the Voyage Management System (VMS),
it uses 29 CDs containing the 12,000 paper nautical charts that are normally
stored in several large filing cabinet. Recently, the second VMS was installed
on a nuclear submarine (SSN), the USS Oklahoma City.
Originally, the plan was to have all U.S. Navy
ships equipped with VMS by 2008. That didn't work, as lots of little technical
problems were discovered as other ship classes were surveyed in preparation for
a VMS installation. Now the target for fleet wide installation is 2009.
Commercial ships typically have VMS installed when
the ship is built. There, the VMS operates with a high-tech bridge where nearly
everything is automated. Most warships are way behind in this kind of
technology. Submarines are particularly in need of this kind of automation,
because space is very tight.
VMS is part of the Smart Ship Integrated Bridge
System, which will eventually automate and computerize many of the tasks
performed to run the ship. VMS was developed from systems used on commercial
ships for over a decade. Several other navies have also made the switch. A
planned upgrade will put all the electronic charts on one high density DVD, as
well as a high capacity hard drive. The electronic charts contain more
information than the paper charts, and are much easier to use, and, more importantly,
update. Since the 1990s, space satellites have been surveying the oceans, and
providing a flood of data for updating charts. The inability to update charts
quickly enough was the main reason for the submarine USS San Francisco hitting
an undersea mountain in early 2006. If the USS San Francisco had VMS over a
year ago, and the electronic charts had been promptly updated (the sea mount
was spotted by satellite in 1998 and 2004), the collision would not have
happened. The navy believes that several groundings over the past decade would
have been avoided had VMS been installed.
The cabinets full of charts won't be discarded
until Smart Ship computers and terminals are installed throughout the ship, so
that others who need to use those charts can access them electronically. With
VMS, navigation is much easier, and accurate. The users like it, especially the
younger sailors who take it for granted that all documents will be available
electronically..