
No Damned Computer Is Going to Tell Me What to Do - jki275
https://ethw.org/First-Hand:No_Damned_Computer_is_Going_to_Tell_Me_What_to_DO_-_The_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System,_NTDS
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jki275
Noticed yesterday the NEETS modules were posted, and it seems there are a few
of us old Navy techs on the board.

This is the story of the beginnings of Navy computing -- it's also indirectly
a history of the Data Systems Technician and the Data Processing rates, those
of us who worked on Navy computers from the 1970s on. As DS techs in the Navy,
our main job was to keep operational the computers and display systems that
processed radar data and track data, presented that picture to the people who
had to make firing decisions, and passed their commands to the weapon systems.

This link is to a paper written by Captain David L. Boslaugh, it's been around
for a number of years. I've linked each chapter below as the article is a bit
hard to navigate through if you start reading with chapter 1.

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:The_Navy_Codebreakers_and_Their_...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:The_Navy_Codebreakers_and_Their_Digital_Computers_-
_Chapter_2_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:McNally%27s_Challenge,_Conceptua...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:McNally%27s_Challenge,_Conceptualizing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_-
_Chapter_3_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:Building_the_U.S._Navy%27s_First...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:Building_the_U.S._Navy%27s_First_Seagoing_Digital_System_-
_Chapter_4_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:Testing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:Testing_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_-
_Chapter_5_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:Moving_the_Firing_Key_to_NTDS_-_...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:Moving_the_Firing_Key_to_NTDS_-
_Chapter_6_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:The_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_i...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:The_Naval_Tactical_Data_System_in_Combat_-
_Chapter_7_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:The_Marine_Tactical_Data_System_...](https://ethw.org/First-
Hand:The_Marine_Tactical_Data_System_and_the_Airborne_Tactical_Data_System_-
_Chapter_8_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

[https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Legacy_of_NTDS_-
_Chapter_9_of_th...](https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Legacy_of_NTDS_-
_Chapter_9_of_the_Story_of_the_Naval_Tactical_Data_System)

