Awhile back I was in a discussion with a forum member about gyros, and I remember saying the old gyros used on US Navy vessels were the size of rooms (I think I was conservative in my description). Considering a gyro now takes up less than .5" sqr, We can really see how times have changed.

Surprisingly, technology is slow coming to US vessels, the photo's below were from 1917, the ships of the 70's and 80's had not changed much. I hope they have now, however...
Old ship gyro photo can be seen in this link.

USN Ships--USS Henderson (Transport # 1) -- Construction.

I heard the gyros are still humongousbecause the accuracy of laser ring gyros is proportional to their size.

See:
http://www.es.northropgrumman.com/so...ssets/mk39.pdf

Fits inside a 30"x20"x20" cube. Still huge, but not nearly the size of a room.

Yes much smaller than a room and also much before the aforementioned time period...

That 1917 model sure was big though wasn't it?

Originally Posted by Mikebits

Awhile back I was in a discussion with a forum member about gyros, and I remember saying the old gyros used on US Navy vessels were the size of rooms (I think I was conservative in my description). Considering a gyro now takes up less than .5" sqr, We can really see how times have changed.

Surprisingly, technology is slow coming to US vessels, the photo's below were from 1917, the ships of the 70's and 80's had not changed much. I hope they have now, however...
Old ship gyro photo can be seen in this link.

USN Ships--USS Henderson (Transport # 1) -- Construction.

hi Mike,
I 'think' you are confusing a ships 'mass stabiliser' with a 'positional stabiliser gyro' system.

The drift on SEMS and mini gyro's is laughable compared to what the Navy uses.

They have big stabalizers in tall buildings, Just a big mass suspended and acts like a dampner.

I guess shipbuilders should spy a bit in aircraft development. Using small size gyros the accuracy won't be less if the second part "Fly by wire" is engaged.

Ships don't need gyros anymore... those 3 Navy SEAL sharpshooters proved a bobbing ship isn't an obstacle of sorts!!

HiTech. I'll bet you money Navy ships still have gyros of some type. There's NO WAY the military would rely on GPS only. In the case of a bad solar flare the entire naval fleet would be adrift at sea.

Did I miss something in this thread? 3 Navy seal snipers what where?

Originally Posted by Sceadwian

HiTech. I'll bet you money Navy ships still have gyros of some type. There's NO WAY the military would rely on GPS only. In the case of a bad solar flare the entire naval fleet would be adrift at sea.

Did I miss something in this thread? 3 Navy seal snipers what where?

FOXNews.com - U.S. Navy Frees Captain, Kills 3 Somali Pirates - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

Wow, I'd heard about them, didn't realize they'd got em back. Those must have been damn good snipers.

I wonder if the Navy will have to start escorting our merchant vessels. Considering the threats the pirates made.