Naval Tactical Data System

NTDS training in a mock-up of a shipboard CIC

Naval Tactical Data System, commonly NTDS, refers to a computerized information processing system developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s and first deployed in the early 1960s for use in combat ships.

Reason for development

Warships have rooms known as Combat Information Centers, or CICs. Until the advent of computers compact and robust enough to be used in ships at sea, collection and display of such information as the position of aircraft, ships, and submarines was done manually. NTDS was the United States Navy's first step in automating this information flow for use in attack or defense, to reduce the chance of error and to allow CICs to cope with a denser, faster-moving threat environment. With NTDS and wireless data links, ships could share the information gathered by their sensors with other ships in a task force. NTDS was the inspiration for the Aegis system now in use on Navy ships.

Hardware description

A variety of UNIVAC embedded computers, including the first fielded version of the late 1950s, the CP-642A (AN/USQ-20), typically with 30 bit words, 32K words of magnetic core memory, 16 parallel I/O channels (also 30 bits wide) connected to radars and other peripherals, and a RISC-like instruction set, were used. Logic circuits used discrete transistors and other elements soldered to a printed circuit board with connectors running along one side. Each card was coated in a varnish-like substance to prevent exposure to corrosion-inducing salt spray. A number of cards were connected and secured to a tray on rollers. In turn, several trays of various types, interconnected and secured to a metal enclosure, constituted the computer. Most NTDS computers were water-cooled, though some later lighter-weight models were air-cooled.

Seymour Cray and the NTDS

Seymour Cray is credited for developing the first NTDS processor, the AN/USQ-17. However, this design did not go into production.

ASW Command & Control System

ASW Ships Command & Control System (ASWSC&CS) was a NTDS system for antisubmarine warfare. It was implemented only on the USS Voge (FF-1047), USS Koelsch (FF-1049) and the ASW aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CVS-18) in 1966. The ASWSC&CS allowed the development of improvements in antisubmarine warfare using digital computers, which were implemented in other ASW ship classes. UNIVAC was contracted to define the hardware and develop the software to incorporate ASW functions.

See also

• Air Defense Control Center
• Combat Information Center
• Joint Tactical Information Distribution System
• Mission Control Center
• Tactical communications
• MIL-STD-1397
• Advanced combat direction system

External references

• David L. Boslaugh (1999). When Computers Went to Sea: The Digitization of the United States Navy. IEEE Computer Society Press. ISBN 0-7695-0024-2.

External links

• UNIVAC-NTDS: UNIVAC 1206, AN/USQ-20 – From the Antique Computer website
• USS King
• Naval systems - VIP Club - retirees from UNISYS and Lockheed Martin MS2
• Engineering Research Associates (ERA)-Remington Rand-Sperry Rand Records, 1945-1988, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. See series Jay A. Kershaw Records, 1955-1965 including day files and memoranda related to his work as peripherals manager on the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) at Sperry Univac.
• First-Hand:No Damned Computer is Going to Tell Me What to DO - The Story of the Naval Tactical Data System, NTDS Chapter 1 of 9, by David Boslaugh - An account of the development of the Naval Tactical Data System, the first digitized weapon system in the US Navy. With photographs, anecdotes and personal recollections of the events and technology, from IEEE Global History Network.
• First-Hand:The Anti-Submarine Warfare Ship Command and Control System - The First Spin Off from the Naval Tactical Data System from IEEE Global History Network.