Naval Fire Control Computers in the 1950s

Posted February 15, 2010 in Other Gear & Gadgets by Steve Johnson with 19 Comments
Tags: history, military, navy

This US Navy training video at GENE SLOVERS US NAVY PAGES website shows how the 1950s mechanical fire control computers worked. It is explained simply enough for a layman to understand. I found it fascinating to watch. It is crazy to think that the ballistic software on my $199 iPod Touch can do nearly everything that this huge mechanical device did.

UPDATE: Part 2 can be watched online here. Thanks to Steve for the link.

Steve Johnson

I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!