02/05/2013
Located port side, midships in hangar bay 2, the Ship's Inertial Navigation System, or SINS, is in a small room that can be a little hard to spot. The navigation system in the room uses gyros, accelerometers, and computers to track the ship’s motion in both the north-south and east-west axes. The measurements of the ship's motion gathered from this system would then be measured against the Earth's rotation, which would then be plotted into longitude and latitude. This valuable information was used by pilots to find targets, and then to return to Mother Midway.
The USS Midway Museum's Exhibits team made sure to recreate the SINS as accurately as possible, incorporating it with moving parts, reels, flashing lights and sound effects. The exhibit demonstrates how far technology has advanced in only a few short decades. Make sure not to miss this exhibit next time you're on board, especially if you consider yourself a bit of a techie.
If you ever worked on a SINS, we would love to hear your story!