User:Jacob Leon Katz

I worked for RCA Service Company on the DAMP Project aboard the missile tracking ship USAS American Mariner from February 1962 thru September 1964 as the computer field engineer in the Designation Group, responsible for digital and analog computers, ship's gyros and other devices which fed info to the primary digital computer (named RADAP, which stands for Radar Acquisition Director and Programmer). It was also imperative that the ship's precise location were known, and this data was furnished by the other digital computer, an Autonetics Recon II using information supplied by the first navigational satellite, the Transit (satellite). This also required that I also maintain the most elevated piece of hardware 30 feet above the deck (the anemometer which gauged the wind speed), and the lowest,in the bottom hold (the ship's sword, which measured the ship's speed through the water).During my tenure I had occasion to work on both, each of which caused me much anxiety.

Since the primary tracking radars were C-Band radars accurate to 20 feet at a distance of 2000 kilometers, it meant that their search field was extremely narrow, presenting a very small area search function, therefore the radars were steered to the vicinity of the predicted targets by computers enabling them to then lock on. I participated in missions in both the Atlantic and Pacific ranges, including nuclear tests off Johnston Island, in both Operation Dominic and Operation Fishbowl, The large L-Band radar on board was used to map the radiation field in order to determine if it clouded the ability to hide missiles and act as a shield to block detection of anti-missile activity. Missile tracking tests were conducted near Ascencion Island, as well as Russian missile tests in the Northern Pacific, and we also aided in Wally Schirra's Project Mercury space mission by providing the anticipated splashdown location so the carrier Kearsarge could be positioned for recovery. In the Atlantic, our home bases were Port Canaveral, Port of Spain,Trinidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Recife,Brazil. In the Pacific, our home bases were Honolulu, Hawaii; Midway Atoll Island; and San Pedro, California. I considered this employment a great adventure and I have many fond memories of that period of my life and career.