U.S. Navy progress in electronic navigation

The United States Navy has made significant progress towards achieving its goal of equipping every U.S. Navy ship with a certified Electronic Chart Display and Information System-Navy (ECDIS-N) by the end of fiscal year 2004. There have been numerous technical challenges and other obstacles while transitioning from centuries of manually plotting and navigating using paper charts to navigating with electronic charts with automated functions and displays. Training and education continue to be essential elements to achieving success. The enhanced capabilities that electronic navigation systems bring to the fleet will enable the Navy to conduct operations more effectively, more efficiently and with increased margins of safety. This paper presents the historical background on the Navy's transition to electronic navigation, the benefits that could be derived from this transition and the challenges and the future the Navy faces in electronic navigation.