Auxiliary vessel and crew

While many of us work hard to keep our charting skills sharp, we have also come to rely more heavily on the Global Positioning System (GPS). As GPS systems become increasingly precise in pinpointing our location, our natural reliance on that technology tends to grow. But there are imperfections in GPS technology that are not addressed by this improved precision.

Actually, these imperfections may be magnified the same time as our dependence and confidence in GPS grow. In other words, we run the risk of putting blind faith in something that might steer us wrong someday.

We all know that our GPS equipment can potentially fail one day: bad batteries, lightning, a damaged cable, etc. So we carry paper charts and practice navigating with them. But what happens if the GPS appears to still be working, but it’s wrong?

How could that happen? GPS signals can be jammed – either intentionally or unintentionally. Certain conditions can cause erroneous or fake signals to be received by a GPS receiver. Under these conditions, your GPS can think you are in a spot that you are not. If you are using an electronic chartplotter, it will place your ship in the wrong spot on the chart.

Oates checking test equipment

Captain Richard J. Hartnett, USCG, head of the Department of Engineering at the Coast Guard Academy, points out that despite these risks "many vessels today rely on sole-means GPS/DGPS for restricted visibility harbor entrance/approach." Instead, he believes that "it would make a lot of sense for a receiver to use 'all means available' (i.e. all signals available) in the harbor entrance and approach environment; possibly to detect and correct any GPS anomalies."

What other means (signals) are available? Another source of positioning signal widely deployed is Loran-C. Capt. Hartnett believes that an enhanced version of these signals can be used along with GPS signals to create an integrated navigation system more resistant to these anomalies.

To determine the feasibility of this approach, the Coast Guard Academy, the USCG Loran Support Unit and Alion Science & Technology have teamed up to more deeply analyze the behavior of Loran signals and their potential use in this regard. Since Loran signals themselves are also affected by the environment through which they pass (through, around and bounced off of buildings for example) a critical phase of their project was to determine how enhanced Loran-C signals would behave at precisely selected locations in NY Harbor.

Capt. Hartnett described this phase of the project best: "This effort, which directly supports the Departments of Homeland Security and Transportation, amounts essentially to doing an electronic navigation survey of NY Harbor. The survey will consist of gathering GPS, DGPS, WAAS, and Loran-C information, in an effort to determine whether DIFFERENTIAL eLoran … can be used as part of an integrated fix solution to meet required harbor entrance and approach accuracies."

Smith at helm

Alion Science & Technology Co. personnel were to supply test equipment and perform the actual measurements. Taking these measurements would be no small effort. The teams from Alion Science and the Coast Guard needed measurements taken from a vessel throughout NY Harbor. Some of the measurements would require a slow bell along a pre-defined track running a total of 35 nautical miles.

More challenging would be 50 fixed point measurements throughout the harbor. To meet the accuracy requirements of these measurements, the vessel providing the platform would need to hold station within a 15 foot diameter circle for fifteen minutes. The plan called for 3-4 days of these fixed measurements.

In order to accomplish this mission, they needed a capable crew and vessel that they could rely on over a 5 day period. The vessel had to be large enough to accommodate the test equipment and comfortable enough to spend 5 eight hour days on.

Most importantly, she had to have the maneuverability and a crew capable of the helmsmanship needed to accurately hold station in the rough waters of NY Harbor for 15 minutes at a time. They turned to the Coast Guard officials in Sector New York who in turn reached out to the Auxiliary vessel "Patrolman Walburger" (a.k.a. Launch 5).

Vessel "Patrolman Walburger" is a 52 ft. steel hulled, twin screw vessel that began her life in 1966 as a New York Police Department patrol launch. Restored by Auxiliarist Greg Porteus, Operations Officer for Flotilla 67 and put back in service in 2002, she now serves Flotilla 67 in the Auxiliary's First Southern District.

Holding close to buoy

Faced with the opportunity to serve a worthy cause – and sharpen skills at the same time – Auxiliarist Porteus agreed to take on the mission and began recruiting crew. Auxiliarist Bill Smith began communicating with Sector New York and the team at Alion Science to confirm requirements, timeframes etc.

Since this mission covered 5 weekdays, recruiting employed volunteers to crew would be a challenge. Greg's commitment of all five days and Bill's commitment of two didn’t quite get them all the crew they needed. The call went out to flotilla members willing to sacrifice vacation days. Auxiliarists Rich Detz, Paige Flori, Ted Foster, Janet Morra, Jim Picciano, Pete Van Markwyk and Lynn Valenti all stepped up to take tours of duty as deckhands and pilots. Jon Romero, Division 6 Operations Officer got right on the job of securing orders for all six days.

With the roster all set and orders requested, Smith focused on firming up additional logistics. He contacted Alion Science and obtained an advance list of all coordinates and tracks to be covered and cross-referenced them against all NY Harbor security zones. After making proper notifications with Sector NY and securing appropriate authorization for all locations, they were pre-programmed them into "Launch 5's" navigation system – a step that would prove to be a time-saver once the mission got underway.

Launch 5 left Ossining, NY to meet up with Christian Oates from Alion Science with all the test equipment. Most of the day was spent loading and installing equipment and performing some calibration rides through the harbor. Since the station was to be the base of operations for the week, permission had been obtained to leave the Auxiliary vessel there overnight all week. The Auxiliarists were ferried to Manhattan by two USCG 25 foot patrol boats and caught a train home.

Mission of the day was to slowly traverse a pre-programmed track around the entire shoreline of NY Harbor as well as some tracks down the middle. After the crew arrived at MOTBY by car, they were joined again by Christian Oates and LT Dave Lown from the USCG Loran Support Unit. They circumnavigated NY Harbor following the pre-programmed path. It was a full day for the crew who drove home after the patrol was secured.

The goal for day three was to attack as many of the fixed measurement points as possible in an eight hour patrol. After getting underway, Auxiliarist Porteus spotted a suspicious boat being offloaded from a freighter and taking flight. After conferring with Sector New York on landline, we stayed behind the suspicious boat past until a USCG boarding team could be deployed.

That detour cost us a bit of valuable time so we got right back to the task at hand and headed for our first fixed measurement point, which was a specific buoy. Of course, it is not permitted to tied up to a buoy so Auxiliarist Smith had to hold the launch several feet off the buoy using the engines alone.

The first attempt was a little nip and tuck, but two of the Alion Science team members on board had some experience with this type of maneuver. With some advice from them and a bit of practice they were able to keep the launch within three feet of the buoy for the required fifteen minutes. This was better than the 15 foot requirements laid out by the test plan. Over the next two days of similar measurements, both Auxiliarists Porteus and Picciano proved equally proficient at holding accurate position. All agreed that it was great training.

Another grueling day of holding station and tying up at various locations making fixed measurements. While day three had been very productive, not all planned measurements were taken as required. So day four was a little bit about playing catch-up. The crew maintained focus and pushed on to as many points as they could. With Auxiliarist Porteus at the helm, all goals were met. Since a number of measurements required tying up at some piers the crew got a good workout handling the lines and fenders.

Day five called for the completion of the fixed measurement points. With Auxiliarist Picciano providing the able helmsmanship, all points were successfully measured. In fact, despite having to fight his way through a couple of squalls in the harbor, he was able to accomplish a few additional points that had been added to the list. At the end of the day, the skies cleared and all the electronics were broken down and offloaded.

During the mission the coxswains and crew each traveled a total of approximately 200 nautical miles. 252 man hours were devoted each mission day for travel, preparation and mission time.

Overall, this mission can be declared a success on several fronts. Aspects of planning and logistics, crew response, technical planning and helmsman training were all rated high in our mission debrief. All the underway time provided great opportunity to cross-train all crewmembers in various activities.

Even those that weren't able to attend also pitched in, namely Auxiliarists Cliff Forrest and Mike Murphy. But the final word on the success of the mission goes to Capt. Hartnett when he wrote to say: "Our team had a very successful trip, thanks to your efforts and those of your New York team -- Lots of great data that will help us tell the story on what can and cannot be accomplished in New York -- Sincerest thanks for your efforts to make this happen!"