U. S. NAVY Ship ' S Plaque USS Compass Island (EAG - 153)
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:72836 | Modified Item: No |
| Type: Plaque | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
Original U.S. NAVY Ship Plaque Compass Island (EAG-153) Ship fondly known as CIPlaque was removed from the last skipper's cabin (CAPT Gary Geist) upon active Navy service decommissioning in May 1980 Plaque measures 11 Inches x 9.25 Inches wide - USED ORIGINAL CONDITIONTypical scratches on brassplate as photographed, please study the photos - This plaque is not new or reproduced.Ships USPS Large Flat Rate Box with extrapadding for protection Compass Island (EAG-153)&...nbsp;was launched 24 October 1953as Garden Mariner by the New York Shipbuilding Company, CamdenNew Jersey. Acquired by the Navy 29 March 1956 and commissioned 3 December1956.Compass Island was one of two ships, the otherbeing USS Observation Island (E-AG-154), converted and classified asnavigational research test vessels under the Polaris Missile System. CompassIsland's conversion was at an estimated cost of $19, 600, 000. The ship's mission was to assist in thedevelopment and evaluation of a navigation system independent ofshore-based and celestial aids, a necessary adjunct of the ballisticmissile program. She operated alongthe eastern seaboard testing equipment and training personnel until 13 March1958 when she sailed from New York for experiments in the Mediterranean, returning to New York 17 April to resume her east coast operations. A dramatic example of her work was providedwhen USS Nautilus (SSN-571), using the Shipboard Inertial NavigationalSystem (SINS) first tested by Compass Island in 1957, made a submerged cruise beneath the Artic ice pack, touching exactlyat the North Pole on 3 August 1958. The INS hardware was the N6A-1 built by NorthAmerican Aviation, a naval modification of the N6A designed for theNavaho cruise missile. It had alsobeen installed on the USS Skate (SSN-578), along with the Nautilus, following successful sea trials on the Compass Island. USS Skate reached the North Pole the week after Nautilus, and in the following year became the first vessel to surface at the North Pole.On 10 September 1958, Compass Island enteredNew York Naval Shipyard for overhaul and installation of additionalnavigational equipment to be tested. With this new equipment, she continued her east coast andCaribbean cruising through 1960.Early at-sea gravimeters were pioneered on theship including demonstrations of the first at-sea compensation of verticaldeflection effects. Shipboardevaluations of Electronically Suspended Gyro, still the bulwark of preciseinertial navigation, were conducted in the late 1960?s. Numerous advanced inertial calibration andperturbation techniques were demonstrated employing state-of-the-artcomputational algorithms. Extensivetesting of the Navy Satellite System (TRANSIT) was accomplished in the late1960?s. During the same periodcomprehensive evaluations of early Omega and Loran-C radio navigation systemswere performed. Precise gravity andbathymetric ranges were established which were used to evaluate geophysicalnavigation map matching techniques.Ship was decommissioned, 1 May 1980 and towedto a dry dock in United Kingdom in 2003.
