Tech Goes to War

It's raining.

From a blue leather La-Z-Boy on the bridge of the Bonhomme Richard, Navy Capt. Stan Degeus scans the dreary horizon in search of helicopters scheduled to land on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship in just minutes.

Visibility is low.

But Degeus knows precisely where he, his crew of 1,100 and their 40,500-ton ship are.

A monitor above his left shoulder displays a map of Coronado Island and San Diego Bay. A black circle in the center, moving north, marks the ship's position a few miles from shore.

"The dot is where I am," he says.

Although his crew still relies on visual and radar bearings for navigation, Degeus uses the ship's global positioning system as its primary navigation tool. Modern technology blends seamlessly with hundreds of years of maritime tradition aboard the Bonhomme Richard, which, appropriately enough, shares its name with a real 18th century frigate and an imaginary "Star Trek" space ship.

Upgraded equipment forecasts the weather within minutes instead of hours. Internet chat and video teleconferencing connect Navy ships scattered across the world's oceans. E-mail enables sailors and Marines to write home--even send digital photographs--several times a day. Smart cards take the place of cash when buying sodas and other amenities on board.

Unlike military systems of the past, most of the Bonhomme Richard's hardware is straight off the shelf. Standard Dell PCs run modified software. Palm and Pocket PC hand-held devices sync up with the ship's database to provide an up-to-the-minute snapshot of problems on the massive vessel.

Yet despite the technological advancements--the ship even has Sony PlayStation 2 video game consoles aboard--binoculars and plexiglass boards are as necessary today as they were 50 years ago. Because the Navy can take years to upgrade shipboard equipment, sailors often must switch between old and new technologies several times a day.

When the Bonhomme Richard deployed last weekend for the Middle East with its complement of hundreds of Marines, it was equipped with the latest in weather forecasting equipment.

Two days before setting off from San Diego, the crew took the ship to sea for a "fly-on." Nearly 30 aircraft--including SH-60 Seahawk and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters and AV-8B Harrier attack jets--came from Marine Corps and Navy air facilities to touch down on the ship's flight deck. METOC, the ship's meteorology and oceanography systems, earlier in the day distributed a forecast prepared with a new program that more quickly analyzes weather patterns: "A fast-moving cold front ... will bring generally good weather for this morning and showers by this afternoon into the evening."