The possibility of completely automatizing the navigation of merchant ships has been the subject of a recent study and prototype anti-collision radar equipment has already been engineered and evaluated. Indications are that, particularly from an economic point of view, there is little likelihood of such equipment going to sea in the foreseeable future, if it is accepted that a principle aim of any such system should be to reduce manning requirements below three watch-keeping deck officers and a captain. The main reason is that complex navigational problems exist at the beginning and end of the voyage and the presence of a trained watch-keeping deck officer offers the most economic solution to these problems. Detailed analysis of these navigational problems shows that the simple application of automatization techniques to existing equipment offers improved, standards of navigational efficiency and thus increased safety and higher productivity. A new radar plotting system, the Decca 969/ARP, is designed to assist a single watch-keeping deck officer to navigate more efficiently by automatizing certain difficult navigational tasks now performed manually.

That the economic need for automatic or semi-automatic navigational equipment and the design of such equipment is a relatively complex matter is illustrated by the recent very full report issued by the U.S. Maritime Administration. It was clear by 1958 that new navigational radar equipment would be required; a design study was therefore commenced.