Sperry Marine
Encyclopedia
Sperry Marine is a division of Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...

. The company manufactures many types of marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 equipment such as marine radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

s, gyrocompass
Gyrocompass
A gyrocompass­ is a type of non-magnetic compass which bases on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of our planet to automatically find geographical direction...

es, and navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...

 equipment. Sperry Marine was formed in 1997 from three well-known brand names in the marine industry - Sperry Marine, Decca Radar
Decca Radar
The Decca Company, a British gramophone manufacturer that, as Decca Records, released records under the Decca label, contributed to the British war effort during the Second World War...

, and C. Plath. Sperry Marine was acquired by Litton Industries
Litton Industries
Named after inventor Charles Litton, Sr., Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States, bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001.-History:...

 in 1996, followed by the Racal-Decca marine electronics business unit in 1997. They were combined with another Litton company, C. Plath, to create a single integrated worldwide supplier of navigation, communication, information and automation systems for commercial marine and naval markets. Northrop Grumman acquired Litton Industries in 2000.

The corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters is a term used to describe the entity at the top of a corporation to take full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, ensures Corporate Governance...

 of the company are located in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...

, USA, with European headquarters in New Malden
New Malden
New Malden is a town and shopping centre in the south-western London suburbs, mostly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and partly in the London Borough of Merton, and is situated from Charing Cross...

, UK, and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Germany.

History

The Sperry Gyroscope Company was founded in 1910 by Elmer A. Sperry, a noted engineer and inventor, who patented the first ballistic marine gyrocompass in 1911. During World War I, Sperry continued in the development of new-generation gyrocompass products, and also pioneered the development of gyro fire control
Fire control
control of fire 'control of fire' is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, or reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving a fire of fuel, oxygen or heat ....

 and autopilot
Autopilot
An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. An autopilot can refer specifically to aircraft, self-steering gear for boats, or auto guidance of space craft and missiles...

 systems. In 1928, Elmer Sperry sold the Sperry Gyroscope Company to North American Aviation
North American Aviation
North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service...

. In a subsequent corporate reorganization, it became the Sperry Corporation. During World War II, the company grew rapidly in response to the surging demand for marine gyrocompasses and radio direction finders (RDF) for the U.S. and Allied navies.

Following the war, Sperry Marine continued to solidify its position as the leading supplier of marine gyrocompasses and took the lead in developing integrated bridge
Bridge (ship)
The bridge of a ship is the room or platform from which the ship can be commanded. When a ship is underway the bridge is manned by an OOW aided usually by an AB acting as lookout...

 systems for the commercial marine and naval markets. It also made a number of marine radio direction finder (RDF) systems for civilian mariners. During the 1970s, Sperry sourced many of its products from Japanese manufacturers, who could provide mass production electronic systems and radios at much less cost.

The Sperry Marine Ring Laser Inertial Navigator

The most substantial developments in ship's navigation in the latter half of the twentieth century were the introduction of the Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...

 (GPS), and the development of the Ring Laser Gyroscope based inertial navigation system.

The Sperry Corporation had developed the MK-16 Ring laser gyroscope
Ring laser gyroscope
A ring laser gyroscope consists of a ring laser having two counter-propagating modes over the same path in order to detect rotation. It operates on the principle of the Sagnac effect which shifts the nulls of the internal standing wave pattern in response to angular rotation...

 (RLG) based navalized stable element for aircraft carrier use in the late seventies and early eighties. This system was primarily used for the aircraft landings and provided a stable source for ship's attitude information to the glide slope system. The MK-16 also found use on the USS Belknap (prototype) and Charles F. Adams-class destroyers as a stable source for the Mk 68 Mod 19 Gun Fire Control system (digital upgrade).

In the mid-1980's NATO announced its intentions to acquire a replacement inertial navigation system based upon RLG technology. The initial NATO Ships Inertial Navigation Systems committee consisted of member countries Canada, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, and the U.S. in an observer capacity. This program became known as the NATO Ship's Inertial Navigation System (or NATO SINS). Sperry
Sperry
-Persons:*Armstrong Sperry , American author and illustrator*Brett Sperry , American video game designer*Carlos A. Sperry, Democratic President of the West Virginia Senate from Greenbrier County, served 1872-1872...

, Rockwell International
Rockwell International
Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation....

, Litton
Litton Industries
Named after inventor Charles Litton, Sr., Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States, bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001.-History:...

, and SAGEM
SAGEM
SAGEM was a major French company involved in defence electronics, consumer electronics and communication systems.In 2005, Sagem merged with SNECMA to form SAFRAN...

 comprised the initial field of competitors. As development of the systems approached sea-trials, the competition was between Rockwell, Litton and Sperry.

In the spring of 1989 the competitive systems were trialed aboard ships from the member countries. The Sperry Marine RLG SINS went to sea aboard the Royal Dutch Navy's Research Vessel Tiedemann.

In late 1989 the remaining NATO SINS committee countries (Spain, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom) awarded Sperry Marine a contract to build the NATO SINS. Canada had withdrawn from the committee and in its observer role, the U.S. did not participate in the procurement.

NATO SINS was a parallel development of a product known as the MK49 RLG SINS. The differences between the MK49 and NATO SINS were predominantly in the interfaces required by NATO and undamped inertial position performance. In 1992, Sperry was awarded a contract by the then Transfield Shipbuilding Company for provision of the MK49 to the ten ship class of the Anzac class frigate
Anzac class frigate
The Anzac class is a ship class of ten frigates; eight operated by the Royal Australian Navy and two operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy...

 (eight for Australia, two for New Zealand).

In 1995, the U.S. Navy followed NATO and Australia by ordering its own variant of the Sperry Marine RLG, the WSN-7 Inertial Navigation System. The WSN-7 was designed to be a form, fit and functional replacement for the then installed Litton WSN-5 Ships Inertial Navigation System.

From the introduction of the RLG to NATO through the 90's, Sperry Marine followed on with development of a number of variants to the Ring Laser Gyro. These were the MK-39 MOD0 Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS), the MK39 MOD's 1 and 2 AHRS, and the current production systems, the MK-39 MOD3 A, B, and C inertial navigation systems.

Mergers and Acquistions

In 1986 the Burroughs Corporation succeeded in the hostile take over of the Sperry Corporation, forming what would become UNISYS. It was decided to spin off "non-core assets" of which Sperry Marine was considered to be. Sperry Marine was put under the day-to-day management of Sperry Flight Systems, until such time as a suitable buyer could be found. This culminated in the purchase of Sperry Marine by Tenneco in 1987. For a brief period, Sperry Marine was renamed S-P Marine. Newport News Shipbuilding, another subsidiary of Tenneco, was given day-to-day management oversight of the S-P Marine operation.

In 1993, after the successful NATO SINS and Anzac Frigates awards, John Lehman (former Secretary of the Navy in the Ronald Reagan administration) and Associates made a successful offer to purchase Sperry Marine. Former Under Secretary of the Navy, George Sawyer, was the acting on site, day-to-day President and General Manager during the initial period of Lehman and Associates ownership. That responsibility passed to Admiral (retired) Paul David Miller, former CINCLANT in 1995.

After successfully competing for and winning the U.S. Navy's WSN-7 program, Lehman and Associates sold Sperry Marine to the Litton Corporation in 1996. Prior to acquiring Sperry Marine, Litton owned the German marine electronics manufacturer, C Plath. With these two key internationally recognized marine electronics manufacturers, Litton then purchased the Decca Radar franchise. Litton combined the three legacy companies under the Sperry Marine brand name, and continues to exist today.

In 2000, Litton was purchased in its entirety by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

As of this writing, Sperry Marine is a subsidiary group within the Naval and Marine Systems Division of the Electronics Sector of Northrop Grumman.

External links


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