Abstract
The paper traces the evolution of remote and automatic control of warships' machinery. It refers to various incidents and developments which have stimulated the application of centralized control rooms outside the machinery spaces and the evolution of new concepts of presentation of data to the operators.
Experience is drawn from the Royal Navy when looking at the historical development of control systems and account is also taken of designs for several other Western navies.
The influence of the rapid advances in control technology is reviewed drawing upon experience of pneumatic systems. analogue electronic designs, and the present concepts for distributed digital installations. The paper also takes a speculative look at future designs particularly with respect to presentation of information to the operator. Lessons learnt along the way are highlighted in relation to manning levels and training requirements which must be borne in mind by the control system designer (and/or specifier) prior to the introduction of new system technologies into the fleet.
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