This space was located directly behind the ship's bridge. All the ship's sensors and weapons were controlled from here. There were many consoles and control stations here. While off Vietnam, this area operated as an air traffic control center. Aircraft off the many aircraft carriers "bird farms" were placed under control of Sterett's controllers. Attack and bombing missions were guided to their destinations and back to the carriers. If a pilot was shot down, controllers here would dispatch rescue helicopters for assistance. Sterett's intercept controllers could vector fighter aircraft into attack position on unfriendly targets "bogies". Detection and tracking operators scanned the sea and the sky for new tracks and classified them from unknown to either friendly or hostile. Sonar operators scanned the ocean below Sterett for submarines. Electronic Warfare operators scanned the electronic airwaves for evidence of foreign radars and radio signals. Weapons control operators stood ready to employ any of Sterett's weapons systems on hostile targets that came into range. All systems were tied into the NTDS (Naval Tactical Data System). NTDS centered around several digital computers capable of coordinating all CIC data and making it immediately available to command personnel. The Belknap class ships were the first ships designed from the keel up to incorporate NTDS. This revolutionary system was the forerunner of today's modern Aegis system. The Captain of Sterett no longer fought the ship from the bridge but from within CIC.
Sterett's CIC remained relatively unchanged from 1967 to 1991. Modifications to the equipment were an on-going task to stay current with technological developments. In 1991 Sterett received the NTU (New Threat Upgrade). This total revamping of Sterett's data systems and CIC equipment brought Sterett's capabilities up to Aegis standards.
CIC as originally installed aboard Sterett - This is a large file and may take a
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