I don't think I broke National Security, but I think I am telling a story that needs to be told, and give credit to the one that may be the true father of the Internet -- President Ronald Reagan.

By the way, I do have a Thank You from that President...

By the way, I do have a Thank You from that President...

That is a Thank You Letter that I received from that president. But how I received that letter had aspects of the two projects I worked -- in the date of the letter -- a very interesting coincidence...

In 1985 LA 688 class subs werent even online.
637’s were the first line of attack

But did Advanced Los Angeles subs exist? Were they being tested during this time?

The first line might have been SSN-637, but the US Navy, for some reason, tests other boats before putting them in service.

There was a real test of these newer boats/ships where the ship's skipper objected vehemently to a test firing of missiles when in point of fact there was concrete in the missile tubes... That particular story is highly classified...

I stand corrected. L0L

I’m a bit biased L0L

We wont go there.

There were more 688’s then than I remember L0L

The proving ground for the technologies that became the Internet was Alohanet, which deployed in 1970.

Because it was a radio network, it was the first to realize the need for access control, and perhaps by accident, it stumbled upon the correct answer - Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection. The “professionals” always seemed to lean towards deterministic systems - Time Division Multiple Access, Token Ring, etc. Alohanet proved that non-deterministic systems worked better.

When Bob Metcalf and the folks at Xerox PARC invented Ethernet, it was the lessons of Alohanet that inspired them.

The DARPA funding and resulting network of that time was very important in building an internet/intranet.

However, what you are talking about does not have much bearing on SDI/SSI/USS Lake Erie...

The Ethernet is the worst networking design. ATM or SONET are a much more superior way to do a network (using some sort of "wiring", whether it fiber or copper or some other wire).

One of the key criticisms (from media/Democrats) was that SDI could not be built because the problem of networking critical data.

What I am talking about resolved those issues. It also provided the means for building backbones for the internet/intranet (read DS-3 circuits, OC12, OC48, etc).

This is messed up. First, to my knowledge, NO Los Angeles class subs were ever fitted with concrete in launch tubes. SOME Ohio class subs were after the START talks the led to a reduction of tubes. Second, having studied Reagan's diaries and biographies pretty extensive, it is safe to say that he rarely if ever talked about computers. It is clear he intuitively knew the power that the American infosys industry had over the Soviets; and many computer technologies were banned from being sold to the USSR; but Reagan was not a "techie" in that sense.

He always said he thought SDI would take about 20 years, but that we needed to start.

He also had "good luck." The Ohio class subs went into the water shortly after his inauguration. I think the OHIO herself went on sea trials two months later.

Reagan has enough genuine accomplishments we can celebrate without trying to attribute the internet to him: that was already underway through DARPA and some universities.

With the help of a radar ship, the USS Lake Erie (Aegis Cruiser, not Aegis Destroyer) gets a bullseye — it explodes the hazardous fuel high above the earth.

Then later in the summer, the USS Lake Erie names two more bulleyes by firing two missiles at a scud like test missile.

This must be the “failed” missle defense system Obama will kill as POTUS. Dont let him do it!! (Or give him the chance to try, for that matter).

He always said he thought SDI would take about 20 years, but that we needed to start.

It has been 20+ years since the events I have been talking about -- but agreements with other nations have prevented some work...

I will concede that Reagan was not a techie, but his gift was to delegate to others. Some of those, in his inner circle, delegated to others...

At the time of this project, it was during the Cold War, and being able to detect and locate Soviet Subs was a critical mission.

That is clearly part of this story, but much of the interesting things that goes on in the Pentagon are black box projects.

For example before the F117 Nighthawk or B2, there was another Stealth aircraft. What became of it?

Computer technology in the early 1980's was surging ahead in all areas -- except one. That was networking.

To have a networking system to relay data at extremely high speeds (DS3 circuit speeds -- 45 megabits per second) did not exist.

But this particular project was a start in that direction.

Without knowledge of what was state of art at Bell Labs, I really don't know who might have been first.

But there is a story that when this system was first deployed on US surface warship, it did not seem to have trouble in locating a pesky Soviet sub. This might have been troubling to the Soviet leadership at the time -- to know that there submarine fleet was suddenly vulnerable...

F-22 Raptor was in early development then.

Yes, I'm aware of the advances in subs. We wrote about them in our 1984 book, "Trident," which not only was up to date in terms of the Ohio class ships, but made suggestions on future uses of the hulls that are now being put into effect.

There was a predacessor to the F117 and B2, as well as F22.

It became an obsolete aircraft, though I had PC game base on it. It was the F19. That was the aircraft I was referring to.

I don't if it was our first attempt, but it was given an "F" number. I think DoD did some things to deliberately confuse people using numbers on projects...

But the thorough process of testing for DoD did pay some dividends.

The original "Peacemaker" missile had a flaw in its guidance system chip.

The DoD tracked this down to a Defense Contractor talking on the phone to his girlfriend and clicking his mouse (might have been something else) on the chip design.

He inadvertently changed a gate that made the "Peacemaker" fall to earth on the first test firing.

The DoD confronted the person and gave the person two options. One was to become a civilian employee of the Air Force in Alaska (might have even been Norther Alaska). The other option was to be prosecuted by the full force of the US Government. I believe the guy became a Civilian employee...