The National Shipbuilding Research Program. Proceedings of the IREAPS Technical Symposium. Paper No. 17: Navy Computer Aided Ship Design (The National Shipbuilding Research Program)

The Navy program for applying CAD/CAM technology to ship design and construction has undergone a number of changes in the past fen years. To clarify these changes and their relationships, a summary of the history is required as shown in Figure 1. The Naval Sea Systems Command established a computer-aided ship design group in 1952, one year after delivery of the first commercial computer. All of their efforts focused on applying computers to the ship design phases performed by NAVSEA. Based on the success of these efforts, NAVSEA established a program called CASDAC (Computer Aided Ship Design and Construction) in 1966. The objectives of CASDAC were to prove the feasibility of computer application, to verify the benefits, and to foster the use of computers to all phases of ship design and construction. In 1980, this program was renamed the CAD/CAM Program. In 1981, the Navy split the program into two separate but coordinated programs. The "CAM" of "CAD/CAM" became part of a larger effort aimed at the private shipbuilding industry. That program is the shipbuilding Technology Program which in turn is a major segment of the Navy's Manufacturing Technology Program. The "CAD" of CAD/CAM is now called the Computer Supported Design or CSD Program. The remainder of this paper will apply only to the CSD Program.