LORAN - History

History

LORAN was an American development, advancing the technology of the British GEE radio navigation system that was used early in World War II. While GEE had a range of about 400 miles (644 km), initial LORAN systems had a range of 1,200 miles (1,930 km). It originally was known as "LRN" for Loomis Radio Navigation, after Alfred Lee Loomis, who invented the longer range system and played a crucial role in military research and development during World War II, but later was renamed to the abbreviation for the more descriptive term. LORAN systems were built during World War II after development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radiation Laboratory and were used extensively by the US Navy and Royal Navy. The RAF also used LORAN on raids beyond the range of GEE.

In November 2009, the USCG announced that LORAN-C is not needed by the U.S. for maritime navigation. This decision left the fate of LORAN and eLORAN in the U.S. to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Per a subsequent announcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, in accordance with the DHS Appropriations Act, terminated the transmission of all U.S. LORAN-C signals on February 8, 2010. On August 1, 2010 the U.S. transmission of the Russian American signal was terminated, and on August 3, 2010 all Canadian signals were shut down by the USCG and the CCG.