The Mark 8 Fire Control Computer was developed by

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mul ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was initially requested by the USN

Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959. History Congress established the Bureau in the Depart ...

as an alternative to the Ford Instruments Mark I Fire Control Computer, in case supplies of the Mk I were interrupted or were unable to be manufactured in the required numbers. The Mk 8 computer used all electric methods of computation, in contrast to the Mk 1, which performed most computations via mechanical devices. The Mk 8 was found to be more accurate than the Mk 1 and substantially faster in reaching a fire control solution, but by the time it was developed and tested in 1944, supplies of the Mk 1 were found to be sufficient in quantity. The USN extensively tested the Mk 8 and may have incorporated some of its technology into the post war Ford Instruments Mk1A computer. The Mk 8 technology was similar to that used in the M9

gun data computer The gun data computer was a series of artillery computers used by the U.S. Army for coastal artillery, field artillery and anti-aircraft artillery applications. In antiaircraft applications they were used in conjunction with a director. Variat ...

used by the US Army for coast defence fire control and in the

SCR-584 radar The SCR-584 (short for '' Set, Complete, Radio # 584'') was an automatic-tracking microwave radar developed by the MIT Radiation Laboratory during World War II. It was one of the most advanced ground-based radars of its era, and became one of the ...

system computer.

Notes

References

* {{cite journal , title = Electrical Computers for Fire Control , author1 = W.H.C. Higgins , author2 = B.D. Holbrook , author3 = J.W. Emling , url = https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/1982/03/man1982030218/13rRUxASuje , url-access = subscription , journal = Annals of the History of Computing , volume = 4 , issue = 3 , date = July–September 1982 , pages = 218–244 , publisher = IEEE , doi = 10.1109/MAHC.1982.10026 , s2cid = 18464927 , ref = {{SfnRef, Higgins, 1982 Anti-aircraft artillery Military computers Artillery operation Fire-control computers of World War II