Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Caleb Barrett Laning (born 27 March 1906, Kansas City, Missouri; died 31 May 1991,

Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...

) was a highly decorated naval officer, writer, and technical adviser. Laning is buried in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. He was the nephew of four star Admiral

Harris Laning Harris Laning (October 18, 1873 – February 2, 1941) was a prominent officer in the United States Navy who eventually rose to the rank of Admiral. He was the uncle of Caleb Barrett Laning, who also achieved that rank. Naval career Laning gradua ...

Combat Information Center role

Laning was involved in the development of the U.S. naval

Combat Information Center A combat information center (CIC) or action information centre (AIC) is a room in a warship or AWACS aircraft that functions as a tactical center and provides processed information for command and control of the near battlespace or area of op ...

(CIC) during World War II. The idea was taken "specifically, consciously, and directly" from the spaceship ''Directrix'' in the Lensman novels of

E. E. Smith Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965), publishing as E. E. Smith, Ph.D. and later as E. E. "Doc" Smith, was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the '' ...

, Ph.D., and influenced by the works of his friend, collaborator, and Naval Academy classmate, fellow Missourian

Robert Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

,Wysocki Jr., Edward M
“A Flight of Speculation”
, ''The Heinlein Journal'' 1998, Retrieved July 2011 but for bureaucratic reasons the source of the idea was not disclosed.

References

Writers from Kansas City, Missouri United States Navy admirals Burials at Arlington National Cemetery 1906 births 1991 deaths {{US-navy-bio-stub

Combat Information Center role

See also

References