Well power failures caused by anything except an EMP pulse from a nuclear strike or a device built to create an EMP pulse (very very very expensive) are very rare and almost impossible, due to the various redundancy schemes employed by the U.S. seagoing forces.
I mean IF there ever were a power failure, it's not like you could just run an extension cord.
If the ship were to take a more ballistic hit, and lose all power, then all the sextants in the world wouldn't exactly help. It's kinda hard to rig up a sail outta bed sheets on a 378 ft. cutter, and expect them to do anything.
Like I said, when I was in... 1975 to 1982, only the officers were being trained on celestial navigation, in the USCG.
/e I mean this is a pic of a typical 378 foot cutter in the USCG...it happens to be in the Bering Sea, so don't let the size of the waves fool you, it's just 78 foot longer then a football field.
This post was edited by Ghot on Mar 28 2016 09:52am