Black Laser Learning Trains Navy Hydrographers

Each year, the U.S. Navy conducts comprehensive training for U.S. and foreign navy hydrographers. The program known as IHMEP (International Hydrographic Management and Engineering Program) trains U.S. and allied foreign navy personnel to be certified hydrographers through practical training and various marine science and associated curricula.

Navy hydrographers collect hydrographic data to create navy charts, a service essential to the safe passage of ships wherever the navy carry out their military operations and exercises. Obtaining these skills is also critical because errors in charts can lead to groundings or accidental impact with submerged obstructions.

The entire course runs for approximately six months, with Black Laser Learning providing a -day seminar dedicated to operating, interpreting and processing side scan sonar data. The first two days are spent in the classroom, the third in the field collecting data, and the fourth, processing sonar data in the popular, sophisticated SonarWiz program. This is the fifth year Black Laser Learning has provided this specialized training to the U.S. Navy.