User:AN.FSQ-7/SPG-51

Operation
Once a target is found and the decision to engage is made, the Mk. 73 director's Mk 118 computer will point the SPG-51 radar in the direction of the target and generate a search pattern for it. The radar will then look for the target and acquire it. Once the target is acquired, the SPG-51 will automatically track the target and feed angle error and range information to the Mk. 118. The computer then generates fire control data to gun mounts and missile launchers. It also provides missile seeker angle data.

History
Development of the SPG-51 started in 1952. It was the first shipboard pulse-doppler radar. The system was first deployed to the USS Charles F. Adams in 1960.

The system it is part of--the Mk. 73 gun and missile director--began development in 1956. The first prototype was completed in 1958, and the system went into service in 1960.

The SPG-51C reached prototype stage by July 1969.