then they gave us radios

... I would also say that the United States Navy has been no stranger to the world of networks and information and clearly as a service that relies heavily on technology, we have always had the challenge of communicating over long distances. From the first time we started going to sea and to show that I’m not exactly that far forward a thinker when it comes to cyber, one of my favorite quotes, I’ll also go back to Adm. Arleigh Burke when he said, “going to sea used to be fun and then they gave us radios.”

Some things haven’t changed, as I’ve said. But in a way, the Navy was the first to move to network operations. In fact, the first course that I attended as an ensign in the United States Navy on my way to my first ship was a course in the Naval Tactical Data System, NTDS. So even from my earliest days, we have been involved in networks and the sharing of information in an electronic medium.

We have been operating with integrated sensors and networks that bridge information and operations between our ships, our airplanes, our submarines and now our unmanned systems, guided missiles, satellites, facilities ashore and our computer networks.

Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations

in an address to CSIS discussing Information Dominance