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Did the U.S. Navy adopt the term RADAR in 1940?

Question asked:

“The term "RADAR" (Radio Detection and Ranging) was adopted by the U.S. Navy in 1940.”
True
Confidence: High Checked on November 3, 2026

Summary

The United States Navy coined the acronym “RADAR” (Radio Detection and Ranging) in 1940, and the term was adopted by the Navy that year. This is confirmed by several historical accounts and reference entries.

Sources 58 searched

faa.gov
npr.org
spartan.edu
  • The History of Radar | Spartan College

    The original term for this type of radar was RDF (Radio Detection Finding.) In 1940, the United States Navy coined the term we use today-Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging.)

en.wikipedia.org
  • Radar in World War II - Wikipedia

    The Navy also adopted versions of the Army's SCR-584 (without the M-9 unit but with gyro-stabilizers) for shipboard search radars, the SM for fleet carriers and the SP for escort carriers.

  • History of radar - Wikipedia

    This was followed by a ship-borne ... the use of a Chevrolet steering wheel in the operator's compartment. The SW1C was first tested at sea in mid-May 1941, but the performance was so poor compared to the Royal Navy's Model 271 ship-borne radar that the Royal Canadian Navy eventually adopted the British ...

  • Radar - Wikipedia

    It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for "radio detection and ranging".

usni.org
radomes.org
  • SCR-270 HISTORICAL NOTES by Don Helgeson,

    The mere existence of the unstable, ... budget and man power was diverted to radar research. Also check Alan Douglas` article in the Antique Wireless Assn., Old Timers Bulletin `91. ... The U.S. Navy adopted Capt. S. M. Tuckers 1940 acronym: "RADAR", derived from: RAdio Direction ...

ibiblio.org
  • HyperWar: Radar: A Report on Science at War

    The Navy coined the word "radar" as an abbreviation for radio detection and ranging--and this convenient term was soon adopted by common consent in the United States and subsequently, in 1942, was officially adopted by the British. An important step in unifying research and development activities on radar in the United States and in breaking the ground for entirely new techniques was the establishment on 27 June 1940 by a presidential Executive order, or an independent agency called the National Defense Research Committee to "correlate and support scientific research on the mechanisms and devices of warfare."

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