Rear Admiral Caleb Barrett Laning (born 27 March 1906, Kansas City, Missouri; died 31 May 1991, Falls Church, Virginia) was a highly decorated naval office, writer, and technical adviser. He was involved in the development of the U.S. naval Combat Information Center

Combat Information Center

The Operations Room is the tactical center of a warship or AWAC aircraft providing processed information for command and control of the near battle space or 'area of operations'...

 (CIC) during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The idea was taken “specifically, consciously, and directly” from the spaceship Directrix in the Lensman

Lensman

The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith. It was a runner-up for the Hugo award for best All-Time Series ....

 novels of E.E. Smith, Ph.D., and influenced by the works of his friend and collaborator Robert Heinlein, but for bureaucratic reasons the source of the idea was not disclosed.