ROFLMAO It was worth the wait.
You need to get out on the water and try out some of the things you've
read and heard about, Jax.
The first part tells me (actually confirms that which was known) that
you have no practical experience with navigation (piloting and running
fixes in particular) and in fact are limited to what you've read and heard.
The second part confirms you've never used an RDF (again you are
paraphrasing what you've read or heard) .... I'll skip the errors.
Basically, what you've written is a very, VERY basic description of how
a RDF works, with errors in comprehension.
Question: What does "Ships didn't have mobile radio compasses, so they
weren't aligned each time they were used ...", refer to?

otn