Today Honda Point is encompassed by Vandenberg A.F.B, a sprawling 100,000 acre West Coast launch facility for America's ICBM operational test flights, and a variety of government satellites.
The same geography that created the hazard for these ships makes for an ideal launch point.
46350 - 51st MMS/394th MMS (1972-74)
It is called "Dead Reckoning" for a very good reason. Historically speaking, all of those who practiced this technique are now still dead. If you can take a sight occasionally, it is a pretty fair technique. If not, a stray 1-knot current can ruin your whole night at the yacht club.
The hot-dog squadron commander should have been hanged, drawn, and quartered, and then been severely reprimanded, Running at high speed off that coast in a fog with an onshore wind in the dark on a stormy night. It is well to remember that this is the same Navy that brought us Pearl Harbor a few years later.