Triangulation requires an angle and only two observers. What you're proposing is trilateration, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateration http://en.wikipedia.

Triangulation requires an angle and only two observers. What you're proposing is trilateration, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateration I suspect it'd be challenging to get reliable and precise enough measurements from multiple detectors as close to each other as they'd have to be on a single ship. Three ships, perhaps a different story.