The final standard was signed in Ottawa in November 1957, where the British proposed the name "TIDE" for "Tactical International Data Exchange".
Link 11 was developed by Ralph Benjamin while with the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment (ASWE), Portsmouth.
The NAUTIS (Naval Autonomous Tactical Information System) originally included the Link 11 system as installed in the Royal New Zealand Navy's Leander-class frigates as part of the mid-life upgrades in the 1980s HMNZS Canterbury; NAUTIS versions were also found on the Royal Navy Hunt-class minesweepers.
The roll call mode of operation used in the Link 11 interface requires that each participating unit (PU) respond in turn while all other stations are receiving.
Dual sideband diversity operation and Doppler shift correction features improve reliability and accuracy of data exchange.
SLEW, among other enhancements, provides increased propagation and a more powerful error detection and correction (EDAC) algorithm.
While the option exists to operate in either CLEW or SLEW, all participants in a given Link 11 net must select the same waveform to achieve connectivity between units.