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The ship’s navigation bridge is manned 24 hours a day, both at sea and in port. The Captain (Master of the Vessel) and other senior officers take "Watch" turns for 4 to 8 hour periods. In addition there are junior officers on the Bridge who are assisting senior officer in order to constantly improve their skills, which will lead to their promotion as senior officers.

The Captain is always in command at times when a ship is arriving and departing a port, when the density of shipping traffic is particularly high, or when visibility is severely restricted by poor weather.

This is a small and very powerful two way propeller located in the bow of a ship to control the bows movement, particularly in docking procedures. Some new ships may also be equipped with thrusters in the stern to provide them with additional manoeuvrability.

Is located as an extended part of the bridge on both the starboard and port sides of the ship and has an engine telegraph located on it. The bridgewing is used by the by the Captain for manoeuvring in and out of port or in emergency situations

This is a Circular Screen located in one of the Bridge windows that rotates at high speed and is driven by centrifugal force to clear rain or sea spray away, in order to provide those on the bridge with the best possible view in inclement weather.

A compass is an instrument that is used as an aide to steer a ship on a selected course and by which bearing can be taken in order to fix a ship’s position on a navigation chart.

There are two types of Compasses

• Magnetic Compass which uses the inherent magnetic forces within the earth
• Gyrocompass which uses properties of gyroscopic inertia and precession, ideally to align itself to a true north-south position

Records and prints out all the courses followed by the ship

Is an echo sounder, which provides a ship with a monitored readout of the depth of water the ship is currently operating in.

These provide a visible reading of the number of revolutions per minute (RPM) being generated by the engines.

An automated fire damper system, which also can be operated manually to stop or control the flow of air to all areas within a ship. Thus reducing the fanning effect on flames and smoke via the air conditioning or fan ventilation systems.

An automated signalling devise that is used to communicate orders between the bridge and the engine room. There will be usually three of these devises installed on a ship, on the bridge and one an each of the bridgewings

A special radio devise that receives meteorological, oceanographic maps and pertinent weather information that is transmitted by maritime broadcast stations throughout the world.

The fire control is located on the bridge and is a red panel which lights will be illuminated on a large plan of the ship when an automated heat and/or smoke senor is set off or a manual fire alarm is activated. The illuminated lights on the large plan will indicate the location of a suspected fire and crew will be sent to take immediate action.

Ships are sectioned off into a number of fire zones and each of these zones can be tightly closed off. Sophisticated new electronic fire detection systems are installed on new ships and older ships are retrofitted in order to increase safety.

An acronym for Global Positioning System. The system uses 24 satellites of which 18 are on line at any given time. These satellites provide an automated accuracy in estimating the ships position to within 6 feet, plus or minus.

Knot 

One nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile equals 6076 feet, compared with a land mile which measures 5280 feet. A nautical mile is equal to one sixtieth of a degree of the earth’s circumference

An angular distance measured in degrees north or south of the equator. One degree is approximately 60 nautical miles

An angular distance measured in degrees east or west of the prime meridian at Greenwich, England. Due to the earth's curvature, one degree of longitude will vary from about 60 nautical miles at the equator to zero at the north and south poles.

Pod Propulsion has been recently introduced in 2000 to the cruise industry and many new cruise ships being built to day are opting for this type of propulsion system. The Pod is an all in one self-contained electrical motor, propeller and rudder that resembles a huge outboard motor that replaces the traditional internal electric propulsion motors, shaft lines, rudders and associated machinery. The Pod pulls water towards it, rather than the traditional propeller pushing water away. When moving forward/ahead the Pod units face the propellers forward of the electric motor pod. The pods are designed to rotate 360 degrees by means of a hydraulic operating steering gear so the ship can go astern or manoeuvre in limited space situations. The ships turning radius is also reduced considerably, along with the considerable reduction in noise and vibration in the stern of the ship.

The Plimsoll Mark or Line is a Circular disc of 12 inches long bisected by a line 18 inches long as a measure of a ships maximum draft that the ships hull can be safely immersed at sea. The UK Merchant Shipping Act of 1890 required that the Plimsoll Mark or Line to be positioned on the sides of a ship in accordance with tables drawn up by competent authorities such as Lloyds Register, Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, and the American Bureau of Shipping. The Plimsoll Mark or Line indicates three different depths that a ship can sail safely in fresh water, salt water for the summer and saltwater for winter. The deck line is shown here for illustration only. Usually the distance between the deck line and the Plimsoll mark is greater than shown here.

Today cruise ships are powered mainly by diesel electric or diesel mechanical propulsion systems with a fixed shaft from the electric motor to the propeller. The latest ships such as the Queen Mary 2 and Coral Princess are powered by gas turbines. The biggest technology advancement in recent years is the introduction of the Pod propulsion systems (please separate description above).

An acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging instrument that is used to detect and display a solid object on a screen by measuring the strength of the electromagnetic signal reflected back to the originating location. The display screen can vary from half a mile to over 70-mile radius depending on the navigator’s requirements. The radar is used as an aide for collision avoidance with other shipping vessels and finding a position via locating navigational marks or charted coastlines.

An operator is enabled to take bearings via radio waves that have been transmitted from a shore radio station. When the operator locates 2 or more bearing radio waves they are able to define to ship’s position.

A devise used to provide a constant readout of the degrees that the rudder angle is to the port or starboard and is predominantly located and very visible from the helm.

Using modern technology the ship’s officers can read on a small television screen the ship’s position in the open sea anywhere in the world, in any weather conditions, at any time with pin point accuracy. Satellite navigation systems use the information that is transmitted from a number of orbiting satellites that are located 450 to 700 nautical miles above the earth’s surface and orbit the earth every 108 minutes. Data from each satellite gives the current orbital position every 2 minutes, by taking this data from the satellites the Satellite Navigator then automatically calculates the ships position, along with, continuously providing the distance from any given point, it calculates the drift caused by the ocean currents and tells the ship when the next satellite will pass. GPS is the latest and most sophisticated navigational tool todate (please see GPS). Another system that is used is the Navigational Command System (NACOS), which collects information from a number of sources such as satellites, radar, compass, speed log and surface navigational aides and systems. It also takes into consideration the ship’s engines, thrusters, rudders and manual human input. It then calculates all the information and displays it one screen.

A ship is equipped with two different methods.

• Electrohydraulic (Telemotor type) – it is an automated transmission from the helm located on the bridge to the steering gear locate in the aft of the ship. This system is usually used when manoeuvring in and out of port or in conditions of heavy traffic or poor visibility.
• Gyropilot (Autopilot) – Is a totally automated computer steering devise and does not require anyone at the helm. There is always one officer at the helm on the bridge observing the Gyropilot to ensure that it is functioning correctly at all times and could switch to Electrohydraulic if required to.

Electronic Chart Precise Integrated Navigation System (ECPINS), this system is the latest and the most sophisticated navigational system. ECPINS combines GPS with an automatic course plotter, video map displays of the ocean, gyrocompass, echo soundings, sonar, doppler log, wind speed and other sources of information to provide at a glance a very comprehensive display of the ship’s current position.

Watertight doors are located throughout a ship and are controlled from a master board located on the bridge. These doors can be closed off electronically or manually to stop and contain flooding within a ship.

Very High Frequency Radio (VHF) is a radio receiver and transmitter that work on a very high frequency wavelength with a line of sight range. It is normally used to communicate with other ships, pilots and port authorities.

 

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Last Modified: 11/25/05