What Willie said. The captain usually delegates that responisbility to the officer of the deck (OOD). As soon as the Captain steps on the bridge, the first person who spots him or her (usually the junior OOD (JOOD) an enlisted person) announces "Captain's on the bridge". At that point the OOD and others on the bridge will give the CO a complete briefing on the ships condition, course, heading, and other vessels in the area. The captain will either take the con or let it remain in the OOD's hands. If it's a nice day, the Captain will go on the starboard bridge wing and sit in his/her chair. If not, the captain will sit in his/her chair just inside the starboard bridge wing door. NOBODY else sits in those chairs.
Must be nice to be on a vessel where there are six people to do every job. On a working vessel (for profit) there can be as few as two licensed deck officers, the guy that fills out all the paper work and signs all the forms gets the "Captain" label the other guy gets the 2nd Captain or Mate label. Both usually have the same license and experience. Everybody shares the bridge chairs and everybody, deck officers, Deckhand's, AB's, Engineer's, cooks, galley hands, Etc., dine at the same table and ride in the same crew truck. The guy at the wheel is called, "Whitey, "Red", "Goldie", "Blackie", "Mikee", "Billy", "Boudreauz", "Stinky", "Flounder", "Crash", "Buster", "AJ" or if he's real green "Jodee". Just call them by name. Now if you are playing boat, use all those military sounding names, if you need to.
Must be nice to be on a vessel where there are six people to do every job. On a working vessel (for profit) there can be as few as two licensed deck officers, the guy that fills out all the paper work and signs all the forms gets the "Captain" label the other guy gets the 2nd Captain or Mate label. Both usually have the same license and experience. Everybody shares the bridge chairs and everybody, deck officers, Deckhand's, AB's, Engineer's, cooks, galley hands, Etc., dine at the same table and ride in the same crew truck. The guy at the wheel is called, "Whitey, "Red", "Goldie", "Blackie", "Mikee", "Billy", "Boudreaux", "Stinky", "Flounder", "Crash", "Buster", "AJ" or if he's real green "Jodee". Just call them by name. Now if you are playing boat, use all those military sounding names, if you need to.
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I call the guy at the helm who crossed my bow and cut me off an
A$$Hole![:-eyebrows]
A$$Hole![:-eyebrows]
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Touche!
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"The Army has boats. The Navy has ships unless they travel underwater, then they are boats"
Then if a Navy ship sinks is it then a boat?
Then if a Navy ship sinks is it then a boat?
He's helming the boat. Helm has both a noun and verb usage;
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/helm
The only time you drive a boat is if the boat is pulled by mule or ox.
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If you are carrying nukes, you need to.
I have traversed the Strait of Malacca too many times to remember. The first time, my CO (a 30+ year sailor) was on the bridge for the entire transit. It was at night. I remember asking him:
"Skipper, it's 0200. Don't you need to get some rest?"
He handed me a set of binoculars and told me to look at the bridge of an approaching ship. It's position was at about 1100 to us. He then told me to get with the navigator and determine its speed. He then asked me what was its speed and what did I see.
I said, "Sir, I saw no person on the bridge and her speed is about 16 knots."
He said, "Exactly Lieutenant. I'm on the bridge because they don't have anybody there and I'm responsible for this ship and her crew. Could you get one of the cooks to grab me another cup of coffee and a sandwich please."
Trust me. We were not "playing boat".
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Coasties always assumed you Navy guys, on the bridge at 0200, were playing....oh, well, nevermind. Not getting banned tonight, either.
But good-natured rivalry aside, I agree with your point wholeheartedly. And it's an anecdote that goes far in illustrating what sets a Captain apart from an operator.
Navy have the same standard for midwatch coffee? Kinda stuff that'll strip paint and melt most people's stomach?
But good-natured rivalry aside, I agree with your point wholeheartedly. And it's an anecdote that goes far in illustrating what sets a Captain apart from an operator.
Navy have the same standard for midwatch coffee? Kinda stuff that'll strip paint and melt most people's stomach?
No problem NC.... We Merchies usually had the same opinion you do.
A whole lot of the manning scale is dependent on who is footing the bill. The taxpayer is perceived to have more $$$ than a private owner or corporation. Some companies/vessels actually got the crew size down to less than 10 for a while, but it meant everyone put in some LONG hours (at least 12 hrs/day often longer). However new safety regulations mandated larger crews to keep the fatigue level down.
A lot depends on how many "toys" you have and the run you're on. An Atlantic crossing on an automated diesel ship doesn't require many crew; bouncing along the coast with lots of "stuff" to deal with requires a lot more manpower.
http://www.marinetechpublishing.com/images/PDF/short/ManningProblem-SeamanshipInternational-0807.pdf
http://www.adn.com/evos/stories/EV329.html
A whole lot of the manning scale is dependent on who is footing the bill. The taxpayer is perceived to have more $$$ than a private owner or corporation. Some companies/vessels actually got the crew size down to less than 10 for a while, but it meant everyone put in some LONG hours (at least 12 hrs/day often longer). However new safety regulations mandated larger crews to keep the fatigue level down.
A lot depends on how many "toys" you have and the run you're on. An Atlantic crossing on an automated diesel ship doesn't require many crew; bouncing along the coast with lots of "stuff" to deal with requires a lot more manpower.
http://www.marinetechpublishing.com/images/PDF/short/ManningProblem-SeamanshipInternational-0807.pdf
http://www.adn.com/evos/stories/EV329.html
Dave, I was not diss'n the USN, I was talking about playing boat on a private yacht. On a commercial vessel the watch stander would not have to consult with the navigation department to get the course and speed of an approaching vessel. That information could be determined in a few minutes by the watch stander taking s simple radar plot right there in the wheel house.
Right... on a commercial (or private) vessel the watchstander IS the navigation department, and often the helmsman, lookout and radio operator as well. Things get busy sometimes; but it has it's advantages (the decision-making-chain is VERY short).
Got it.
The old man was trying to teach me something. In that I remember it all these years later, I guess it worked.
Radar? Is radar that giant screen door thingy that goes around in a circle? They were retrofitting one on the ship as I was leaving. They had to remove the crows nest to fit it though.
In all seriousness though, this guy was a stickler on celestial nav and parallel rulers. I heard (can't confirm) he was part of the crew that was sent to raise hell at the academy when they wanted to drop celestial nav because this thing called GPS was coming on line.
HHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMM.