A Helmsman Do Not Just Take the Wheel 05/21/2009
 A Helmsman, sometimes called Wheelman or Steersman, must be able to execute and understand the steering orders given by the Conning Officer. A Conning officer can be the Master of the ship; the Officer on Duty; or the Pilot who gives the order to helmsman and control the ship’s navigation. In this sense, the helmsman must be able to understand and execute steering orders; take the manual steering immediately in high traffic density areas and in other circumstances needed; report to the officer any malfunctions on the steering system and be familiar with the steering system used which includes proper procedures in changing over from manual steering to autopilot to the non follow-up mode and vice versa; the ship’s rudder, steering and maneuvering characteristics of the vessel, etc. In my experience as a deck officer, I used to trick my helmsman by giving them sometimes a wheel command that is apparently endangers the vessel and I will see on how the he respond to it. But sad to say that 90% of them will just obey and execute the command without questioning the conning officer. A helmsman must question the order given by a conning officer if he thinks the command is not safe. Like for instance, the conning officer on a heavily loaded ship wishes to alter course hard to starboard. This will lead to a heavy list to starboard and the worst is it could capsize. A helmsman as well must report to the conning officer that the command has been understood before executing it and after it was executed. This will allow the officer to know if the order has been received correctly and executed properly. One of the key to a Safe Navigation is a great teamwork between the conning officer and the helmsman along with the look-out and other members of the bridge team. To know more of Watchkeeping and download the PPT and PDF on Deck watchkeeping, proceed to the Deckwatch Section. You may also like to read the Duties and Responsibility of a Rating forming part of a Navigational Watch >> CommentsMon, 10 Aug 2009 20:44:59 muzta mag xam tah og watch11 xa huwebesssssssssssss?................... Leave a Reply |  
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