Everyone on the Bridge of a Ship, especially the Helmsman and Lee Helmsman (the person giving engine orders to Engineering), needs to know who is responsible for giving orders to the helm. It is very important for high reliability. Transferring the Conn (responsibility for giving maneuvering orders to the Helm and Lee Helm) many times without announcing it. The Conning Officer can “switch off” these reports with the command “Belay your headings.” I could make an argument for deleting most of the required reports from the Helmsman to enhance the focus on dramatic action (like torpedo wakes and U-Boats exploding under gunfire), but not every time. When the Conning Officer gives a rudder command like “Right standard rudder” without stating a course, the Helmsman is supposed to report the compass bearings as the ship continues to turn such as “Passing 290 degrees, no new course given passing 300 degrees, no new course given.” This is to remind the Conning Officer that Helmsman is not steering a course, only turning. ![]() Helmsmen not reporting the course every ten degrees following a rudder order without a course. I am not going to guess at the reason for this, but “Left hard rudder” is just wrong. “Left hard rudder.” All rudder orders except “hard rudder” are preceded by the direction left or right. ![]() In this case, order a course to steer is optional. “Meet her” is used when the Conning Officer is steering in a general direction based on a visual reference (like another ship or a surfaced U-Boat) or for such a brief period that stating a course is not particularly useful. The Helmsman’s response to “Meet her” is just “Meet her, aye.” The response to “Steady as she goes” is “Steady as she goes, aye, steering course XXX.” After either order, it is appropriate for the conning officer to order the Helmsman to steer the particular course he wants. A few of the most obvious errors I noted:įrequently misusing “Meet her,” which means using the rudder to check the swing of the ship (i.e., stop turning) with “Steady as she goes,” stopping the turn and steering the course noted by the Helmsman when the order was given. Nobody gives helm orders (Conning Officers) or acts on helm orders (Helmsmen) until they demonstrate they know the standard helm commands and responses. ![]() You don’t want the helmsman turning the rudder to port (left) when you wanted the ship to go starboard (right) to avoid a torpedo. Navy ships conduct many operations very close to each other, like escorting convoys and attacking submarines in the movie Greyhound. This is true in aviation for the communications between the cockpit (like the bridge of a Navy ship) and air traffic controllers and personnel in the control tower coordinating the movement of planes on the ground. Many systems practicing HRO place a great deal of importance on accuracy and clear understanding in verbal communications: standard orders for control and their responses. Standard helm commands and their replies have a direct relation to high reliability. With all its rich detail, I just can’t understand why the filmmakers couldn't get two important technical details right: standard helm commands (including responses from the Helmsman) and courses to station (navigating from one location to another with respect to vessels that are moving).įirst, the standard commands, which you can find explained here. This post isn’t a review of the plot, acting, cinematography, special effects, or windshield wipers. I enjoyed the Tom Hanks rendition of Greyhound.
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