Marine Navigation 1 : Piloting

358 Pages·1981·15.592 MB·English

by  Richard R. Hobbs (auth.)

Marine Navigation 1: Piloting
Titles in the
Fundamentals of Naval Science Series
Seamanship
Marine Navigation 1: Piloting
Marine Navigation 2: Celestial and Electronic
Introduction to Shipboard Weapons
Introduction to Naval Engineering
Marine Navigation 1:
Piloting
Second Edition
Richard R. Hobbs
Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve
Naval Institute Press
Annapolis, Maryland
Fundamentals of Naval Science Series
Copyright © 1981, 1974
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981
by the United States Naval Institute
Annapolis, Maryland
Third printing 1985, with corrections and revisions
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced without written
permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging Publication Data
Hobbs, Richard R.
Marine navigation.
(Fundamentals of naval science series)
Includes index.
Contents: -1. Piloting
1. Navigation. 2. Pilots and pilotage.
3. Nautical astronomy. 4. Electronics in naviga
tion. I. Title. II. Series.
VK555. H67 1981 623.89 81-9538
ISBN 978-94-011-7372-8 ISBN 978-94-011-7370-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-7370-4
AACR2
To My Parents
Whose guidance set my life
on a steady course
Contents
Foreword xi
Preface to the Second Edition xiii
Chapter
1 The Art of Navigation 1
2 The Shipboard Navigation Department Organization 4
Duties of the Navigator 4
Relationship of the Navigator to the Command Structure 5
The Navigator's Staff 6
3 The Piloting Team 9
The Navigator and His plotter 10
The Bearing Recorder 10
The Bearing Taker 11
The Radar Operator 12
The Echo Sounder Operator 13
The Piloting Team Routine 14
Conclusion 16
4 The Nautical Chart 17
The Terrestrial Coordinate System 18
Chart Projections 23
Chart Interpretation 26
Determination of Position, Distance, and Direction
on a Mercator Chart 31
Production of Nautical Charts 35
The Chart Numbering System 37
The Chart Correction System 43
Summary 50
5 Navigational Publications 51
Catalog of Nautical Charts, Publication No. l-N 51
NOS Nautical Chart Catalogs 56
Coast Pilots 57
Sailing Directions 60
Fleet Guides 63
Light List 65
List of Lights 67
Tide and Tidal Current Tables 69
Pilot Charts 71
Distance Between Ports, Publication No. 151 71
Almanacs 72
Reference Texts and Manuals 74
Publication Correction System 75
m
Sum~ry
6 Visual Navigation Aids 77
Characteristics of Lighted Navigation Aids 78
Identifying a Navigational Light 86
Computing the Visibility of a Light 86
Buoys and Beacons 96
The V.S. Lateral System 97
The IALA Combined Cardinal and Lateral System 104
V se of Buoys and Beacons During Piloting 107
Summary 108
7 Navigational Instruments 110
The Measurement of Direction llO
Measurement of Distance ll3
Measurement of Speed ll4
Measurement of Depth ll8
Plotting Instruments 120
Miscellaneous Instruments 124
Summary 130
8 Dead Reckoning 131
Determining the Fix 132
Principles of the Dead Reckoning Plot 137
The Running Fix 140
The Estimated Position 144
The Track 146
Sum~ry M8
9 Shipboard Compasses 151
The Magnetic Compass 151
The Gyrocompass 163
Summary 169
10 Radar 171
Characteristics of a Surface-Search/Navigational Radar 171
The Radar Output Display 173
vIII Contents
Interpretation of a Radarscope Presentation 176
Use of Radar During Piloting 179
Summary 181
11 Tide 183
Causes of Tide 183
Types of Tides 185
Tidal Reference Planes 187
Predicting Height of Tide 189
The Bridge Problem 200
The Shoal Problem 203
Effect of Unusual Meteorological Conditions 204
S~m~ 004
12 Current 206
Ocean Current 206
Tidal Current 209
Wind-driven Currents 230
Summary 231
13 Current Sailing 232
The Estimated Current Triangle 233
Solving the Estimated Current Triangle 234
The Estimated Position Allowing for Current 235
Determining an EP from a Running Fix 236
The Actual Current Triangle 238
Summary 241
14 Precise Piloting and Anchoring 242
Ship's Handling Characteristics 242
Use of Advance and Transfer During Piloting 245
Anchoring 249
Summary 258
15 Voyage Planning 260
TIme WO
The Voyage-Planning Process 267
Optimum Track Ship Routing 278
Miscellaneous Considerations 280
S~m~ W2
Appendix A, Chart No.1 285
Appendix B. Abbreviations and Symbols Commonly Used in
Piloting 343
Index 345
Contents ix
Foreword
Throughout the history of warfare at sea, navigation has been an
important basic determinant of victory. Occasionally, new members
of the fraternity of the sea will look upon navigation as a chore to be
tolerated only as long as it takes to find someone else to assume the
responsibility. In my experience, such individuals never make good
naval officers. Commander Hobbs has succeeded in bringing together
the information and practical skills required for that individual who
would take the first step down the road toward becoming a competent
marine navigator.
At the outset of this book, the author stresses the necessity for safe
navigation, but there is another basic tenet of sea warfare that this
book serves. The best weapons system man has ever devised cannot
function effectively unless it knows where it is in relation to the real
world, where it is in relation to the enemy, and where the enemy is
in relation to the real world. Not all defeats can be attributed to this
lack of information, but no victories have been won by those who did
not know where they were.
w. P. MACK
VICE ADMIRAL, U.S. NAVY
Although these words were written by Admiral Mack for the first
edition of this book almost ten years ago, they are certainly no less
valid today than they were then. The modern student of navigation
could well take the last sentence to heart, not only as it applies to the
practice of navigation, but also to life in general.
THE AUTHOR
ANNAPOLIS, 1981
Preface to the Second Edition
Marine Navigation 1: Piloting was originally written as a text to
introduce midshipmen attending the U.S. Naval Academy and the
various NROTC colleges and universities to the shipboard navigation
department organization and the principles of piloting as practiced
on board ships of the U.S. Navy .. Therefore, the reader will find a
definite Navy orientation in much of the material presented in this
volume. Nevertheless, because prime emphasis has been placed on
setting down the basic knowledge required for the safe navigation of
any vessel in piloting waters, most of the information herein will be
equally as applicable to navigators of private and commercial craft as
to navigators of Navy surface warships.
Piloting refers to the safe navigation of a surface vessel in and near
coastal and intracoastal waters. It is done primarily with reference to
land and seamarks, as opposed to taking celestial observations or using
electronic navigational aids and systems. Most of the piloting tech
niques discussed in this text are not new; in fact, many were developed
by early seafarers well before the time of Christ, but modern instru
ments and navigational aids have made attainable a degree of accuracy
undreamed of by the ancients. If the inexperienced student navigator
can master the time-tested practical techniques of piloting presented
in this book, he may be confident that he possesses the basic knowl
edge required to navigate any surface vessel safely in the piloting
environment. Moreover, after some practical experience, the student
should have sufficient background to proceed on to other more ad
vanced techniques and navigational texts if he so desires.
The subject of navigation at sea beyond piloting waters by use of
celestial and electronic navigation is covered in detail in the second
volume of this series, entitled Marine Navigation 2: Celestial and
Electronic. Its presentation assumes the student will be familiar with
the basic techniques and nomenclature introduced in this first vol
ume.
While much of the material presented in Marine Navigation 1 is
based upon similar topics covered in standard references such as The
American Practical Navigator (Bowditch) and Dutton's Navigation