Thanks for this as I was wondering what kind of equipment was being described. For a container ship not withstanding a warship, the example is the most un-ergonomic, impractical control system I have seen in a long while -designed in an office for use in an office! It doesn’t seem to take into consideration turning moments, heeling moments and the general heave, sway and yaw of a real vessel at sea.
SOLAS? Sound-powered phones rarely used? Are you talking about Navy ships?
Merchant and bain of my life as they usually fail during annuals!
A broadcast communication system alone would not work on a Navy ship given the number of systems. Communication channels are computed using N(N-1)/2 with N being the number of communication end points or nodes
So for two nodes there is one channel, with four nodes the channels increase to six. Twenty one channels with eight users etc.
According to this a Navy ship can have up to 30 or more sound-powered circuits.
On a merchant ship typically there is normally only two or three people using the radio at the same time. Maybe four or five at the most.
Fair comment. We use a different UHF channels for our 4 tugs but a single channel for exercises and emergencies. Each crew member has a radio which means they are kept in the loop and maintain situational awareness -well if they bother to switch it on!
But not a replacement for a sound powered phone for emergency purposes.
that’s why you check them every month!
Yep, that’s what should happen…