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Wot!?
All around?
You mean, like, looking out of the fcukin windows?
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Can’t see behind you when you spend all watch sat in the chair.
When you sit in that chair and look out the fu*king window your field of view is +/-180 degr. on most ships (specially older ships)
On modern ship with younger OOWs, they look mainly at screens (as far as I understand from numerous articles, reports and posts on this forum.
This system allows you to sit in that comfortable chair and look at a screen that give you 360 degr. “field of vision” and situation awareness, without lifting your arse to grab a gimps of the horizon between all the other screens.
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Stand up, walk around, step outside and feel the air, rub the rail (dry? damp?), tilt your head back and look at the clouds, tap the barometer, check the wet and dry bulb, scan the horizon, look closer, study the radar, check the gyro and Maggie…sip coffee, repeat.
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That was back in the days when ships had bridge wings,
Now they have enclosed airconditioned bridge, with chairs to sit in while looking at screens,
PS> I sailed as Ch.Officer on two ships without functioning radar,(1968-70) and Master on one (1974) that had never had a radar installed. That would be illegal today.
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There is no excuse to not step out back, though. Seamanship means using ALL available methods to maintain a safe watch.
Ship designers are too enamored of gadgets. Maybe one day we will be redundant, but until then, you really need to stay in touch with your surroundings.
To be fair, there was a time when advocates for open cockpit aircraft said it was “necessary” to feel the wind, but I opine that it is an apples and oranges comparison between aviation and shipping.
I yield my “Grumpy Old Guy” soapbox.
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I guess if they are going to be glued to a screen of some sort it may as well be displaying something they really need to know.
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It’s a step towards AI controlled ships or autonomous shipping which I think is not far away in some form. There is no need for human eyeballs is the thinking. I disagree but that’s the thinking.
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Some cars have this. It makes a fake image that looks like a camera is 20 feet above the car looking down. It actually is pretty cool for parking.
Your reminiscences brought a smile. A little reefer ship, Radar, as usual, missing in action, in spite of repeated communications with the office to get it repaired. When the gyro turned its toes up we took Captain Cook’s advice and stopped threading our way through coral reefs at night and repaired to the Planter’s Club Savusavu, Fiji group.
The office sent a gyro repairman from Suva, he on arrival, turned out to know little about gyros but he was a mean guitar player.
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I retired from piloting just in time. Sounds like opening the door to the bridge will be like stepping unto the stage of “Good Morning, America”. Adios night vision.
It’s really difficult for some crews to understand the pilot needs to see out the front windows without background lights and reflections on the windows.
I started my sea career with really dark bridges. Hoods over the radar screens. Black paint on the ceiling. Equipment lights with a physical dial that could be dialed down to a pinpoint - not a rheostat that requires electrical tape over the bulb to get it dim enough. After your eyes adjusted you could really see outside.
I agree about walking around the bridge and looking aft, but what will they be able to see with pupils the size of pinheads?
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Yeah. Mach x 2 was good for shaving
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you and I may disagree, but that is the way things are heading, no matter what we want, think, or feel.
To cross the Atlantic fully autonomous is already possible and have been done.
The technology to navigate, avoid collisions and storm centres are already available, but the rules still require an OOW on the bridge at all times and a lookout during hours of darkness and/or reduced visibility.
Unmanned ECR for extended periods have been around for a long time (UMS/E0- AUT class notation) But an EOOW on standby duty is still required by rules.
Is it possible to extend the UMS-period enough to where the ECR can be unmanned for an Atlantic crossing?
Experimental vessels powered by wind or sun has already crossed the Atlantic unmanned.
Unmanned drones used for survey and inspections are already in existence:
Unmanned cargo vessels are already in use in national territorial waters, but not sure if any are actually operating unmanned due to rule restrictions:
IMO is working on a MASS Code:
So we may as well accept that it is the SHIP that needs 360degr. view, not the OOW.
BTW; the OOW will be sitting in a control room ashore, monitoring several vessels.
At the end of his shift he will go home, not be stuck onboard a ship for weeks and months.
What an awful future we are heading into.
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For a time being OOWS have problem monitoring one vessel.
Agree!!! Impossible to escape from nagging wife’s.
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Go for a long walk, It is good for health and for temporary relief from nagging.
Don’t use awful weather as an excuse.
In Norway, we have a saying: “There is no such thing as bad weather. It’s only bad clothing”.
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All it will take is preparing an unmanned ship for a voyage with the same care as a manned mission into space. Where the worth of the vessel is but a fraction of the value of the cargo insurance interests will have an interest.
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