Seakeeping for Autonomous Ship in Heavy Weather

[Kennebec_Captain]

With adaptive auto pilot it’s often better to leave the autopilot engaged if possible.

Following Seas and Follow Up Steering

We keep it on the mike as much as possible because hand steering requires calling out a second AB for watch, something we try to avoid as it leads to fatigue and work/rest peroid problems. The ship autopilot aka the iron mike uses adaptive auto steering, in other words it learns how to steer, the longer its engaged the better it does. If the ship goes off course the “off course” alarm sounds and the normal response is to switch to hand steering to get it back on course and than switch back to a…