Ship gyro compass

Is the inner 1/10° card actually used?Maybe for compass ajustement?

Are you talking about this? The inner ring?

The image upper left. It’s used when steering in pilot waters, not so much at sea.

On the old Sperry units, 6 clicks to the degree.

2 Likes

Yes the O° to 9°.A seaman told me he only saw this used by one captain.

1 Like

I’ve only seen gyro repeaters with this feature at the helmsman’s station. It not really needed on the other repeaters, center line or wings.

Used as a rate of turn indication. The faster it turns, the faster the ship is swinging.
I don’t don’t know anyone who can steer to 1/10 of a degree.

2 Likes

I was on sea trial with a newbuilding that had a digital gyro repeater that showed 10th of degr.
After sea trial there was a flag change ceremony whereupon the now Master promptly taped over that part of the display, saying; Now it is MY ship and we’ll never need that, ever again.

1 Like

It’s used all the time. It’s the easiest way to see what the course is, since the other ring doesn’t have the gradients on it.

2 Likes

I think it was 3 clicks per degree

If I was seeing that the helmsman was off I would compare the centerline compass with the helm and sometimes they were different

Are they 10ths of a degree or of 5°. Between 0 and 1 the graduations would be 1/100Ths °?

Here’s a better image:

image

The numbers on the inner dial are full degrees, not tenths.

The number on the inner dial is the last digit of the heading. On a course of 080 the lubbers line would align with the zero. Come over right one degree to 081 the last digit is 1 so the lubbers line would be on the 1 of the inner dial.

In the image the heading is just a little to the right of 081.

Presumably the lubbers line on the wrong side of 080 is parallax error.

Very interesting.Thanks

Makes it easier to steer. It is possible for a new helmsman in heavy weather to steer a course 10 degrees in error for a while before realizing it.

Or so I assume.

1 Like

Or just a shitty picture. In the other one further up, it looks like it should be 304.4, but the lubbers line is almost at 310. They’re not usually so bad in person.

Yes, more likely just the image. Here’s another, can only see the actual heading on the digital display.

image

The lubbers line and digital display match up.

I think the question in the OP is: “is the card reading 320.1 or 320.01 degrees?”.

Ah. Yes 320.1.

I can tell you from experience as an A.B. that with this kind of gyro repeater all does is make feel like you’re doing a poor job. The inner ring is constantly oscillating back and forth, even when you are steadied up on a light or landmark and showing little or no drift.

Prior to rate of turn indicators I used it as a quick ROT indicator. I still find it useful when checking up a turn.

2 Likes

Great to steer by much less eye strain take a bit of getting use to

1 Like