Emergency steering drill

What you do on the bridge

1. Answer the alarm
2. Second pump
3. Local control
4. Steer from local
5. Back to the bridge

The oral questions, and what a good answer covers

The key points are in our own words. In the course, these questions come once you have done the job.

1. You are on watch and the steering fails. Talk me through your actions.Often asked

   A good answer covers:

   • Acknowledge the alarm and check what has failed: rudder against the order, pumps, control system
   • Call the master, and the engineer to the steering gear room
   • Start the second pump and try the other control system and the NFU tiller
   • If the bridge cannot steer, take local control in the steering gear room with the bridge giving orders
   • Use the engines and thrusters to hold the heading or take the way off if there is danger close
   • Show not under command lights or shapes if she cannot manoeuvre, and warn traffic and the VTS
   • Log it all, and report it as the master directs

   Show me on the bridgeAt sea on the autopilot. The steering will fail soon after you start.

2. How often are emergency steering drills held, and what must they include?Often asked

   A good answer covers:

   • Direct control from the steering gear compartment
   • The communication procedure between the bridge and the steering gear room
   • Operating the alternative power supply where one is fitted
   • The date and details recorded in the log
3. How do you steer the ship from the steering gear room, and how do you talk to the bridge?

   A good answer covers:

   • The gear is moved directly from the local control, with a rudder angle indicator and a gyro repeater there
   • Every order is repeated back and reported when done
   • Simple instructions with a block diagram of the changeover are posted on the bridge and in the steering gear room
   • Small corrections and steady orders: the person there cannot see where the ship is going

   Show me on the bridgeOpen the steering gear panel and find the local control, the rudder angle and the gyro readout.

4. The steering cannot be fixed quickly and the ship cannot keep out of the way. What does she show?

   A good answer covers:

   • Not under command: two all-round red lights in a vertical line, or two balls by day
   • Sidelights and sternlight as well only when making way through the water
   • In restricted visibility, the sound signal of one prolonged and two short blasts
   • Tell nearby ships and the VTS on VHF, and consider an urgency message if she is standing into danger

How the lesson runs

The tutor's narration from the lesson, step by step. On the bridge, each control lights up as it is named.

1. Brief

   We're at sea heading 090 on the autopilot. About a minute in, both bridge steering control systems will fail, and the wheel and the autopilot will stop reaching the rudder.

   When it goes, we answer the alarm quickly, start the second pump, then take local control in the steering gear room and steer her by hand from there until the fault is cleared.

2. Answer the alarm

   There's the steering alarm. Acknowledge it within thirty seconds, so everyone knows the bridge has seen it, then look at the rudder indicator against the order to see what you have lost.

3. Second pump

   Start the second steering pump. With both running the rudder moves faster, and if the fault is in one power unit you've covered it.

4. Local control

   The bridge still can't steer, so we go to the steering gear room. You have three minutes from the failure to take local control there.

   Once local, bridge orders no longer reach the gear. The rudder answers the local control only.

5. Steer from local

   Now hold her within ten degrees of 090 for two minutes, steering from the steering gear room. Use the gyro readout and the rudder angle shown there.

   Small rudder, and take it off early. If she swings out of the ten degrees the two minutes start again.

6. Back to the bridge

   Keep steering locally until the fault is cleared. It comes back ten minutes in. Only then hand control back to the bridge, and check the rudder answers the wheel before you let the steering gear room go.