Greetings, Internet!
I’m back now, and ready to narrate my experiences during my hiatus.
First off, my paper on OCR optimization of public signage photos has been published (finally!) Here is the link:
https://www.scirp.org/Journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=88948
Let’s now step back by a semester, to last year’s June, when I took on a month-long internship at Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). While there, I came face-to-face with various technologies encountered only in Naval contexts. The experience was an exciting one, and it gave me a chance to interact with the minds who work to keep the Indian Navy combat-ready, and understand how to deal with problems faced on-board its ships and submarines.
In the coming set of posts, I shall attempt to explain each technology I studied and worked with. Before doing that, I need to elaborate on some of the nautical terms which I shall use in my explanations. Time to dive in!
Parts of a Marine Vessel
- Port – This is the left side of a marine vessel.
- Starboard (pronounced stah-bud) – This is the right side of the vessel.
- Bow – This is the front side of the ship.
- Stern – This is the back side of the ship.
- Bridge – It is a room or platform from which the ship can be commanded.
The bridge of a civilian ship [Credits: Unique Infinity] - Control Room – Also called the Ops Room (short for Operations Room), it is where the captain’s commands are deployed.
- Conning Tower – An armoured platform that allows the officer-in-charge to control the vessel’s movements. In submarines, this is also where the periscope is located.
Parts of a Submarine [Source: 78.iq-radiothek.de] - Superstructure – This is the part of the ship above the deck. It includes the Bridge, Conning Tower and Control Room.
- Hull – It is the main body of the vessel, on top of which the superstructure is built.
- Quarterdeck – A raised deck present at the stern of the ship.
- Forecastle – It is the upper deck of the ship, and is present at the bow.
- Periscope – It allows a submarine to visually search for nearby threats and targets on the water surface and in the air. It retracts into the submarine’s hull when not in use.
- Gyro – Gyros are used to stabilize roll motions on a marine vessel while at sea.
- Galley – It is the kitchen of the marine vessel, as food is prepared here.
- Turret – Short for gun turret, it is a weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon. It also allows the weapon to be aimed and fired at a particular azimuth and elevation.
- Rudder – It is a flat plane attached to the stern of the vessel with hinges. A rudder operates by redirecting the water past the hull, imparting a yawing motion to the vessel.
- Gangway – This is a narrow walkway used to join the quarterdeck to the forecastle of the ship, or to board and disembark ships.
Direction, Distance and Speed
Following are the nautical terms for direction, distance and speed:
- Roll, Pitch, Yaw – These are the rotation axes of a marine vessel.
- Fore – It is the direction towards the bow of the ship.
- Aft – It is the direction towards the stern of the ship.
- Heading – This is the direction of the vessel’s bow.
- Bearing – It is described w.r.t. the magnetic North or South, and at what angle it lies in the magnetic East or West direction.
- Azimuth – It is the clockwise horizontal angle (in degrees) w.r.t. magnetic North. This too is calculated in the clockwise direction, and is equivalent to a vessel’s bearing. For example, a bearing of S 45° E is equivalent to an azimuth of 135°.
- Elevation – The elevation of a target or satellite is the angle between itself and the local horizontal plane of the vessel.
- Course – This is the intended path of travel by the vessel.
- Nautical Mile – This is the standard for distance measurements at sea. One nautical mile equals 1.85 kilometres (or 1.15 miles).
- Knot – This is the standard unit of measurement for speed in watercrafts. One knot is the equivalent of one nautical mile per hour.
This concludes my list of nautical terms. In my next post, I shall explain the working of Fire Control Systems (FCSes).
Hope you found this informative!
Related Links:
- Classifications of Naval Vessels; an article: https://migflug.com/jetflights/classifications-of-naval-vessels/
- Conning Towers, Bridges and Periscopes; an article: http://rnsubs.co.uk/dits-bits/br-3043/part-two/chapter-22.html
- Inside an Indian Submarine (INS Sindhughosh); a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCSa0xglJNc
- Difference between an Azimuth and Bearing; an explanation: http://chrisechterling.com/blog/2009/09/07/what-is-the-difference-between-an-azimuth-and-bearing/
- Understanding Azimuth and Elevation; an article: https://www.photopills.com/articles/understanding-azimuth-and-elevation
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Why is a ship’s speed measured in knots; an article: https://www.history.com/news/why-is-a-ships-speed-measured-in-knots