Emergency Procedures

The officer of the watch cannot perform their duties efficiently unless they know the location and method of operation of all the bridge equipment. Every officer should be fully trained in the use of all electronic navigation aids. This ensures that they understand the limitations of each piece of equipment and are able to adjust them to their optimum performance.

Having understood how the equipment and systems work in normal operations, the officer should also be fully ready for any emergencies or failures of equipment. When the systems go wrong, the officer must be ready to switch immediately to backup operations methods and be aware of exactly how to fix or get the equipment fixed without compromising the safety of the vessel.

Steering Gear Breakdown

Any loss of steering control is a serious navigation emergency as the safety of the vessel may be severely compromised. The immediate reactions to a loss of control or steering needs to be well-rehearsed so that the officer of the watch is able to regain control and keep the vessel safe. This is especially required for times of heightened traffic density or reduced sea room such as traffic separation schemes or narrow channels where rapid reactions may well be the difference between a collision or grounding and safety.

The first reaction in the event of a steering loss from the bridge is to check the steering in all modes available from the bridge. Follow-up, non-follow-up and bridge wing control can all be checked swiftly to regain some control over the steering systems and allow the officer of the watch to navigate safely. Should none of these work, an emergency broadcast should be made immediately that steering has been lost.

The officer will then need to ensure the safety of the vessel as quickly as possible and inform all other vessels in the area that the ship may not be able to manoeuvre as required. Actions may include:

In the event of an emergency and auxiliary steering systems being lost, the vessel would most certainly have to be stopped. In this situation, a navigation warning and/or report may become necessary, depending on the ship’s position, for example in the English Channel traffic separation scheme. This is at the discretion of the Master, once the vessel's safety has been taken care of.

Failure of Navigational Equipment

At all times the vessel’s position must be known by means of more than one position fixing method. The OOW should know the importance of each type of navigation equipment, what equipment it is integrated with, as well as the meaning and types of all alarms. In addition, the OOW should know the action to be taken in the event of malfunction or failure of each navigation aid.

Initial actions in the event of a navigational system failure should include:

• Acknowledge and investigate the alarming system,
• Switch to a backup of the alarming system; GPS 2, Gyro 2, secondary radar etc. if available,
• Call the Master, &
• Inform the duty engineer and system engineer of the failure and need for assistance.

Once the Master arrives, they should be fully briefed on the situation and what actions have been taken. As a rule, the electronic navigation systems will have redundant backups or the navigation should be possible without them, reverting to more traditional techniques such as celestial fixes.

Propulsion Break Down

Machinery failures could leave a vessel partly or fully disabled at sea. Once way is lost, a vessel in most cases will lay beam onto the sea and could start to roll significantly. In shallow waters, vessels should consider using the anchor to hold the ship's position clear of dangers. Anchoring, in most cases, will generally bring the vessel head to wind/currents. However, in open sea conditions such as in deep waters, anchoring is not an option. Attempts should be made to bring the vessel's head to the wind to minimise the effects of rolling and make the repair process easier.

Engines can fail due to unforeseen circumstances and the courses of action will vary due to the cause of the failure and the location of the vessel. In the event of a main engine failure, emergency backup systems will be automatically activated as per SOLAS requirements. A short delay must be anticipated in the majority of ships before these become operational. The Master should be informed at the earliest possible time of the reason and kept updated with regard to the state of repairs.

Watchkeepers must bear in mind that a ship can only steer if water is running past its rudder. As soon as the vessel engines have stopped the ship's manoeuvrability will start reducing. Therefore, action should be prompt and should include: