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Bridge Terminology

Page 10 of 11

Information and Display Equipment

  • Gyrocompass Repeater. Displays the indications of the master gyrocompass. It is also used in taking bearings on objects outside the ship.
  • Magnetic Compass. Consists of a magnetized compass needle attached to a circular compass card, usually 7-1/2 inches in diameter. The card and needle are supported on a pivot that is set in a cast bronze bowl filled with a petroleum distillate fluid. Marked on the compass bowl is a line, called the lubber's line, which agrees with the fore-and-aft line of the ship or boat. By reading the compass card direction, lined up with the lubber's line, you can tell the direction the ship is heading.
  • Radar Repeater. Displays radar returns from primary radars.  
  • Anemometer Repeater. Provides display of wind speed and direction. The upper dial of the repeater is graduated in 10-degree intervals and shows the apparent relative direction from which the wind is blowing. The lower dial indicates the apparent wind speed (true wind speed when the ship is stationary).
  • Inclinometer. Indicates the amount of pitch and roll of the ship.
  • Shaft Tachometer. Indicates shaft RPM.
  • Status Boards. Provides a listing of current tactical information.
  • Position Indicator. A repeater unit that provides a display of the ship's target and tactical information.
  • Fathometer. Used primarily for navigational purposes as an aid in gathering depth information for oceanographic topography and occasionally as a sonar contact classification aid.
  • LORAN (Long Range Navigation). Enables navigator to determine ship's position by means of radio signals broadcast by stations of known position.
  • SATNAV (Satellite Navigation). A global, all-weather navigation system that allows navigators to obtain a fix to within a fraction of a mile, night or day, in all parts of the world.
  • OMEGA. Enables navigators to obtain reliable positions comparable in accuracy to LORAN on a worldwide and nearly continuous basis. It uses only eight transmitting stations.  
  • Bridge Wing Display Unit (BWDU). Provides each bridge wing with a readout of rudder angle, gyro repeater, propeller pitch, and RPM indicator.
  • Barometer. Measures atmospheric pressure.
  • Navigation Light Panels. Provides an audible and visual signal when the primary filament burns out in any one of the five running lights, and automatically switches to the second filament so the lights remain in service.