How does the watch keeping system works on the ships ?
In this post we will discuss about how the watch keeping system works onboard ships and it helps the ship to run at day and night.
Frequently Asked Questions About Watch Keeping system on ships :
(1) How does the watch keeping system works on the ships ?
(2) What is watch keeping system in merchant navy ?
(3) How do the merchant navy ships run at day and night ?
(4) How do merchant navy ships follow watch keeping system ?
(5) Watch keeping system on the ship ? How it works ?
What is watch keeping system on the ships :
(1) Watch keeping system means the crew of the ship work in shifts to keep the ship running in the day as well as at night.
(2) Watch keeping system helps the ship to work in efficient manner.
(3) It also keeps the ships crew mentally fresh and fatigue free.
(4) In watch keeping system some crew work only during the day time while the watch keepers keep the day and night watches.
Also read : Is merchant navy a good field for girls ?
How does the watch keeping system works ?
(1) Watch keeping system on the Bridge :
Bridge or wheelhouse is the place on the ship from where the deck Watch keepers keep the watch.
The standard watch system on wheelhouse is given below –
00:00 Hrs – 04:00 Hrs – Second Officer & Duty AB
04:00 Hrs – 08:00 Hrs – Chief Officer & Duty AB
08:00 Hrs – 12:00 Hrs – Third Officer & Duty AB
12:00 Hrs – 16:00 Hrs – Second Officer & Duty AB
16:00 Hrs – 20:00 Hrs – Chief Officer & Duty AB
20:00 Hrs – 24:00 Hrs – Third Officer & Duty AB
The Bosun, Pump Man, Ordinary Seaman and Deck Cadet work during day work only from 08:00 Hrs to 18:00 Hrs.
Above mentioned timings work only when the ship is at sea or at anchor.
Cargo loading and cargo discharging watches are different.
(2) Watch Keeping system in Engine room :
Nowadays, all the ships work on Unmanned Machinery Space Systems or UMS systems.
The ships which do not have UMS system, they follow the below mentioned watch keeping system at anchor and at sea.
00:00 Hrs – 04:00 Hrs – Third Engineer & Duty Oiler
04:00 Hrs – 08:00 Hrs – Second Engineer & Duty Oiler
08:00 Hrs – 12:00 Hrs – Fourth Engineer & Duty Oiler
12:00 Hrs – 16:00 Hrs – Third Engineer & Duty Oiler
16:00 Hrs – 20:00 Hrs – Second Engineer & Duty Oiler
20:00 Hrs – 24:00 Hrs – Fourth Engineer & Duty Oiler
The Fitter and Engine Cadet work during day work only from 08:00 Hrs to 18:00 Hrs.
Cargo loading, cargo discharging and UMS watches are different.
Conclusion :
The above mentioned watch keeping system is kept on the ship only when the ship is at sea or when the ship is at anchor.
The cargo watch keeping system and UMS watch keeping system is bit different from this one, which we will discuss in some other article.
In this way by following the above given watch keeping system, the ship runs day and night in an efficient manner.
Hello. This is Alkesh Patil. I am a Marine Engineer with 10+ years of experience in Merchant Navy. In this blog, I will try to provide some basic information about merchant navy and life onboard ship.
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