Ship Handling; The Science & Art!

After seen a video clip of a sea-going officer manoeuvring the ship to a very tight berthing space from his chair, even that with leg over the other, prompted me to write on my experiences in ship-handling!

See the clip https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/iamspacademy_maritimeindustry-shipping-marinetechnology-activity-7196799029572182016-ILSA?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

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My ship-handling experiences started from our Midshipman training when I was assigned to SLNS (Sri Lanka Naval Ship) Sagarawardana Commanded by then Commander Prasanna Rajaratne. SLNS Sagarawardana was one out of two (the other ship being the SLNS Jayasagara) so called ‘OPV’ class ships built by Colombo Dockyard Limited in 1982. They were called ‘OPV’ class because the ship design facilitated the crew to move inside the ship from forward to stern without being needed to expose to weather deck! On size, they were nowhere near to the OPV classification, but had good sea keeping qualities despite being ‘spinning’ the crew inside in rough seas! And they were named after the President JR Jayawardena; one being christened as Jayasagara and the other Sagarawardana! That was the habit and pattern of naming ships of the Navy at that time from SWRD to Ranasinghe Premadasa!

Commander Prasanna Rajaratne was a one-of-a-kind naval officer at that time and his reputation had awesome effect, thus all Midshipmen who are destined to go for Britannia Royal Naval College, United Kingdom, training was assigned to his ship prior taking the flight! Thus, myself landed onboard this ship and as Midshipman I enjoyed some perks under Commander Rajarathna as he always had prominence given to the midshipmen over other officers! Thus, as Midshipman onboard SLNS Sagarawardana, you were treated quite different to other ships!

I was studying this stalwart’s action, his management skills, and his behaviour as the CO, and I was impressed by his ship-handling style. He used to be at the bridge wing giving verbal commands to the Master at Arms (MAA) who is at wheel and the Engineering or Electrical Officer at the Throttles when going alongside or casting off. He never, I have seen in my time at least to operate the throttles by himself unlike other COs. This had a lasting impression on me, and I was determined to be a ship-handler like him one day! As I gather my sea time, I beginning to see COs who are really poor in handling ships, especially when coming along side to a pier. I recall several of COs at that time who were famous for damaging the piers when they come alongside or would ‘pull’ the pier to the ship being at some 100m distance or scrape the entire shipside of another ship when taking the ship alongside. They all made us to learn and master the art of ship handling. Needless to say, these COs were the discussion points in lounges when finishing with couple of bottles of Rum or Whiskey!

As I got my first command of a ‘gunboat’ (a class of ships in the Navy of 40m LOA and powered by four engines) SLNS Ranadheera in 2002, I was ready and after the first cast off I was handling the ship from the Captain Chair, without touching the wheel or the throttles. And as I mastered it, I beginning to take the ship to more challenging odysseys. The French Pass in Inner Harbour, Trincomalee, where navigable channel has to cut across the Sober Island and the China Bay mainland, became one of my favourite testing passages as I started training my Master at Arms in absolute precision steering. Steering the Gunboat in the narrow widths under my steering orders to 1 Degree precision was the qualifying test for the MAA and I observed how MAA become confident personalities the moment they steered the ship to deeper waters! MAA was a different person after all and whole ship company including the officers were looking up to him with some veneration thereafter! Later on, I came to know that whenever SLNS Ranadheera was seen entering the French Pass, those in the Inner-yard piers were gathering and looking forward for the re-emergence at Prima Flour Factory side of the Malay cove and used to cheer the moment they saw the Gunboat making way!

Then came my ultimate, the Command of a proper OPV, as I took over the command of SLNS Samudura (Ex USCG Cutter Courageous) in 2011. I was determined to do the same! But the ship design did not allow me to do that as the ship could be controlled by throttles on either wing whilst the MAA will be at the wheels. But being a very good design, the ship needed no tug support to berth in harbours such as Trincomalee and in Hambanthota. In fact, SLNS Samudura was the first OPV to berth in Hambanthota harbour in 2011 after its opening in 2010. Other than these ships, my ship-handling covered from ordinary propeller driven Dvora class Fast Attack Craft, ASD (Arneson Surface Drive) FACs to Waterjet propelled FACs encompassing rough Monsoon seas to very shallow waters where I happened to study the characteristics of each propulsion in different waters. These covered lifting ASDs to surface when steering the FAC in stern seas (thus, the force of the waves slides past the hull rather that push the FAc to the sides), adjusting ASDs to different angle levels in very shallow to shallow waters to maintain the high speed without adjusting the Main Engine RPM (there will be no speed drop as ASDs failed to gather momentum in shallow waters), and famous ‘crabbing’ capability of Waterjet propulsions etc ect!

Ship handling needs experience and nerves, as judgement and what you see from your environment have an effect on the handling of the ship. I recall famous GB; Commander GB Jayasundara who I think is the best ship handler the Navy had in 1990’s, as he manoeuvres the big Ro-Ro ships the Navy had till 1996, like toys to berth, turn and handle in all corners where a ship can be taken in! I was blessed to be groomed under them and I ensured all my subordinates too trained to become better ship handlers than their superiors with every opportunity I had to trained! These includes the image above where SLNS Samudura anchored just 2 cables from the Little Bases Light House and as the nautical chart (Admiralty Chart No 3265) is of 1:150,000 scale when plot, we were on top of the Lighthouse!

Coming back to the video that I mentioned at the beginning, as ship handling evolved into joy-stick operations, with bow-thrusters, better manoeuvring capabilities and all, today’s ship handling is still an art to be acquired no matter how much science one has studied. I recall squeezing my 25m LoA FAC astern in a similar manner in between the bows of berthed two Landing Crafts in NAD pier in 1993 using engines to unload the after 20mm Oerlikon Gun Mount. It was risky, but a necessity given the circumstances prevailing at that time. Whilst not encouraging youngsters to take unnecessary risks these days, yet there will be time for you to make risky manoeuvres, and knowing your ship just like your palm would be sure to make your day! Enjoy sailing and reading!

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