Standing the Helm and Lee Helm Watch: Orders, Repeat-Backs, and the Telegraph

What the rule requires

The loop at the wheel

One rudder order has four parts, two of them spoken. The conning officer gives the order; the helmsman repeats it exactly as received to show it was heard correctly; the rudder goes over; the helmsman reports the order carried out NAVEDTRA 14067 §1-2. Ordered "right standard rudder," the helmsman answers "right standard rudder, aye," puts the rudder to the standard angle, and reports "my rudder is right standard." He steers on the course, or by order, as the conning officer directs.

Most instructors compress this to order, repeat back, execute, report. The framing is sound and in general use, but it hides two things worth separating now. The fourth beat differs by station: at the wheel the helmsman reports on his own rudder, while at the telegraph the lee helmsman reports that another station has answered. And a rudder order that ends in a steady-up yields two reports rather than one, the rudder angle once the wheel is over, then the heading the ship comes steady on.

The steady-up report is where the trap sits. The heading reported is the one the ship is actually steady on, whatever heading was ordered. A helmsman who answers with the ordered course has given the conning officer a number he never read off the compass.

Between reports the helmsman watches the ship's head against the compass and applies small corrections to hold the ordered course. Three conditions go up without waiting to be asked: the ship does not answer the helm, the steering gear feels abnormal, or the course cannot be held and she is swinging. The last of those reaches the conning officer at once. The wheel is not left unattended while a helmsman is on watch.

You have the wheel. The conning officer orders "left fifteen degrees rudder." You put the wheel over and hold your tongue until she is steady. What did you get wrong?

Two spoken parts of the loop were skipped. The order is repeated back exactly as received the moment it is heard, and execution is reported when the rudder is at fifteen degrees left. Silence between the order and the steady-up leaves the conning officer with no confirmation that the order was heard, or that the rudder is where he asked for it.

Relieving the wheel

Turnover at the wheel is itself an order-and-repeat-back transaction. The relieving helmsman is given the course being steered and any special instructions; the man being relieved states the ordered course and how the ship is steering; the relief repeats it back so both are certain it was understood . Nothing is assumed to have carried over unchanged from the last watch.

The same discipline governs every watch station in the vessel. A watchstander does not leave his station without permission from proper authority or a proper relief, and on being relieved he passes to his relief all information concerning existing conditions and special orders NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶2. In the machinery spaces the oncoming watchstander is fully informed of the plant lineup, equipment out of service, abnormal readings, evolutions in progress and the standing orders before he assumes the watch NAVEDTRA 14104 §1-1.

The lee helm and the engine order telegraph

Engine speed and direction are ordered through the engine order telegraph (EOT), a signaling device that repeats the bridge's order to the engine room and lets the engine room acknowledge it. The bridge watchstander who works it is the lee helmsman NAVEDTRA 14067 §2-2.

Engine orders are given in standard terms: "all ahead one-third," "ahead two-thirds," "ahead standard," "ahead full," "ahead flank," "stop," "back one-third," "back full," "back emergency." The lee helmsman repeats the order aloud, moves the telegraph handle to the ordered position, and watches for the engine room to match its pointer. That match is the act of answering the bell, and it is the evidence that the order is understood and being carried out. He then reports the answered bell to the conning officer. Every engine order is entered in the bell book with its time, so there is a record of what was rung up and when.

At a combined station one watchstander may work both wheel and telegraph. Steering orders and engine orders stay verbally distinct even so.

What must be fitted for the telegraph to be usable

An electric engine order telegraph has transmitters and indicators electrically connected to each other, and each engineroom indicator must be capable of acknowledgment of orders 46 CFR §113.35-5. There is an audible signal at each instrument, and it sounds continuously at both locations whenever the transmitter and the indicator do not show the same order. A continuous audible is the unanswered-bell condition made audible: bridge ordering one thing, engine room showing another.

Loss of power to the system is signalled by a separate alarm. That alarm sounds automatically and signals visually, is sited on the navigating bridge, and has a means of reducing the audible signal from 100 percent to not less than 50 percent.

The telegraph audible has been sounding since you rang up "back one-third" fifteen seconds ago. Power-supply failure, or something else?

Something else. A continuous audible at both instruments means the transmitter and the indicator are not showing the same order, so the engine room has not yet matched its pointer and the bell stands unanswered. Loss of power is a distinct alarm, audible and visual, on the navigating bridge. Report the unanswered bell to the conning officer.

The steering gear behind the wheel

Each self-propelled vessel is provided with a main steering gear and an auxiliary steering gear, arranged so that failure of one will not render the other inoperative and so that transfer from main to auxiliary can be effected quickly 46 CFR §58.25-5. Two provisions of that subpart decide questions:

No thruster counts as part of a vessel's required steering capability, except on a vessel with an integrated system of propulsion and steering.
Automatic pilot and non-followup control from the pilothouse are additional steering equipment, classed as not required.

Follow-up control is closed-loop control relating the position of the helm to a specific rudder angle: the helm-angle order goes to the power actuating system, and feedback automatically stops the rudder when the selected angle is reached. Under follow-up control the ordered angle is a condition the gear itself settles on, which is what makes "my rudder is right standard" a statement of fact rather than an estimate.

An oceangoing vessel required to have power-operated steering gear carries arrangements for steadying the rudder both in an emergency and during a shift from one steering gear to another. On hydraulic gear, a suitable arrangement of stop valves in the main piping is acceptable for that purpose.

The scope of the examination itself

Before an A/B endorsement is issued, the applicant must prove knowledge of seamanship and the ability to carry out effectively all the duties that may be required of an A/B, including those of a lifeboatman or lifeboatman-limited 46 CFR §12.405. The examination is conducted only in the English language. Its subject matter covers nautical terms, use of the compass for navigation, running lights, passing signals, fog signals for the high seas, inland waters or Great Lakes, and distress signals, together with commands in handling the wheel, obeyed as helmsman, and knowledge of the use of the engine room telegraph. Knots, bends, splices and hitches in common use are demonstrated by actually making them. Pollution laws and regulations, discharge containment and cleanup, and disposal of sludge and waste material from cargo and fueling operations are examined as well.

Telling it apart

The four acts in an engine order sound alike when they turn up as answer options. The criterion that separates them is who performs the act.

The repeat-back. Lee helmsman, aloud, the instant the order is received, before the handle moves NAVEDTRA 14067 §2-2. Commonly misfiled as the report, though at that point nothing has been done.
Setting the bell. Lee helmsman, by moving the telegraph handle to the ordered position. Mechanical transmission of the order, and no confirmation of anything.
Answering the bell. Engine room, by matching its pointer to the ordered position. Candidates hand this act to the bridge, which is the single most productive distractor in the whole topic. The equipment requirement that each engineroom indicator be capable of acknowledgment of orders is what fixes the act in the engine room, and the continuous audible at both instruments is what tells the bridge the act has not yet happened 46 CFR §113.35-5.
The report to the conn. Lee helmsman, once the engine room has answered: "engine room answers all ahead one-third." A report about the engine room, not about the handle.

Working a question

You have the combined wheel and telegraph station. The vessel is steering 248 by gyro. The conning officer orders "right standard rudder," then "all ahead two-thirds."

Answer the rudder order first, exactly as received: "right standard rudder, aye." The order is repeated before any action, so the conning officer knows it was heard as spoken NAVEDTRA 14067 §1-2.
Put the rudder over to the standard angle and report "my rudder is right standard." Execution is a separate report from the repeat-back.
Answer the engine order aloud, "all ahead two-thirds," and move the telegraph handle to that position NAVEDTRA 14067 §2-2. Steering and engine orders stay verbally distinct even from one mouth at one station.
Watch the telegraph. When the engine room matches its pointer the bell is answered, and you report "engine room answers all ahead two-thirds." If the audible is still sounding at both instruments, transmitter and indicator disagree and the bell is not answered 46 CFR §113.35-5. Report that condition to the conning officer rather than assuming the engine room is on the way.
Hold her through the swing: 260, 265. As she comes toward the ordered heading, take off rudder, steady her, and report the heading she has actually settled on. Should she go past and settle on 273, 273 is the number you report, and then you work her back.
If she does not answer the helm, if the gear feels abnormal, or if you cannot hold her, the conning officer hears it at once, not at the next report.
The engine order goes into the bell book with its time.

Where candidates lose the point

Wrong answers on this material are manufactured in a small number of ways. Recognizing the pattern is quicker than reasoning the scenario through twice.

Options that stop the loop early. The distractor describes a complete physical action, so it reads as sufficient because something visible has happened. Test it against the last beat instead: after the action described, has anyone told the conning officer anything? If not, the option falls short, and the fault is the same whether the station is the wheel or the telegraph NAVEDTRA 14067 §1-2.

Options that move an act to the wrong station. Setting the bell and reporting the answered bell belong to the lee helmsman; matching the pointer belongs to the engine room NAVEDTRA 14067 §2-2. Ask who is required to perform the act described, and half the option set falls away.

Options that substitute the ordered figure for the observed one. The ordered course appears in the question stem, which is exactly why it looks like the answer to the steady-up report. The same substitution recurs at the telegraph: the handle shows what the bridge ordered, the engine room pointer shows what has been acknowledged, and a candidate who calls the bell answered from the handle position has made the identical mistake one station over.

Options built out of a definition rather than out of seamanship. An emergency tiller offered as the auxiliary steering gear is the standard example, and the definition disposes of it: auxiliary steering gear is the equipment, other than any part of the main steering gear, necessary to steer if the main gear fails, and it excludes a tiller, quadrant or other component serving the same purpose 46 CFR §58.25-5. Where an option names a single component, check the regulatory definition before applying judgment.

Options that offer a plausible exception to a flat prohibition. A brief, well-motivated absence from the wheel is the usual bait. No exception exists to be found: the wheel is not left unattended, and no watchstander leaves his station without a proper relief or the permission of proper authority NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶2.

Check yourself

You are relieving the wheel. The off-going helmsman says "steering three-one-five" and steps back. Do you have the wheel?

Not yet. The relief is given the course being steered and any special instructions, the man being relieved states the ordered course and how she is steering, and you repeat it back to confirm you understood NAVEDTRA 14067 §1-2. No repeat-back, no relief.

"Left full rudder" is ordered. You answer, put the wheel over, and the rudder is at left full. What do you say next, and to whom?

"My rudder is left full," to the conning officer. Execution is reported once the rudder is at the ordered angle, and the report states the angle that is actually on.

You are on the lee helm. "Back full" is ordered, you repeat it and set the handle, and the engine room pointer stays on stop. What is the required action?

Report to the conning officer that the engine room has not answered the bell. The order is not confirmed as understood or being carried out until the engine room matches its pointer NAVEDTRA 14067 §2-2, and the continuous audible at both instruments is the equipment telling you that transmitter and indicator disagree 46 CFR §113.35-5.

The ordered course is 090. You steady her and she settles on 087. What heading do you report?

087, the heading she is actually steady on. Then work her onto 090 with small corrections. Reporting the ordered course would tell the conning officer something untrue about the ship's head .

Your vessel's main steering gear fails. Which of these is the vessel's required second means of steering: the autopilot, the bow thruster, or the auxiliary steering gear?

The auxiliary steering gear. Main and auxiliary must be arranged so that failure of one will not render the other inoperative and so that transfer can be effected quickly. No thruster counts toward required steering capability except on a vessel with an integrated system of propulsion and steering, and automatic pilot is steering equipment classed as not required 46 CFR §58.25-5.

An applicant for an A/B endorsement is fluent in Spanish and asks to be examined in it. Is that permitted, and what will be examined on wheel and telegraph?

No. The examination is conducted only in the English language, and it includes commands in handling the wheel, obeyed as helmsman, and knowledge of the use of the engine room telegraph 46 CFR §12.405.

You are told the ship "is not answering the helm." You are two minutes from your hourly report. When do you tell the conning officer?

Immediately. Failure to answer the helm, abnormal-feeling steering gear, and inability to hold the course are reported at once, never held for a scheduled report .