USCG Exam PracticePlot true course and distance between two charted points
On a Mercator projection chart, rhumb lines appear as which of the following?
- A. Curved arcs converging toward the poles
- ✓ Straight linesCorrect
- C. Great circles
- D. Hyperbolic curves
Why B is correct
The Mercator projection presents rhumb lines (constant bearing courses) as straight lines, which is one of its primary advantages for navigation. Bowditch Ch. 4 §402 states this directly.
Cited:Bowditch Ch. 4 §402