Early on, the captain of the carrier gives an order to "turn right 90 degrees." This seemed odd to me. Aren't you supposed to say something like "come starboard to heading 165?" It sounds like he's giving directions over the phone to somebody driving to his house.
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Actually from what I've been told by squids.......I mean sailors I've served with, is that starboard and port refer to the right and left sides of a ship, sub or boat. And when giving directions or a change in heading saying right or left is appropriate. I have seen documentaries on the history and discovery channels and I have heard captains of real ships say left and right when giving rudder or heading commands. A good example is the one on the carrier USS Harry S Truman during her sea trials when the captain gave alternating left and right rudder commands to test the integrity of the rudder at full speed.
shareThanks for the info. I had not expected an answer after all this time.
At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was.
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Thanks for clearing that up.
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Actually that is not the captain of the ship. That is the admiral of the Task Force, and his chief of staff is giving a tactical command to the fleet via radio. He converts the relative bearing to a true beaing and then gives the order.
shareBoth are correct, and exclusive to each other.
If you're giving a course to follow, you use port or starboard in order to tell the helm the direction/side you want them to turn toward (you have two choices depending on you tactical needs). So it's "starboard to heading 165".
If you're just doing a tactical guidance (heading toward a target, rescue, etc.) you might just give a direction "turn 10 degrees right", as the heading/course is of little importance, you just want to "adjust your aim", so to speak.
Why substitute right for starboard and so on? To differentiate when you need a certain heading to hold, and when you don't.
Having been a helmsman(rated expert on USS Saint Paul CA 73) rudder orders are right or left. Engine orders are port or starboard.
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