'Not exactly useful information, but fairly interesting nevertheless' #3: Why a ship's bridge is called a 'bridge'

After some 45 years at sea even I was never quite aware why it was called a bridge. The 'wheelhouse' I knew about (and so I should!), but originally it equated to very little more than a canvas cover and was always there for the convenience of the helmsman and rarely the master.

Just as a further little bit of tittle tattle, there was often another command position down aft primarily for emergency situations and this was known as the 'flying bridge'. Quite often the emergency steering position would be located here as it was less electrical/hydraulic and more 'direct'. Very rarely seen these days as the accommodation block tends to be down aft anyway and just happens to be a good 'conning' position. In the case of tugs the conning position tends to be more central and on my previous offshore vessels before this in a forward position, simply because they spent more time going astern and from a stern driving position one can see the aft deck better. Makes it a bit of a bugger for coming alongside if driving forward as one has very little concept of where the back end is. As a consequence they tend to dock astern as well.

Anyhow, many thanks the insight @factormax and appreciated from me.
 
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A couple of years ago I crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to Baltimore via Halifax NS and Newark NJ. The ship was the Atlantic Sea an ACL con-ro vessel. It was a fascinating trip and due to storms we went northabout Ireland instead of the southern route. I used to wander round the ship at night with a seaman doing safety checks on the cargo which on that trip was several hundred cars mainly Land Rovers and lots of plant mostly excavators. (Jonathan the deck hand said he hated LR cargo as they leaked oil everywhere!) Funniest part of the trip was a very cocky Scots sea cadet trying to steer the ship under instruction we did more zig zags than a Russian convoy!

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Manstein said:
A couple of years ago I crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to Baltimore via Halifax NS and Newark NJ. The ship was the Atlantic Sea an ACL con-ro vessel. It was a fascinating trip and due to storms we went northabout Ireland instead of the southern route. I used to wander round the ship at night with a seaman doing safety checks on the cargo which on that trip was several hundred cars mainly Land Rovers and lots of plant mostly excavators. (Jonathan the deck hand said he hated LR cargo as they leaked oil everywhere!) Funniest part of the trip was a very cocky Scots sea cadet trying to steer the ship under instruction we did more zig zags than a Russian convoy!

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Wow! The ACL ships are a regular tow for me here in Liverpool. I hate turning them in the river as it can get a bit Hairy.

Here is one from a few weeks back. Me on the back end

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And one in the lock. Not much space to say the least. Less then 1m each side and probably 4m max each end.

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Satanfriendly do the ACL ships use any power to get out into the river or do the tugs do it all? I remember we arrived early in Halifax and had a tug holding us against the dock until the highly unionised blokes arrived to take the ships mooring lines.
The only downside of the trip was the food which was pretty poor stuff. I stuck it out till Halifax and shot ashore for provisions. Luckily there was a kitchen attached to a disused meeting room at the rear of the cabin deck and I fed myself there for the rest of the trip. The extremely miserable Bulgarian mate tried to stop this but Jakob the captain over ruled him as he came for boiled eggs and soldiers some mornings!

I forgot to pack spare DE blades and the Phillipino bosun gave me a mountain of the Gillette Saloon blades which I still havent finished!

Jakob the Captain and Colin the pilot kill time waiting to tie up in Halifax.

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Mick the 3rd engineer on top of the engine.

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At sea.

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Manstein said:
Satanfriendly do the ACL ships use any power to get out into the river or do the tugs do it all?
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Initially it is the tug which pulls them out on to the river. I guess if they started powering out of the lock they would probably cause quite some damage to the gates which would be somewhat catastrophic. Likewise taking them out and in to the port. Takes a good 75%+ of our power to get them moving and I am regularly heard muttering 'Come on move you big bastard'. The biggest challenge is stopping them inbound when one really prays to the God of friction and big tow ropes.

They are quite some beasts in context to the confines of the port. When one sees the 400m boats down in the southern ports then you realise what big means. I think I was on this job

 
This is a great thread! Thanks for sharing guys.

I was fortunate enough to get a visit to the USS New York in 2019. It's a very emotive ship and made with steel from the World Trade Center. There's multiple NY references around the ship. This is the view from the bridge. You can see the team capstans:

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They also have the jacket displayed on the bridge that was worn by FDNY firefighter Bill Butler, from Ladder Company 6, who survived the collapse of the North Tower on 9/11 along with 12 other firefighters:

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Interesting fact - USS New York has the largest collection of silverware in the US Navy:

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Boycie83 said:
This is a great thread! Thanks for sharing guys.

I was fortunate enough to get a visit to the USS New York in 2019. It's a very emotive ship and made with steel from the World Trade Center. There's multiple NY references around the ship. This is the view from the bridge. You can see the team capstans:

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They also have the jacket displayed on the bridge that was worn by FDNY firefighter Bill Butler, from Ladder Company 6, who survived the collapse of the North Tower on 9/11 along with 12 other firefighters:

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Interesting fact - USS New York has the largest collection of silverware in the US Navy:

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Slightly different to the USS Alabama which is now a museum in Mobile. An amazing day away from work while down that way. In reality skiving, but worth it.

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An idea of the thickness of the steel for the 'wheelhouse'. A little more than a stretch of canvas.

Interestingly I found out that the papers for the first wooden 'Alabama' were signed in a pub local to where I live.
 
A Bizarre thing on the Subject of a Ships Bridge..In Some Royal Navy Camps Ya Have to Salute Whilst Going into the Guardroom..The Royal Navy Regarded it as a DRY Ships Bridge..Go Figure..I Was a Royal Marine Commando..Their Tradition Pissed Me Off.. :mad:

So..I Refused to Salute Crossing their So Called Dry Ships Bridge & Always Got a Bollocking for it from the Navy Boys..I Loved to Noise Em Up..:ROFLMAO:

Billy
 
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