Doow

Good morning everyone. I’m here to explain to you what is bridge team, its components and the role of each one in this team.
The bridge team is composed by the OOW, the lookout, the helmsman and the master.
Since my friends have already talked about the role of OOW, I will skip this one and start talking about the lookout.

The lookout it’s a person that stays on the bridge wings, generally at night, to look for dangers in the area that the ship’s navigating with binoculars. His presence on the bridge is not always required , and when this happens the OOW takes the charge, but this situation must not interfere in his other duties.

Another person that joins this team is the helmsman, that like the lookout is not always required to be on the bridge, because most of the time the steering is in automatic.
In maneuvers, he attends to the OOW orders, making sure that the vessel is being safely and efficiently steered.

The master joins the bridge team whenever the OOW is in doubt to take action in circumstances that concerns the safety of the vessel, like heavy traffic, heavy weather conditions, poor visibility or breakdown of any essential navigational equipment.
His presence does not take the responsibility of the officer for his watch, unless the master assumes it and both parts agree with this decision that must be recorded in the logbook.

The master may find it necessary to require an extra officer on the bridge, in those risky circumstances that I’ve talked about before. This officer gives radar-based information to the master and gives general back up to the OOW on the charts, who is still responsible for the normal running of the watch.

The pilot goes aboard to assist the navigation in confined waters, port approach, berthing and departure, but whenever the master doesn’t agree with the pilot’s track he may interfere in the maneuver. To avoid this awkward situation there are some actions that have to be made to guarantee the success of the