Why Don't Ships Have Headlights?
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2021
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In this video, we answer a question that has come up quite a few times in the comments of other videos. Why don't ships have headlights?
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Thanks for the great comments. I just wanted to make a quick correction that has been rightly pointed out to me. At 05:24 when I said "aground", I meant to say "constrained by your draft".
I changed the script to "aground" because it sounded better (almost rhyming) with "not under command", but I forgot to update the lights that it would show as well.
3 all-round red lights is CBD.
How would ships know if there is land in front of them at night?
@@gauravlapashya4505 long answer: depth sounding has been in use on ships and water vessels for many centuries through various methods. By knowing your displacement and the ship's waterline, you can easily figure out the distance between your ventral hull and the bed. And if you know your position, you can match it up with depth charts to find out whereabouts you are in relation to land. Current methods use sonar, but it used to be done with a lead and line.
Short answer: by running into it
@@gauravlapashya4505 In multiple ways, first and foremost by proper navigating. And having up-to-date charts on board. AIS plotters with electronic charts will also show land. Navigational aids like buoys, lighthouses, leading lights, racons, etc will tell you there is land ahead too. Lit structures on land, like cities, wind turbines, etc will give rather a good clue. And you can measure water depth, but that is the last resort, really. As Ian clearly explaines.
@@robinj1052 have we explored our ocean to that extent that we have exact location of land masses? It may be possible some unexplored land masses might be there, and also are buoys planted all over the ocean?
Ships HAVE headlights! Russian Icebreakers have headlights
Am I into ships? No.
Would I ever step on a ship? No.
Do I love this channel? Yes.
Me? Yes for all
@@seardadsdasd name checks out
@@jessefry7492 Its pretty obvious.
This is useful to know because aircraft use the same principle of nav lights, so at night you can apply the same techniques and see how they are moving and which side you are looking at.
Definitely wouldn't want to go on a deep ocean cruise myself. Maybe coastal.
Me: “I have adequate knowledge of modern world”
CN: why don’t ships have headlights?
Me: *“why don’t ships have headlights‽‽”*
Get out of my head Frank!
dunning kruger
@@iamf6641 don't be too harsh. Maybe maritime wasn't his forte or living.
Ooh, interrobang
Bro interrobangs need to make a comeback
To be fair, those headlights would require massive amounts of energy. I remember battleship New Jersey did a video on their huge 36” spot lights that used to be on the ship. The massive carbon arc lights could light up a ship thousands of yards away so you could engage them at night back before radar. The ship had 5 of them, and it was mentioned that even as over engineered as those warships were, they didn’t have enough electrical capacity to light off all 5 at once without shutting down other systems.
I suspect with the efficiency of LED lighting this could be overcome easily today
@@mystica-subs you do make a good point.
Why are you using imperial on an international website, in 21st century?
@@PouLS Because the battleship New Jersey is from the U.S. the spotlights were made and classified in the U.S. the commenter, I would not find unlikely to be, from the U.S. Why wouldn't you be in this instance?
@@PouLS because the ship referenced was an American ship. It was equipped with 36” spotlights. Just like I’d say it had 16” guns. If I had been talking about Bismarck, I’d probably have talked about her 38 cm gun because that was the measurement they used.
Also worth mentioning that most ships have radar that can see out for miles. They generally know "something" is out there whether or not it can be seen visually.
They also have radios and can communicate with other vessels.
Captain sees something on radar, sends out a radio broadcast to communicate with the other ship and coordinate who goes where. The lights are pretty well just a backup.
Worth mentioning that some special vessels does have headlights. I work on a high speed SAR vessel built to drive fast through difficult island terrain. A powerful bow light is crucial then to see unexpected obstacles and to see land in case some navigation equipment should fail.
Stormworks gang
Hell, my Bass Boat has headlights lmao
Uh, yeah. This if for ships that move slowly and require a lot of distance to stop or chance course. derp
Suez canal searchlight?
Not a ship. This is why ships don’t have headlights
If the Costa Concordia had headlights, it could've helped Schettino escape to the shore faster.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Sir... You've made me burst with laughter.
Shame on You!
Vada A Bordo, Cazzo!
They should have invested in decklights so he would not have fallen into the lifeboat.
@@fireluke112 carnival lifeboat decks are probably the brightest lights on the ship this is ccl dream class and newer not sure about ships like the glory
When you introduced the question "why didn't they see each other?" I was waiting for the answer 😅
Don't they use radar or transponders?
As for headlights, back in the old days warships used powerful searchlights to light up hostile vessels and communicate. Those had a massive range.
Same reason a lot of accidents happen, someone was distracted, tired, and/or improperly trained.
searchlights use a parabolic mirror to project a coherent beam of light, not quite the same as headlights, and for this purpose, about as useful as the signal lights
I was hoping you would touch on backscatter and night vision, thats why they keep the bridge dark, head lights would probably blind another vessel therefore affecting their ability to judge the distance of the incoming vessel.
Thoughts on the specific color of the lights permitted in the bridge? Red's a good choice, because similarly to why they only use red lights in a darkroom, red lights don't ruin night vision (or cause film to get double-exposed) yet can be quite bright enough to see well enough to not trip over things in/on the bridge itself so long as it doesn't matter what color they are.
Slight negative to this setup, red lights mean you can't use red-on-white or white-on-red for non-illuminated signs in the bridge, the red and the white would reflect the same amount of red light, and the white would only have red light available to reflect in the first place, so the two colors would be indistinguishable (light's funny like that).
EDIT: This is also why I think some manufacturers choice of blue dash lights for anything except a dim "high-beams on" indicator is a bad choice. Those WILL make you less able to see in low-light conditions, effectively making the headlights less effective by making your eyes less effective.
@@44R0Ndin Pilots in training are taught not use use red pens since you can't see the the writing in a cockpit. As you suggest, red light is generally used inside an airplane cockpit to preserve night vision.
@@ddegn Honestly I'm surprised that there's not a similar thing in the US federal DOT laws regarding the proper color of things like dial and gauge indicator lights. Some cars have them BLUE! Even worse, at max brightness, it's more than enough to take away your night vision, and some of the indicators are glaringly bright.
If I was looking for a new car, I'd be looking to see if the car has red or some other color of dash lights, and if they're red I'm more likely to pick that vehicle even if it means paying a little bit more for an up-market model or option package.
@@44R0Ndin you'd be surprised how loose the DOT rules are for car manufacturers. Even for the requirements that are on the books, they often include so many exceptions and loopholes that more than half the vehicles on the road don't need to follow them.
Some of the biggest issues right now:
As you pointed out, dash illumination methods. Night sight is one issue, but another is the fact that sometimes you need illumination during the daytime. It's fine to attach dash illumination to parking lights, but you should also be able to turn on dash illumination independently of the parking lights.
Bumper mismatch. As pickup trucks get lifted more, and sedans get lower to the ground, there are many cars whose bumpers don't even line up, negating the point of bumpers. If a low sedan rear-ends a pickup truck, the truck's trailer hitch will go straight into the sedan's grill and radiator, while the sedan will impact into the drivetrain and suspension components. Even a low speed collision can render both cars immobile and cost thousands of dollars to repair. There are laws on the books regarding bumper height, but there's exceptions for trucks and SUVs, which is currently over half of US traffic. Having such a high bumper is also dangerous for pedestrians, as it's more likely to pull them under the car, instead of tossing them over.
Turn signal colors/brightness/style. While cars are required to have turn signals, there's not much else on the books about what they should be like. Ideally, turn signals should be a very bright, flashing yellow, however many manufacturers make them white (hard to distinguish from headlights, especially dangerous for left turns) or red (confused with brakelights, not as dangerous but still a problem). Even the ones that are yellow can be too dim, and not large enough, making them difficult to notice in bright light, such as midday. Some of the most egregious are sports cars, who will create fancy "wave effect" turn signals. You'd think that's safer, but in reality the safest option is standardization. Having 50 different styles means that people have to consciously focus if that light is a turn signal or not, whereas we could have a blinking yellow light that would clear up the confusion.
@@MatthewSmith-sz1yq You must already be familiar with Alec from Technology Connections. If not, then you should probably rectify that now: czcams.com/video/O1lZ9n2bxWA/video.html
He's made another video on signals recently: czcams.com/video/2z5A-COlDPk/video.html
Nothing like good old rules of the road. “Red over red. Vessel is dead.” “Red over white. Fishing at night.” “Red over green sailing machine” very well done video! I absolutely love your stuff!
Ay I was the 69th like. Noice
Could you please explain? I could not understand the meaning of these rules.
@@ishanghosh6604 It's referring to the status lights mentioned at 5:18, two red lights over each other is referring to the first example given and means that the ship is not currently being commanded, hence the vessel is "dead" as it is just moving on a predefined course with no one there to be ready to make immediate course adjustments. Red over white and red over green aren't covered in the video though, red over white means that people are currently fishing from the ship so the "fishing at night" part is extremely literal. Red over green means that the ship is not powered, so the "sailing machine" part is referring to the fact that the lights signal that the ship is a sailboat.
@@Midnight-wh2bs ok thanks a lot for the explanation kind Sir. I was really confused about the "vessel is Dead" part. Thank you for clearing up my confusion.
@@Midnight-wh2bs thanks
Going thru my "A" school in the U.S. Navy (my "technical training" school for my job), I always had fun learning the rhymes for the different light configurations in order to remember them. I still use them today, nearly 17 years later, whenever I take my advancement exam.
I really like seeing the darkening skies on the shore whilst all vessels turn on their nav lights. you can really see them far away and only guess the distance. I mostly ever see fishing trawlers but sometimes massive oilers can be spotted.
To see in the dark you cant have lights. The lights only show you the area you have lights on but everywhere else is dark. Darker than if no lights. No lights means your eyes adjust to the dark. Titanic animations made a video on this with a good game to play
That's why I like red dash lights better than blue ones (for things like illuminating the gauge dials and pointers, for something that's an actual "idiot light" blue can be fine, so long as it's "muted but still bright enough to show up in daytime".
Basically don't put a bare non-diffused blue LED behind a mask with the glyph of the particular idiot light cut out of it to let the light thru. There's gotta be some diffusion there, or it's gonna be a source of glare at night and that's just horrible.
And don't get me started on the damn "too-bright for any reasonable purpose" indicator lights on a lot of modern IT equipment (routers and modems and the like). Just because the datasheet for the piercing blue LED says "rated current: 20ma" doesn't mean you have to run it at 20ma. You can run it at maybe 5ma (or, here's a shocker of an idea, choose a dimmer LED) and it'll still put out enough light to be seen across the room. This goes double if that particular indicator LED is supposed to BLINK or FLASH during normal use, like the "communications activity" LEDs on modems. Thankfully I have a modem that has the nice feature of being able to turn OFF most of the LEDs when it's operating normally. I gotta sleep next to those things thanks to where the cable comes in, and I prefer sleeping in as close to total darkness as possible, so LEDs that are on have to be extinguished. I have a few pieces of gear I've had to put black electrical tape over the LEDs because they're so dang annoying.
Oh yeah, and people probably wouldn't think my computer's all that powerful what with it having as little RGB illumination (or illumination in general) as I could arrange (if something had an RGB header to hook up, I left it disconnected on purpose, or I physically cut the wires to the LEDs). I leave my computer on 24/7 to avoid power-cycling it as often, as every time it has to turn on that's a little more wear that you could avoid if you just left it on, and it's not like I'm using it for mining when I'm not otherwise using it so it only makes a little noise from the fans at low speed. Kinda nice actually, otherwise I'd need a white noise machine to sleep, but as it is the computer fans do that job just fine.
I also went into settings and turned off as much of the RGB stuff as I could (the stuff I couldn't physically disconnect without damaging things), but I still have a graphics card doing the usual RGB rainbow thing. At least it's somewhat dim and I was able to angle the window in my case to point at under my desk so that's not such a big deal that it's unbearable. I'm going to water-cool that video card like the rest of my system, and when I do that I'm leaving the RGB header disconnected.
Point being, my opinion is that "The monitor is the part of the computer that's supposed to be putting out light, and the case should be as dark inside as possible". Besides, I didn't do a good enough job on the cable management that I'd want to show it off anyways, but it's worked fine for over a year so I'm not messing with it.
@@44R0Ndin i have had the pleasure of sailing aboard the Christian Radich a whole month through october to the start of november last year as part of the crew. Working the rigging standing helm and being lookaout. This principle was importaint to notice for nightwatches. Standing at the bow in the middle of the night only the navigational lanterns were lit. Going up from the lit banjard below to the darkend deck at first ur blind but after a few minutes the eys adjust to the dark enviroment. At sea far from the coast ther is alot darker than anywhere on land from lightpollution. Out at sea at night you see stars that are only visable on the sea since they are so dim that on land they are hidden from being seen. Being lookout at night was a special experience. You stood up there for one hour looking at the horison mostly taking in the beauty of the stars and ringing in if you spot any lanterns from other ships. Its a magical thing to experience
@@dweltmusic did you happen to listen to any johnny collins while performing the rigging maneuvers? Thats what id do, although I know next to nothing about sailing and I ironically live and was raised in a coastal Rhode Island town 15 minutes from Newport and have a grandfather who built boats in his spare time and another grandfather who was a seabee in the navy for 20 years. I'll be honest in saying the lifestyle and the technical processes of sailing have always fascinated me to no end and the christian radich is a bad ass looking ship, that trip sounds amazing.
@@madLphnt wasnt allowed. On deck u were only allowed to listen to music out loud no buds and if you wanted to bring ur phone it needed to be secured so if it fell it didnt hurt anyone on deck
In navy movies, people who are about to go on watch duty turn on red light.
Navlights are very useful, but it is much easier to see vessels on radar, or better, AIS. Oh and if you see a white light flash Morse code U (..-) adjust your course, your heading towards an offshore installation. One more reason not to use headlights: you lose your nightvision.
Any reason why U? Seems like I would be fitting
@@FishSnackems I am not exactly sure why Morse U is used, although it is very recognisable. The IALA (International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities) has recommended how to mark man-made offshore structures in their O-139 recommendation. The majority of nations have used this recommendation fully or partly in their local regulations. As a result you will see similarities, but also differences, in the way platforms are marked. Eg Norway, the UK and the Netherlands have different local regulations, even though they are all operating in the North Sea and consequently the marking of platforms in the various sectors in the North Sea are different per sector. Despite the differences, Morse U is always used to mark a platform, with light and sound. The only exception is when using a radar beacon (racon), as the Morse code on a racon always need to start with a dash.
Just for info: I am actually specialised in marking man-made offshore structures without a mains power supply, so typically temporary markings.
Look up maritime signal flags
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags
I = I am altering my course to port.
U = You are running into danger.
So U makes perfect sense, if you sail towards that light, you are sailing towards a collision with a large stationary object.
Not sure of AIS, but it will definitely be e visible on a radar.
@@35manning Thanks for the useful info, did not know that. AIS is a complete different system and does not use Morse codes, but the MMSI number as identification (and vessel/structure name). On radar Morse codes are used, but only via racons (radar beacons) and they will only use codes starting with a dash (-). The reason for this is that a reflection on a radarscreen often is a dot, so if you use a Morse code starting with a dot, it may cause confusion. Racons are actively used for navigation and confusion may result in serious problems.
@@robinj1052 familiar with AIS in general, (and ADS-B which is the aviation version), but not sure if they are used on all off shore installations.
Keeping in mind that "off shore installation" in modern terms is no longer restricted to moveable oil rigs, but also includes hydro and and wind turbine power generation facilities for which are somewhat more permanent and easier to add to navigation charts then to install and maintain heaps of AIS transponders on each component.
So fun to see this! This was so much better put together than our navigational course on lanterns!
Seriously underrated channel. Been watching you for awhile now and am surprised you haven’t blown up yet.
Cars sort of have nav lights too. Blinkers, brake lights, reverse lights, etc..
Headlights are not really used to see the others cars, they are more used to see signs and obstacles(both of which you don't have on the ocean).
You generally use the lights of the other cars to avoid collisions. If you see headlights in front of you, you want to avoid them, if you see brake lights you want to brake as well, etc.. You don't actually use your own headlights for that purpose.
This!
Edit: Opps. I ranted.. ↓↓
So darn many drivers here (SW Pennsylvania) and I'm sure everywhere else, can not seem to grasp this very simple concept.
It's low light of the evening. Morris Ronald, (we'll call him Moron for short) is driving his car down a county 2-lane. Trees line the path the road follows. This renders the scene even darker. Yet there is a fair amount of light coming down from the open spaces above. Moron thinks to himself, "Bah! I can see fine. I don't need no stinkin' lights! Like this guy in front of me..His lights are on, and there is still ambient light out here.. Why does he even bother? I must have better eyes. Hmmph! That fool on the side road too! Jeez, can't they even see?" Now witness, my friends as the car in front of Moron passes the side road with the other waiting car. In that waiting car, the driver looks left and right, seeing only one car's lights and dark road behind it. He waits until the illuminated car passes and pulls out... HONK! SCREECH! SMASH! He is t-boned by Moron..
you see, Moron did see both of the other cars easily. Of course their lights were on! However the driver of the merging car never saw Moron due to not only being able to see one other car, but also the fact that Morons car was obscured by the haze of light from the car ahead of him. Moron gets save by an airbag. Unfortunately the car on the side road was an older model. The family within did not fare so well... Hospital bills. Physical therapy. Trauma counseling. Funeral expenses TWO funeral expenses, that is. Grieving. Suffering. All could have been avoided by one Moron turning his gawdamn lights on!
This goes for ALL driving scenarios. A full sunny day, and a car in shadow is very hard to see. Especially if the sun is lower, and the car is in the shadow with the sun behind it.
If it's moving. LIGHT IT UP! If you are driving with your lights on as you should, and you are using your high beam / full beam lights and see another car operating in front of you, even one approaching on a ramp or side street, Click the damn beams to low!
Furthermore, If you are driving you certainly DO NOT need to be able to read the date-code stamped into the tail-lights of the car in front of you. In fact if you can read the plate number, you are TOO CLOSE! BACK OFF! When sitting at a traffic light. if you can not see open space on the ground between your car and the one in front of you, you are TOO CLOSE! 70+ million miles of road in the US alone. You DO NOT need to be occupying the same spot I'm on at the moment. BACK OFF!
Lastly, the the following characters in black on a yellow background, "SCHOOL STUDENTS" does not.. I repeat does... NNOOOTT!! mean to tailgate, cut off, force out of lane, prevent from merging, or drive like a complete ass nearby. Treat my van as you would a SCHOOL BUS.
But I'm dealing with Pennsylvania drivers here, Footballs for brains, with cellphones permanently attached to their hands, and the only language they comprehend is:
Git yuntz foobawl brains out duh cellphone nat! Wortch duh road nat yunts jagovs! Dis innit no load of stilrz cosplay shirts er Primanti sammiches. Dis is kids nat!" Yuntz needa learn ta driyve a caaa!"
Yep Casual Navigation might understand ships, but he clearly do not understand cars enough to be eligible to use that comparisons.
Though, that assumption relies on both drivers remembering to use their lights (and it's shocking how many don't)
@@Cammi_Rosalie funny thing growing up what is called parking lights I somehow heard they were called running lights. The soft evening light does get fouled up by headlights. Agree that many drivers seem to want to get close. Ironic one car all alone gets pulled over but 20 in a bunch speeding much more dangerous. BTW I don't think the merging car gets t boned, maybe rear ended or side swiped. Remember for safety never turn left in politics or driving!
@@Cammi_Rosalie forgot to add once along a time iirc low beam was 75 ,000 candela and high beam 125,000 then they raised it till low was 110, and high 150,000 candles ie now low beams are al.ost as Brite as highbeams used to be. Also few times here in Utah we have had a certain blizzard condition with large flakes lights of can't see a foot turn off the lights and ambient lights well you could see least 5 miles clear as day even up to the radar tower 4000 feet up a mountian 5 miles away. Even ben loman 20 miles and two counties away. Doing 20 mph one night on the freeway ad idiot with his Hazzard lights on doing 15. So overtaking said idiot one second could see then blinded then see again. Wish I could have ask the guy why when with out lights and he could see for many miles he had to blind any other car around him half the time? Anything like that happen back east?
Someone else mentioned something very important here; night vision. For sure, a good search light can be handy to use when needed, but generally the use of all bright light sources are avoided most of the time, to keep your night vision.
I do a lot of installations, upgrades on bridges of smaller ships (mostly tug boats).
One thing that is always important is to ensure that every display and instrument light is dimmable all the way down to zero. This is to allow the personnel on the bridge to keep their night vision while sailing in darkness. A display which seems not so bright during the day will feel like a flash light directed right into your eyes during night.
On top of this, "night mode" on graphical displays is preferred. I usually bring the number of used colours down, and use a dark background with red graphics.
When installing computer screens, one of the reasons (among others) that a normal "office" screen does not work is that the brightness is not adjustable to a low enough level. Also, a simple rotary knob for this kind of adjustment is usually preferred instead of having to use buttons.
Also, even though we do usually not use headlights to see other ships we do use other radiation for the same purpose. Instead of emitting electromagnetic radiation in the spectrum visible to the human eye (400-700 nm), a radar antenna is used to emit at a much longer wavelength while also receiving the echo from any objects the radio wave hits and plotting this to a screen.
Thank you I learned a lot from this video that I did not previously know I knew about running lights but I did not know they conveyed so much information to neighboring ships!
There is one light you didn't mention. A flashing amber light. If you see that one you won't see any other lights. It is a submarine snorkeling.(usually). It may also be used as an alert signal as was the case when the sub I was on coming into port at night, encountering a small craft that was directly ahead of us and apparently hadn't seen us. We sounded the ships horn and raised the snorkel mast(which turned on its light).
When I was sailing as a ships electrician for 7 years in my twenties, all ships I was on certainly had headlights. They were huge 2000W searchlights with 75cm to 1m reflectors. They were all ways located under the forecastle deck and hidden behind a hatch in the bow. You never saw them because they were hidden from view. They are called “ Suez lights” and are used when crossing the Suez Canal, but they could ,in theory, be used in any situation.
These large powerful searchlights are fixed and is a true headlight beaming only straight ahead.
Yep, like you I was at sea as a deck officer for 7 years in my twenties. The company I worked for had a number of large container ships, of which only one occasionally did voyages by way of the Suez Canal and was designed for that run. It had a concealed "headlight" for the purpose, behind a hatch in the fo'c'sle. I suppose other vessels not fitted so, could (or still can) rent a temporary light for the passage.
this vid is stupid and you are better watching one from an actual sea nariner...
@@ashman187 WTF is a "sea nariner"?
Calling them "searchlights" implies they can be directed? I assume ships go at a fraction of their regular speed when using them?
The setup made me really curious about why ships crash into each other.
The navlights explain how they are SUPPOSED to avoid it, but don't explain why it still doesn't explain why accidents happen.
+1
For the same reason why cars crash into each other, as a driver you have the ability to see ahead of you, plus you can judge others car direction because of their headlamps/tail lamps/brake lights/turn signals/fog lights, yet you can still pretty easily crash into another car if you don’t react quickly enough or just don’t spot it altogether
Because humans are involved and they are shit
1-mecanical problem
2-piss drunk captain
3-human error
4-ego
@@jasonnomad4343 basically, yeah. Except I'd also add 5. not knowing the area you're sailing through
This is the most important video that's you've made so far for me. Thank you so much for your work.
Thanks for these very clear explanations.
Always a real pleasure to watch your videos. Take care.
I always wondered why LEGO boats often used green and red lights so much. Sidelights seem to be the answer.
Hope that doesn't sound like bragging. I wondered the same thing with lego. I assumed that real ships must have these lights to. Then i thought about the reason, and i actually came up with the right idea. Seems like a pretty good system if a 6 year old can figure it out by himself.
Airplanes use the same side light system, with the red and green lights located on the wingtips. Even some spacecraft use them.
@@terminator3000 I came to the same conclusion at 6 yo!that's why I love LEGOs
Following code, the submarine showed in the video should have a amber rotating light on its tower🙃
1) it doesn't have to, at least per US regulations
2) it is flashing in bursts so it might have been off.
Looks like different countries have somewhat different requirements for submarine yellow/amber/orange flashing lights and some countries don't require them at all. And even then such lights can easily be mistaken for hovercraft if you don't count flashes per minute. Further still it seems that in many Asian countries some small boats, sometimes tugs, sometimes towed barges are also required to display yellow flashing lights (I don't know the exact local regulations though) which brings even more confusion.
Submarine could have, but it is entirely optional.
@@alexeylutskyi6420 The flash sequence for the submarine identification light is morse code for 'S' (dot dot dot) followed by a 3-second pause. It makes hard to confuse with special vessels like hovercraft who's light flashes at 120+ per minute.
It's amazing how much the aviation industry has adopted systems and phraseology from ships
Even airline pilot uniforms were adopted from the naval uniforms.
Why u think they're called airships?
@@locoludwin3228 only one kind of aircraft is called an airship though but I get you
Avgeeks 🤝 Shipgeeks(?)
I really like this kind of communication. So simple yet effective
I was just thinking about nav lights yesterday :D I found the first half of the video very interesting an clearly explained. I like that you didn't just say 'because they wouldn't be bright enough', you made some great animations to clearly demo how/why. One of the things that makes your videos awesome. Thanks!
Thanks Bailey
"There is no RED PORT wine LEFT in the bottle" ;)
My mnemonic is that port is shorter than starboard, and red is shorter than green.
@@MonkeyJedi99 left is also shorter than right, so the whole dealio works. Nice one 👍
Here's one for red and green buoys: "When both are seen, sail in between. When seen apart, slow down, check a chart." And of course, you already know "red-right-returning." (Keep the red buoys on your right when returning from the open sea.)
@@nghtwtchmn129 Mnemonics are fun!
CCCP: red=left, of course
Exhilarating stuff. Thanks for all the work you put into this.
Whenever we are boating at night (coming back from a party etc…) we always have a little handheld spotlight to spot channel markers and the like.
That's a beautiful system! But it still won't work if both captains are like that Italian guy
Shittino?
i mean technically it’s not his fault that the collision happened
but him not taking any responsibilities and trying to escape before basically everyone else should get him locked in jail for longer
Perfect timing! I just completed wiring up my new masthead and anchor lights! Next, and last, will be the stern light and my narrowboat will be Colreg compliant. We don't actually need to be on the canals, but some river authorities are fussy and I like to be proper. :-)
Actually, for night navigation on the canals we do use 'headlights', as the speeds and distances are similar to roads.
I wasn't expecting a video about sea vessel lights to be so cool. Amazing.
I find your videos extremely relaxing, and of course terribly interesting
Because only seeing 100-200 yards ahead is not good enough....besides blinding everyone on the bridge from backscatter. Besides blinding other ships of your navigation lights, which mean something. Besides the large power draw on the ships generators. Besides the fact that ships have radar of the X-band and S-band which can extend much further than any lights.
I thought they didn't have lights because everything was done via satellite and the lights would attract too many animals.
besides having charts and sonar to avoid running aground or hitting any fixed object or buoy. Besides it not being a car. I never once thought why don't they have "headlights". besides ships having searchlights which technically could be used to illuminate in any direction you need to see or signal at night....
One that startled me because the speed she was going... flashing orange is "zero displacement vessel", i.e. a hovercraft, or hydrofoil 'stood up'.
Also air wash is a strange thing.
Hydrofoils would technically have a "negligible but non-zero" displacement, unlike hovercraft, right?
I'm not talking about "by the regulations", I'm talking about "by the laws of physics".
The hydrofoil that the craft places in the water is made of something, so it must have a non-zero volume, and therefore displace a non-zero mass of water.
For large hydrofoil ferries, even when "stood up" they could be displacing several tons of water simply by nature of the size of the foil needed to lift such a large craft out of the water. And that's not even counting the displacement of things like the propeller shaft(s) and screw(s) and rudder(s), which must also by necessity be at least partially submerged for proper function.
As far as the regulations are concerned, I do agree that it might as well be "zero displacement" compared to the "at anchor" displacement, but what I'm getting at is that it's technically not zero.
@@44R0Ndin regulations would probably absolutely class it as zero just so other people can expect it to be coming at very high speed. The real fun becomes what is an Ekranoplan/Ground Effect Vehicle. Regulators so far do not know if they are boats or airplanes.
This is great info thanks. When I work on large vessels I also see many with "Suez lights" and when I'm in East Asia many ships have large green lights at their bow. I've always wondered about the regulation around those and other lights with unique geographical requirements.
Thank you. Never did this question come to my mind, however I am delighted to know the answer 😊
Excellent chanel, very informative with very clear animations. With a professional interest in aids to navigation, offshore and shipping and a private interest in sailing at sea, this is one chanel I follow closely. Thanks for the great videos!
One remark on the intro shot, with a sailboat and a cruise vessel: in eg the Netherlands it is not allowed to have a red and green light on top of the mast as shown in the animation.
I literally just got my boating license earlier this week so going over light positions in this video was finally familiar
Thanks again for an amazing video. Your content is captivating.
Good video.
One bit of trivia I like is that modern spacecraft use the same system, but with an extra yellow light on the underside for more 3D information.
Really good videos! One thing I noticed, you said 3 red all-round lights was aground. 3 red is constrained by draft. Aground is 2 red + anchor lights.
They actually only use powerful lights for mooring operations to calculate the distance to the dock. Sometimes we use lights to see objects in narrow channels.
Jebediah i dont think you're a sailor
Why
Sometimes they use spotlight ….
I love this channel so much I even chose marine Transportation as my college program
Thank you for making these videos. Ships are fast becomming an interest of mine because of them.
YAAAYY love your work Casual Navigation, such excitement when you post
Thanks A407RAC
@@CasualNavigation love you my man ❤️
Great in theory but just like all standards everyone has their own take on where they should place their lights. Each boat is like puzzle to be solved when you see their lights
No these lights are fairly standard internationally. In the U.S., all civilian traffic is required to follow collision regulations to receive USCG certification, and mariners need to follow lighting protocols. I don't know where you get this "everyone does their own thing" for sailors. Professionals have a very rigid lighting standard. The fact many comments are pointing out how he got the grounding lights wrong is a testament to how universal these lights are.
@@blusafe1 I think you misunderstood him. There are a lot of details such as vertical and longitudinal spacing of various lights, height above waterline, and absolute intensity which have a wide rage of values that are in compliance with regs. But the choice of those details will affect the at-a-glance identification and ranging of the vessel. Additionally, if you see one white light at a glance, you have to watch for some time to ensure that the lower lights are not obscured by an intervening wave. Similarly, a boat using a poorly columnated search light may look to be traveling away on casual inspection because that spot light is going to overpower all the nav lights.
The hardest part of the puzzle is verifying you have all the information, and most of the night time collisions mentioned at the start of this video involve at least one person trusting their first impressions and not working out the puzzle.
Not in commercial shipping, there it is very clear and distinctive.
@@blusafe1 I get it from sailing across the ocean. There are more variations than I could count and that is just of the eastern coast of the US and in the Caribbean
@@MarkJones But those are only hyper-local variations (which is why pilots are a good idea) and don't really affect port-to-port voyages. Thanks for the reminder.
Used to sail across Lake Michigan at night when I crewed on a sailboat for racing. It was always fun when a freighter would appear, trying to figure out whether we had the room to cross its bow or not! Granted, most of the time we'd take the safe route and change course to take its stern instead. . . ;)
Never forget the Gross Tonnage Rule! ;)
What you explained here about nav lights on ships can also be said for planes to some extent. Steady red for left wing, steady green for right wing, steady white for front, flashing white for top/back, and flashing red light for the bottom.
So why do they still crash if they have these lights? Do they also use radar?
I thought they also used gps. There are apps for smartphone that shows most of boat traffic.
Oops it is actually called "ais" or "automatic identification system". I forgot.
I’d imagine at that point it’s human error
Because humans are idiots?
Accidents happen, cars have headlight, side markers, turn signals, brake lights, etc and they still crashes into each other
Such an underrated awesome channel.
Great video. The sides the red and green light are on is the same for airplane wing tips. Makes sense.
well done. you are so well explanatory and clear
It is important to mention the inverse square law, in which you need a exponentially brighter bulbs to illuminate a space a few times larger or brighter
Do ships request docking permission when they arrive in port or do they need to book in advance? How does it all work? I'm writing a book about a world with airships and I want to model it on the maritime protocols.
It's kind of a mix really. The short answer is they need to "book in advance" and then "request permission to dock". The long answer is that the process is a bit more complex than that and involves a lot of jargon specific to maritime navigation. Basically, when a ship is going to call a port(arrive to a port) it will need to inform the agent of the shipping line(to which the said ship belongs to) in the port of call who will then arrange everything related to the arrival of the ship from logistics to documentation. Then the relevant authority at the port will receive information about the ship and arrange a berth(parking slot for a ship) for the ship to be moored to. Since there's only a very limited no of berths in a port and because the entire processes of a ship entering and departing a port consumes both time and resources, there can be a considerable amount of vessel traffic. This is especially the case with busy ports like port of singapore or port of colombo. So, if this is the case, then the ship in question will have to wait out in an anchorage ( which could take up to days). Once the traffic clears, the ship will be given permission to approcha the port, enter the port and safely berth with the assistance of tug boats and a harbor pilot. I could have missed a few details but this is how it works most of the time. Since you are planning to write on airships, I think you should also look into air traffic management.
For merchant vessels, you do need to book in advance so the port can sort out the logistics and thus minimize idle time for the vessel. Kind of like booking a hotel room but much more complicated because different ports & countries have different rules, requirements & regulations.But usually you’ll have at least one local agent to help you navigate through the formalities, and it often starts days before your arrival. The agent will ask for a spectrum of paperworks from the vessel to satisfy everyone involved: the port, harbor pilot, customs, immigration, CDC, surveyors, stevedores, chandlers, contractors...etc.
If all goes well and you arrive on time, your ship will be brought alongside, the agent will be onboard to complete some more paperworks with you, sometimes you’ll need to pass certain inspections such as crew ID check ,certificates check or sanitation inspection, before you can finally commence your business in the port.
Thanks a lot! I will do more research. This is fascinating to me.
@@johngrey5806 you are welcome! Yeah this stuff is interesting. This stuff comes under navigation operations of a port so look up that area and you will be able to find it in more detail.
It's not a lot easier for pleasure vessels, they need to reserve space to moor or tie up in a marina, contact the harbour master to get permission to enter, clear the same inspections then they can proceed to the mooring field or marina. They are in the same traffic lanes as the big commercial ships, usually travelling slower, commonly not fully aware of the regs they should be following and worst of all, likely to alter course with no warning leading to a collision.
The pleasure boats are the motorcycles of the sea, smaller, faster, more manoeuvrable and far harder to spot.
While they will have the correct lights installed, they don't always have them enabled correctly due to most pleasure boats not travelling at night.
Also, Radar. Especially modern ones with ARPA, allow you to see a ships speed, course, bearing, and position with the click of a button. They also calculate CPA or closest point of approach to aid in identifying possible collisions. Much more information than you can achieve with sight and used during daylight as much as night. There's also AIS on almost every commercial ship now which on top of telling you the ships name and type, patches you directly into their GPS system. I'm sure you know all this but might be worth a video on "aids to navigation".
This is why I love youtube it awnser the question you never thought of but desperately need to know after looking at the title
Great video as always!
However, three red lights in a line in the top mast means a vessel is constrained by her draught, not that it is aground
Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing
Also a lot of ships do have a flashlight, it just doesnt operate in the visible wavelengths, its called RADAR
But what about pre-radar era?
This video was great. Cheers very much pal. Subbed.
i recall reading about an old cruise ship having a searchlight on the forward mast... Think she was German. They advertized this feature. In the pre-radar days it could have been a boon. Another "if only" for the Titanic perhaps. The current marker light arrangement is poetic in its simplicity. Nice vid :)
In a way, cars have their own navigational lights, too. See two red lights? You’re looking at the back of a car. Two white? The front. White on the left, red on the right? Left side of a car. No where near as detailed as the ships, but still a great help.
White on the left red on the right would mean ur looking at the left side wouldn’t it?
@@danmsmith21 yeah lol I screwed it up thanks for pointing that out
Wow, just Wow. Thank you for such an depth, but understandable, explanation. I have just started sailing, and your channel has really helped me feel part of a bigger world.
Only someone with a great accent and boice could host a channel like this 😂 love it!!
I'm not a big maritime person, but your voice is so easy to listen to. Your channel is my bedtime channel. Now I know my ship facts!
I would love an explanation about collision avoidance regulation
That's probably enough information for an entire video
@@MonkeyJedi99 For a whole separate YT channel actually
Well nevertheless it's a good point and I would like a little more information about this, as it was briefly mentioned at the end of this video. I'm sure CN could make some succinct points in his usual way without turning it into War and Peace.
He's got a whole series on this already; Look for the playlist 'Colregs in depth' on this channel
Great video! :) only one issue: at 5:25 three red lights is a vessel restricted by her draft, not aground. :)
Yah he's confusing the aground day shapes with the night lights. Aground or not command would be the captain's balls hanging on the mast = two red lights.
Also, in the beginning of lights explanation, which masthead light is higher is no indication of the direction of motion because the vessel might be at anchor and then the highest one is at the front where the anchor is. Navlights only say which way the vessel is moving.
@@christosgklezosthe anchor light isn’t a mast light. A mass light is only forward pointing and a anchor and all around. And when at anchor all other lights shouldn’t be on. So it’s very easy to tell n
I was on a Cruise Ship in Alaska, they used spotlights at night to keep an eye on things near the ship.
I fished out on the Bering sea, The commercial fishing boats all had lights they use to illuminate the area they are working. At night, the pitch black horizon would be dotted with lights from all those ships. Bright lights would help the other vessels seeing you from a very long distance away and vice versa.
I've often wondered this!
When I did a navigation course a few years ago we got told that the colored lights also acts like traffic lights, when you see their red light they go first, and if you see the green light you can go first.
That's probably more for small vessels though, because I wouldn't want to test my luck with that on container ships that take like 5miles or more to stop
I think the notification bell at 5:10 is very appropriate for this kind of video.
got my daily dose of getting answers to questions I never asked but now I'm curious to learn about
@4:30 *Giggles when seeing that shape*
I've seen many ships on the St. Lawrence Seaway completely lit up from bow to stern it's pretty neat to see them with full deck lights on.
This channel is actually very helpful for us designing ships in Stormworks(PC game) :D
In aviation we also have strobe lights, it helps draw attention agenst a starry night, or a populated ground.
I guess now the real question becomes: how do they still manage to hit each other?
Depending on how long it takes for either one of the two vessels to take action, and subsequently how they reacted. This could lead to both coming closer due to misinterpreting the other's action or the time it took to take action meant either ship wouldn't clear the other in time. This is assuming rather large vessels of course, should the vessels be a small fishing boat and a ferry then that's a different story
Incompetence
@@johnkieth4537 this is why the "tonnage law" is a thing
There is also an enviromental concern. If beach lighting is detrimental to sea turtles I can’t imagine a bunch of ultra bright headlights illuminating the ocean 24/7 being good for sea life living near major shipping lanes.
Who cares. Save the tUrTlEs non-sense.
@@coloradostrong caring only about yourself gets you nowhere in life
@@gavcom4060 yes it does
That was actually pretty helpful. I actually learned something I'd never realised before.
This is the kind of info I like to have banked in my memory for when I'm developing sci-fi spaceships and such. Just to make them more plausible
Sometimes its mid day and a large ship aims at someone else
Both ships are moving so steering exactly at another ship and then proceeding in a straight line means that given enough time the other ship is guaranteed to leave this line. The whole thing is actually a lot more complicated but that's one of the effective rules of thumb we use in navigation in certain situations.
@@alexeylutskyi6420
Im referring to the video of a ship ramming another from youtube shorts
I’ve seen a massively bright spot light(s) on an ore / gravel carrier type of ship at night, as it made way in the bay and down river. Is this normal? It was bright!! Do some ships still have “headlights”too? (Saginaw Bay / River, Michigan USA)
Yes. In narrow waters with a lot of potential obstacles it's normal, or even essential
@@Lorgs1 ah cool thanks, that makes sense. (There is a dredged channel for ship traffic marked by buoys, as well as the river)
Like the other poster said, but specifically when going through Suez you need a special headlight/floodlight that have split beams so they will light up both sides of the canal.
@@tjampman Makes sense, otherwise you'd see a lot more container ships stuck cross-wise in that canal.
That's probably the origin of the term 'floodlight'.
Nowadays it's used for high-power, broad-beamed lighting everywhere.
This reminds me on Blackout lights in the military. Driving with no lights on and you have light indicators on the other vehicle to see how close you are to the other vehicle.
I don't even know why but it's just so cool for me how much just few lights can tell you
A question remains - 0:09 why don't they see each-other?
*_Intro:_* Every now and then we hear about a nighttime collision at sea.
*_US Navy:_* It's been years! It's not us this time.
Never knew about the color lights and I live on the Great Lakes in Michigan awesome video
The background sound is a very nice touch
The large cargo ships could use a high power laser like they have at live music gigs pointed up at the sky. Just occasional line bursts would suffice. It would be easier for another ship to see it from far and it wouldn't influence the other lights. Connected to radar to cut off if there is air traffic. I've sailed across the Atlantic ocean in a yacht. Those big buggers are not that easy to see, you have to pay constant attention and follow light discipline during a night watch.
That makes no sense. A high power laser pointed to the air would not give other ships your pinpoint location.
@@6z0 you don't need a pinpoint location. All you need to know is that a large ship is within 5km of you. It's a visual indicator so boats like small yachts know to keep a lookout for the big ship which is close so they aren't crushed by it. I've been on night watch on a yacht before in the middle of the Atlantic and we only saw the large container ship when it was within a km of us. If a crew isn't aware they can be crushed. It's a low cost simple solution which would improve awareness greatly. Large ships have radar, small yachts often don't. They're also often made with material that doesn't reflect radar.
So why dont they see wach other if they have navlights?
Whenever you have humans driving anything, there's always room for failure, arrogance, or just dumbness. Then you double the chances because it goes both ways.
They're not computer-controlled with software that's held to NASA standards, that's why.
Anything less than that, and you get computer bugs, and if you don't get computer bugs (because you have people in control and not computers) you get human error of the pilot/captain of BOTH vessels for not keeping adequate watch!
It's down to negligence, which usually happens because of complacency or arrogance. Humans can only do the same thing for so long before they start thinking "It's all the same, nothing changes, I'll just do the same thing every time" when in fact every time you need to make a new decision.
It's about time we started putting ships on autopilot in congested waters. Shouldn't be as hard to figure out as self-driving cars, and unlike that case we CAN actually flat-out require "no manual piloting except in an emergency" with the stipulation that if you take the controls "in an emergency" you will have to explain your actions later.
Of course, if we want to "do something about it" but don't want to go all-the-way with the "expensive, but we know it's gonna work for sure" solution, we could just do what we've done on most newer cars and install proximity/collision alert systems that hook into the navigation systems and a scattering of machine-vision cameras placed around the vessel (similar idea to how most "lane-minder" and "collision preparation" systems work in cars, you got cameras watching for bad situations and they'll make the car take action to prevent or prepare for the incoming bad event).
I'm at sea and i love this mastery channel.
There's something amazing about how the water really absorbs the light... I installed a super bright light bar on the top of a boat for a friend of mine..... the light doesn't seem to reach very far when on the water at all.
I’m sure Elon Musk is thinking of a highly impractical solution to this problem 😂
At 10x the cost
Why are Musk haters so obsessed with him?
I don't get it.
Are you also obsessed with other celebrities? What's wrong with you?
Cargo transports in vacuum tunnels under the sea! He'll call it "hypersloop".
@@hermitoldguy6312 if that comment was meant to be witty, you failed.
Elon Musk doesn't think of impractical solutions!
oh don't be ridiculous, what would you see? an iceberg?
That was so instructive cheers
Technically our eyesight is like Radar. if you think about it hard enough.
Yes but it takes years (decades) of training to intuitively understand ship angles, aspects, and depth of field.