1.
Dressing overall
–
Dressing overall consists of stringing international maritime signal flags on a ship from stemhead to masthead, from masthead to masthead and then down to the taffrail. It is a sign of celebration, and is done for occasions, anniversaries, custom and regulations require that national or other flags not be mixed in with the signal flags when dressing a ship overall. When a ship is dressed overall in harbor, ensigns should fly at each masthead, unless displaced by another flag. A ship underway does not array herself with signal flags, gettysburg Flag Works has additional information, including a recommended ordering of flags. Media related to Ship dressing at Wikimedia Commons
2.
International Code of Signals
–
The International Code of Signals is an international system of signals and codes for use by vessels to communicate important messages regarding safety of navigation and related matters. Signals can be sent by flaghoist, signal lamp, flag semaphore, radiotelegraphy, the International Code is the most recent evolution of a wide variety of maritime flag signalling systems. It has done this by first establishing an alphabet, along with a spoken form of each letter. Combinations of these characters are assigned as codes for various standardized messages. One simply raises the Kilo flag, or sends the Morse Code equivalent by flashing light, one of the elegant aspects of the ICS is that all of the standardized messages come in nine languages. It is immaterial if the sender and receiver are using different languages, the code also covers procedural aspects, how naval ships indicate that they are using the ICS, use in radiotelephony, and various other matters. Prior to 1969, the code was more extensive, covering a wider range of messages. Since 1969, it has reduced to focus on navigation and safety. Signals can be sorted into three groups, Single-letter signals which are very urgent, important, or common, two-letter signals for other messages, sometimes followed with a numerical complement which supplements or modifies the message. Three-letter signals beginning with M, these are the Medical Signal Codes, in some cases, additional characters are added to indicate quantities, bearing, course, distance, date, time, latitude, or longitude. There is also provision for spelling words and for indicating use of other codes, several of the more common single-letter signals are shown at the right. Two-letter signals cover a broad gamut of situations, the reader is urged to download a copy of the Code from the link below. Repeated characters can be a problem in flaghoist, to avoid having to carry multiple sets of signal flags, the Code uses three substitute flags. These repeat the flag at the indicated position, for instance, to signal MAA the Mike, Alfa, and 2nd substitute flags would be flown, the substitute indicating a repeat of the second character. The Medical Signal Code is a means of providing assistance when medical personnel are not present, even where there are no language problems, the Medical Signal Code is useful in providing a standard method of case description and treatment. There is also a standard list of medicaments, keyed to a standard ships medicine chest carried by all merchant ships, the Medical signals all begin with the letter M followed by two more letters, and sometimes with additional numerals or letters. The International Code of Signals was preceded by a variety of signals and private signals, most notably Marryats Code. What is now the International Code of Signals was drafted in 1855 by the British Board of Trade and it came in two parts, the first containing universal and international signals, and the second British signals only
3.
Diving support vessel
–
A diving support vessel is a ship that is used as a floating base for professional diving projects. Until that point, most diving operations were from mobile oil drilling platforms, pipe-lay, the diving system tended to be modularised and craned on and off the vessels as a package. However, equipment fails or gets damaged, and there was an if not continuous need for diving operations in. The solution was to put diving packages on ships, furthermore, seabed operations usually entailed the raising and lowering of heavy equipment, and most such vessels were not equipped for this task. This is when the commercial diving support vessel emerged. These were often built from scratch or heavily converted pipe carriers or other utility ships, saturation diving system - For diving operations below 50m, a mixture of helium and oxygen is required to eliminate the narcotic effect of nitrogen under pressure. For extended diving operations at depth, saturation diving is the preferred approach, a saturation system would be installed within the ship. There are a number of systems for the saturation system on a Diving Support Vessel, usually including a Remotely Operated Vehicle ROV. Most of the currently in the North Sea have been built in the 1980s. The semi-submersible fleet, the Uncle John and similar, have proven to be too expensive to maintain, therefore, most existing designs are monohull vessels with either a one or a twin bell dive system. There has been innovation since the 1980s. However, driven by oil prices since 2004, the market for subsea developments in the North Sea has grown significantly. This has led to a scarcity of Diving Support Vessels and have driven the price up, thus, contractors have ordered a number of newbuild vessels which are expected to enter the market in 2008
4.
Home Riggs Popham
–
Rear Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham, KCB, KCH, was a Royal Navy commander who saw service against the French during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is remembered for his accomplishments, particularly the development of a signal code that was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1803. Home Popham was born in Gibraltar on 12 October 1762, the child of Joseph Popham, British consul at Tétouan in Morocco. It is likely that the childs first name was chosen to honour Gibraltars former Governor William Home, Mary Popham died an hour after Home was born, from complications associated with the birth. Nine months later Joseph married Catherine Lamb, who responsible for raising Home. The couple also had six more children, in 1769 Joseph Popham was forced to resign as consul after a personal dispute with the Moroccan Emperor regarding piracy against English merchantmen. The Popham family returned to England, settling first in Chichester, Joseph sought further diplomatic postings but was successful only in securing an annual government pension of £200 which was insufficient to cover debts incurred during his Moroccan consulship. The family was forced to rely on income earned by Homes brothers, in 1772 Home was sent to Westminster School in London, where he remained for three years. His father Joseph died in Guernsey in 1774, on 3 January 1776 Home was admitted to further study at Trinity College, Cambridge. His education may have paid for by his brother Stephen or by Captain Edward Thompson. There is no record of Home actually residing in Cambridge or attending lectures, in April 1778 he abandoned his studies and enlisted in the Royal Navy as an able seaman aboard Thompsons newly built frigate HMS Hyaena. Popham served with the flag of Admiral George Rodney till the end of the American War of Independence, in 1781 he was aboard HMS Shelanagig when the French under the Comte de Grasse captured her near Saint Lucia. Popham was exchanged and returned to service, in 1783 he was promoted to lieutenant, and was for a time engaged on survey service on the coast of Africa. During this time he took several surveys and rendered services to the British East India Company. In 1793, however, his ship was seized, partly on the grounds that he was carrying contraband and this loss was put at £70,000, and he was entangled in litigation. In 1805 he obtained compensation to the amount of £25,000, the case was a hard one, for he was undoubtedly sailing with the knowledge of officials in India. While this dispute was going on Popham had resumed his career as a naval officer and he served with the army under the Duke of York in Flanders as superintendent of Inland Navigation and won his confidence. The protection of the duke was exercised with so much effect that Popham was promoted commander in 1794 and he was then engaged for several years in co-operating in a naval capacity with the troops of Great Britain and her allies
5.
Battle of Trafalgar
–
The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost. It was the most decisive battle of the war, conclusively ending French plans to invade England. Nelson instead divided his force into two columns directed perpendicularly against the enemy fleet, with decisive results. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer during the battle and died shortly after, Villeneuve was captured along with his ship Bucentaure. Admiral Federico Gravina, the senior Spanish flag officer, escaped with the remnant of the fleet, Villeneuve attended Nelsons funeral while a captive on parole in Britain. In 1805, the First French Empire, under Napoleon Bonaparte, was the dominant military power on the European continent. During the course of the war, the British imposed a blockade on France. When the Third Coalition declared war on France, after the short-lived Peace of Amiens, to do so, he needed to ensure that the Royal Navy would be unable to disrupt the invasion flotilla, which would require control of the English Channel. The main French fleets were at Brest in Brittany and at Toulon on the Mediterranean coast, other ports on the French Atlantic coast harboured smaller squadrons. France and Spain were allied, so the Spanish fleet based in Cádiz, the British possessed an experienced and well-trained corps of naval officers. By contrast, some of the best officers in the French navy had either been executed or had left the service during the part of the French Revolution. Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had taken command of the French Mediterranean fleet following the death of Latouche Treville, there had been more competent officers but they had either been employed elsewhere or had fallen from Napoleons favour. Villeneuve had shown a lack of enthusiasm for facing Nelson. Napoleons naval plan in 1805 was for the French and Spanish fleets in the Mediterranean and Cádiz to break through the blockade and join forces in the Caribbean. They would then return, assist the fleet in Brest to emerge from the blockade, early in 1805, Vice Admiral Lord Nelson commanded the British fleet blockading Toulon. Unlike William Cornwallis, who maintained a blockade off Brest with the Channel Fleet. However, Villeneuves fleet successfully evaded Nelsons when the British were blown off station by storms, Nelson commenced a search of the Mediterranean, erroneously supposing that the French intended to make for Egypt. However, Villeneuve took his fleet through the Strait of Gibraltar, rendezvoused with the Spanish fleet, once Nelson realised that the French had crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he set off in pursuit
6.
Yacht racing
–
Yacht racing is a form of sport involving yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing. It is composed of multiple yachts, in competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races when buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing, the sporting element in the word lies in the derivation of jaght from the root jaghen, which means to hunt, chase or pursue…. The formal racing of boats is believed to have started with sailboats in the Netherlands some time in the 17th century, soon, in England, custom-built racing yachts began to emerge and the Royal Yacht Squadron was established in 1815. In 1661 John Evelyn recorded a competition between Katherine and Anne, two large royal sailing vessels both of English design, …the wager 100-1, the race from Greenwich to Gravesend and back. One of the vessels was owned, and sometimes steered, by Charles II, in 1782 the Cumberland Fleet, a class of sailing vessel known for its ability to sail close to the wind, were painted racing up the Thames River with spectators viewing from a bridge. Much like today, this obsession with sailing close to the wind with speed, in the nineteenth century most yacht races were started by allotting starting positions to the competitors. Buoys were laid in a line, to which the competitors attached their yachts by means of spring ropes. The yachts were required to all the sails forward of the main mast on deck until the starting signal was given. The Yacht Racing Association was founded in 1875 by Prince Batthyany-Strattman, Captain J. W. Hughes, the Y. R. A. wrote standardised yacht racing rules which included the Flying Start used today. Bringing yacht racing to the forefront of life, the Americas Cup was first raced in 1851 between the New York Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht Squadron. Subsequently, the Cup races were conducted, usually every 3–4 years, based on an issued by one club to the current Cup holder. As yacht racing became more prevalent, and yacht design more diverse, it was necessary to establish systems of measurements and time allowances due to the differences in boat design. Longer yachts are inherently faster than shorter ones, therefore, in the interests of fairness, as a result, both ratings and “one-design” competition were developed. Ratings systems rely upon some formulaic analysis of very specific yacht-design parameters such as length, sail area, displacement. During the 1920s and through the 1970s the Cruising Club of America established a formula by which most racing/cruising boats were designed during that period, most popular family-oriented cruising sailboats will have a rating filed with a local chapter of the PHRF. The most prevalent handicap rating systems today are the ORC, ORR, IRC, and the PHRF. Many countries organise their own handicap systems which do not take account the size, weight, or sail area of the yacht
7.
Dinghy racing
–
Dinghy racing is the competitive sport of sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan. Dinghy racing comes under the auspices of the International Sailing Federation, organisations such as the Royal Yachting Association, National School Sailing Association and Canadian Yachting Association organise and regulate the sport at a national level. Sailing dinghies compete on an international, national, state, association, club and class basis, using the ISAF International Racing Rules of Sailing, there are several courses used, such as the Olympic triangle. The International Association for Disabled Sailing is the body authorized by ISAF to be responsible for disabled sailing worldwide, IFDS works with yachting associations worldwide to run regional events all the way to the Paralympic Games, as well as adapt ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing to meet disability requirements. Many standard boats are suitable for people with disabilities which can be more accessible by adaptations. More boats are being designed with disabled people in mind and used regularly around the world by people with disabilities, dinghys typically race around a windward-leeward race course. There is a line, set up perpendicular to the wind, marked by a committee boat at one end. At the end of five minutes, competitors are allowed to cross the line, the next mark is called the windward mark. The windward mark is placed directly upwind from the start/finish line, competitors must round the mark going counter-clockwise. After rounding the mark, the fleet now heads towards the leeward mark. The leeward mark is positioned directly downwind from the windward mark, sailors also round this mark counter-clockwise. After rounding, competitors head upwind to cross the finish line, the first race of this type was held in 1880, as a way of reducing the costs then experienced racing larger Bermudian sloops, with their similarly-larger professional crews. BFD racing was restricted to amateurs, although each dinghy carries a crew of six, a few classes of dinghy carry more than two crew whilst racing, typically heavier dayboat types, but also a couple of high-performance, Australian-origin skiff-type dinghies. Some classes allow children to sail double-handed until a particular age, weight equalisation is also used on certain high-performance classes to ensure that comparative levels of performance are attained. The oldest known one-design sailing dinghy is the Water Wag, thomas Middleton proposed the idea of one design sailing punts, with centreboards all built and rigged the same in 1887. The first race took place on April 12,1887, in Kingstown Harbour, the Water Wag Club still race Water Wag dinghies in Dún Laoghaire every Wednesday during the summer season. One designs may be controlled, as in the ubiquitous Laser, with all boats being factory produced from identical moulds, with identical rigs
8.
Racing Rules of Sailing
–
A new revision is published every four years by World Sailing, the sports world governing body. Full information on the rules can be downloaded at World Sailing,1997 saw the most dramatic simplification to the Racing Rules of Sailing since the 1940s. They are based on four main right of way rules, Boats on a port tack shall keep clear of boats on starboard tack, when boats are on the same tack and overlapped, the boat to windward shall keep clear of a leeward boat. When boats are on the tack and not overlapped, the boat that is astern shall keep clear of the boat ahead. When a boat is tacking it shall keep clear of boats that are not tacking, four rules about general limitations, Even if you have right-of-way, it is your duty to avoid a collision, once it becomes apparent that the other boat is not keeping clear. If you acquire right of way, you must initially give the boat room to keep clear. A boat that changes course, even if it has the right-of-way, if you catch up with another boat and you want to pass it to leeward, you may not sail above your proper course i. e. In total there are 91 rules but only 15 rules govern what boats do when they meet on the water and it is not necessary to know all of the rules to successfully compete in a dinghy race, but a knowledge of the basics is recommended. Sailboat racing is a self-regulated sport, as stated by the Racing Rules of Sailing, Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce. A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors break a rule they will take a penalty. Depending on the nature of the infraction, the penalty may be either, performing a turn consisting of one tack, for most rules infractions, a competitor may be absolved from disqualification from the race by taking such a penalty. However, if the infraction caused injury or serious damage, or produced a significant advantage in the race or series, if a competitor fails to take penalty turn they may be disqualified after a hearing by the Protest Committee. The aforementioned principles do not apply to match racing where on-the-water umpires impose penalties immediately after an infraction occurs, sail races are governed with flags and sound signals to indicate flag changes. The flags used are taken from the International maritime signal flag set, during a race and for any signal concerning the race, these flags are defined in the Racing Rules of Sailing but the signal can be modified by the Sailing Instructions. The raising or removing of a signal is accompanied by the emission of a sound signal to draw attention to the new signal. The type of the signal is described by the rule according to the type of signal. The usual meanings of these flags are as follows, The Answering Pennant with or without a numerical pennant is used to indicate a postponed race, a numerical pennant below the AP denotes the time, in hours, of the race postponement. These signal flags are used before a start and most commonly as part of a start sequence/procedure
9.
NATO
–
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
10.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
11.
Allied-occupied Germany
–
The four powers divided Germany into four occupation zones for administrative purposes, into what is collectively known now as Allied-occupied Germany. This division was ratified at the Potsdam Conference, in Autumn 1944 the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had agreed on the zones by the London Protocol. The Final German Peace Treaty would result in the westward of Polands borders back to approximately as they were before 1722. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, United States forces had pushed beyond the boundaries for the future zones of occupation. The so-called line of contact between Soviet and American forces at the end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border was temporary. After two months in which they had areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone. All territories annexed by Germany before the war from Austria and Czechoslovakia were returned to these countries, the Memel Territory, annexed by Germany from Lithuania before the war, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. All territories annexed by Germany during the war from Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Poland, the American zone consisted of Bavaria and Hesse in Southern Germany, and the northern portions of the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg. The ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven were also placed under American control because of the American request to have certain toeholds in Northern Germany, the headquarters of the American military government was the former IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main. Beginning in May 1945, many of the American combat troops and airmen in, Army, the Army Air Forces, and the U. S. Navy upon their return home. The Canadian Army was tied down in surrounding the Netherlands until the Germans there surrendered on 5 May 1945 – just two days before the surrender of the Wehrmacht in Western Europe to U. S. Then in July 1945, the British Army withdrew from small slices of Germany that had previously agreed to be occupied by the Soviet Army. Within the British Zone of Occupation, the CCG/BE re-established the German state of Hamburg, also in 1947, the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen became an exclave of the American Zone of Occupation located within the British Zone. In 1946, the Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany had 4,000 soldiers in Hanover, despite its being one of the Allied Powers, the French Republic was at first not granted an occupation zone in Germany. This created a French zone of occupation in the westernmost part of Germany and it consisted of two barely contiguous areas of Germany along the French border that met at just a single point along the Rhine River. It included the Saargebiet, which was disentangled from it on 16 February 1946, by 18 December 1946 customs controls were established between the Saar area and allied occupied Germany. The French zone ceded further adjacent municipalities to the Saar, included in the French zone was the town of Büsingen am Hochrhein, a German exclave separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of neutral Swiss territory. The Swiss government agreed to limited numbers of French troops to pass through its territory in order to maintain law
12.
History of the Ryukyu Islands
–
This article is about the history of the Ryukyu Islands southwest of the main islands of Japan. The name Ryūkyū originates from Chinese writings, the earliest references to Ryūkyū write the name as 琉虬 and 流求 in the Chinese history Book of Sui in 607. It is a name, meaning glazed horn-dragon. The origin of the term Okinawa remains unclear, although Okinawa as a term was used in Okinawa, there was also a divine woman named Uchinaa in the book Omoro Sōshi, a compilation of ancient poems and songs from Okinawa Island. This suggests the presence of a place named Okinawa. The Chinese monk Jianzhen, who traveled to Japan in the mid-8th century CE to promote Buddhism, the Japanese map series Ryukyu Kuniezu labeled the island as 悪鬼納 in 1644. The current Chinese characters for Okinawa were first written in the 1702 version of Ryukyu Kuniezu, the ancestry of the modern-day Ryukyuan people is disputed. The time when human beings appeared in Okinawa remains unknown, the earliest human bones were those of Yamashita Cave Man, about 32 000 years ago, followed by Pinza-Abu Cave Man, Miyakojima, about 26 000 years ago and Minatogawa Man, about 18 000 years ago. Of them, perfect bodies were excavated of the Minatogawa man and they probably came through China and were once considered to be the direct ancestors of those living in Okinawa. No stone tools were discovered with them, for the following 12 000 years, no trace of archaeological sites was discovered after the Minatogawa man site. However, the use of Jōmon and Yayoi of Japan is questionable in Okinawa, in the former, it was a hunter-gatherer society, with wave-like opening Jōmon pottery. In the latter part of Jomon period, archaeological sites moved near the seashore, in Okinawa, rice was not cultivated during the Yayoi period but began during the latter period of shell-heap age. Shell rings for arms made of shells obtained in the Sakishima Islands, in these islands, the presence of shell axes,2500 years ago, suggests the influence of a southeastern-Pacific culture. The first history of Ryukyu was written in Chūzan Seikan, which was compiled by Shō Shōken, the Ryukyuan creation myth is told, which includes the establishment of Tenson as the first king of the islands and the creation of the Noro, female priestesses of the Ryukyuan religion. The throne was usurped from one of Tensons descendants by a man named Riyu, Chūzan Seikan then tells the story of a Japanese samurai, Minamoto no Tametomo, who fought in the Hogen Rebellion of 1156 and fled first to Izu Island and then to Okinawa. He had relations with the sister of the Aji of Ōzato and sired Shunten, most historians, however, discount the Tametomo story as a revisionist history that is intended to legitimize Japanese domination over Okinawa. Shuntens dynasty ended in the third generation when his grandson, Gihon, abdicated, went into exile, and was succeeded by Eiso, the Eiso dynasty continued for five generations. Gusuku is the used for the distinctive Okinawan form of castles or fortresses
13.
Occupation of Japan
–
The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan and this foreign presence marked the only time in Japans history that it had been occupied by a foreign power. It transformed the country into a democracy that recalled New Deal priorities of the 1930s politics by Roosevelt. Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14,1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. At Yalta, Stalin made sure Roosevelt was clear on the promise he had made that urged assistance from the USSR on intervening in the war in Japan with the U. S, (On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japans unconditional surrender on the radio. The announcement was the emperors first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereigns voice. This date is known as Victory over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II, Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28,1945,150 US personnel flew to Atsugi and they were followed by USS Missouri, whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Division on the southern coast of Kanagawa. MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws, No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food, flying the Hinomaru or Rising Sun flag was initially severely restricted. This restriction was lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year. On September 2,1945, Japan formally surrendered with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, on September 6, US President Truman approved a document titled US Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan. The document set two main objectives for the occupation, eliminating Japans war potential and turning Japan into a nation with pro-United Nations orientation. At the head of the Occupation administration was General MacArthur, who was supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers. Looking back to his work in Japan, MacArthur described the Japanese reactions as acting similar to a boy of twelve and were at odds of putting away their troubled past. On V-J Day, US President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, during the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany. The Soviet Union had some intentions of occupying Hokkaidō, had this occurred, there might have eventually been a communist state in the Soviet zone of occupation. However, unlike the Soviet occupations of East Germany and North Korea, even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender
14.
Civil ensign
–
Civil ensign is the ensign used by civilian vessels to denote nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and its also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag. Some countries have civil ensigns for yachts, and even for specific yacht clubs. Most countries have one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countries, a distinction is made between the flag and the civil, state and naval ensigns. The civil ensigns that are different from the flag can be grouped into a number of categories. Several countries use red flags with, in most cases, either the national flag or the Union Flag in the canton. British overseas territories fly the plain Red Ensign or a Red Ensign with the colonial arms in the fly. Saudi Arabia puts its national flag in the canton of an otherwise-green flag, Ghana stopped using its Red Ensign in 2003 with the adoption of a new merchant shipping act, which made the Ghanaian flag the proper national colors for Ghana ships. Similarly, Sri Lanka stopped using its Red Ensign in 1969, several countries have civil ensigns that are very different from the national flag, for instance Malta and Luxembourg. Well-known examples are the Italian civil ensign showing the shield with the arms of the sea republics or the Polish civil ensign with the arms of Poland, most of these emblems were added to distinguish the ensign from similar flags of other countries or from other signal flags. In several countries there are two versions of the flag, a simpler one and a more elaborate one with the national arms. The simpler one is used as ensign, whereas the version with the arms is mainly used by the government. In Spain and Argentina the flag without the arms is only a variant for civil use, in El Salvador, the civil ensign also differs from the national flag in the proportions. France is a case, the overall proportion is the same. Civil and merchant ensigns Civil air ensign
15.
Flag of Germany
–
The flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany, black, red, and gold. The flag was first adopted as the flag of modern Germany in 1919. Germany has two competing traditions of national colours, black-red-gold and black-white-red, which have played an important role in the history of Germany. The black-red-gold tricolour first appeared in the early 19th century and achieved prominence during the 1848 Revolutions, the short-lived Frankfurt Parliament of 1848–1850 proposed the tricolour as a flag for a united and democratic German state. With the formation of the Weimar Republic after World War I, following World War II, the tricolour was designated as the flag of both West and East Germany in 1949. The two flags were identical until 1959, when the East German flag was augmented with the coat of arms of East Germany, since reunification on 3 October 1990, the black-red-gold tricolour has become the flag of reunified Germany. After the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation adopted a tricolour of black-white-red as its flag and this flag later became the flag of the German Empire, formed following the unification of Germany in 1871, and was used until 1918. The colours of the flag are associated with the republican democracy formed after World War I. There are many theories in regarding the origins of the colour scheme used in the 1848 flag. Another claim goes back to the uniforms of the Lützow Free Corps, comprising mostly university students, the German national flag or Bundesflagge, containing only the black-red-gold tricolour, was introduced as part of the German constitution in 1949. Following the creation of government and military flags in later years. The government flag of Germany is officially known as the Dienstflagge der Bundesbehörden or Bundesdienstflagge for short, introduced in 1950, the government flag is the civil flag defaced with the Bundesschild, which overlaps with up to one fifth of the black and gold bands. The government flag may only be used by government authorities and its use by others is an offence. However, public use of similar to the Bundesdienstflagge is tolerated. In addition to the horizontal format, many public buildings in Germany use vertical flags. Most town halls fly their town flag together with the flag in this way. The proportions of these flags are not specified. When hung like a banner or draped, the band should be on the left
16.
Scuba diving
–
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving in which the scuba diver uses a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus which is completely independent of surface supply, to breathe underwater. They may include additional cylinders for decompression gas or emergency breathing gas, closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open circuit, therefore, scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers. A scuba diver primarily moves underwater by using fins attached to the feet, scuba divers are trained in the procedures and skills appropriate to their level of certification by instructors affiliated to the diver certification organisations which issue these certifications. A minimum level of fitness and health is required by most training organisations, the closed-circuit rebreathers were first developed for escape and rescue purposes, and were modified for military use, due to their stealth advantages, as they produce very few bubbles. The first commercially successful closed-circuit scuba was designed and built by English diving engineer, Henry Fleuss in 1878, while working for Siebe Gorman in London. Sir Robert Davis, head of Siebe Gorman, improved the oxygen rebreather in 1910 with his invention of the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus, rebreathers have been increasingly used by civilians for recreation, especially since the end of the Cold War. This reduced the risk of attack by Communist Bloc forces. After that, the armed forces had less reason to requisition civilian rebreather patents. The single hose two stage scuba regulators trace their origins to Australia, where Ted Eldred developed the first example of type of regulator. This was developed because patents protected the Aqualungs twin hose design, the single hose regulator separates the demand valve from the cylinder, giving the diver air at the ambient pressure at the mouth, rather than ambient pressure at the cylinder valve. The term SCUBA originally referred to United States combat frogmens oxygen rebreathers, SCUBA was originally an acronym, but is now generally used as a common noun or adjective, scuba. It has become acceptable to refer to equipment or scuba apparatus—examples of the linguistic RAS syndrome. Scuba diving may be performed for a number of reasons, both personal and professional, recreational diving is done purely for enjoyment and has a number of technical disciplines to increase interest underwater, such as cave diving, wreck diving, ice diving and deep diving. Divers may be employed professionally to perform tasks underwater, some of these tasks are suitable for scuba. There are divers who work, full or part-time, in the diving community as instructors, assistant instructors, divemasters. Other specialist areas of diving include military diving, with a long history of military frogmen in various roles. Their roles include direct combat, infiltration behind enemy lines, placing mines or using a manned torpedo, in some cases diver rescue teams may also be part of a fire department, paramedical service or lifeguard unit, and may be classed as public service diving
17.
Royal Navy
–
The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
18.
Magnetic declination
–
Magnetic declination or variation is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north and true north. This angle varies depending on position on the Earths surface, and changes over time. The angle between magnetic and grid meridians is called grid magnetic angle, grid variation, or grivation. ”By convention, declination is positive when magnetic north is east of true north, and negative when it is to the west. Isogonic lines are lines on the Earths surface along which the declination has the constant value. The lowercase Greek letter δ is frequently used as the symbol for magnetic declination, Magnetic declination varies both from place to place and with the passage of time. As a traveller cruises the east coast of the United States, for example, the declination at London, UK is one degree 7 minutes west, and as the country is quite small that figure is fairly good for the whole of the country. It is reducing, and scientists predict that in about 2050 it will be zero, similarly, secular changes to these flows result in slow changes to the field strength and direction at the same point on the Earth. The magnetic declination in an area may change slowly over time, possibly as little as 2–2.5 degrees every hundred years or so. For a location closer to the pole like Ivujivik, the declination may change by 1 degree every three years and this may be insignificant to most travellers, but can be important if using magnetic bearings from old charts or metes in old deeds for locating places with any precision. As an example of how variation changes over time, see the two charts of the area, below, surveyed 124 years apart. The 1884 chart shows a variation of 8 degrees,20 minutes West, the 2008 chart shows 13 degrees,15 minutes West. The instrument used to perform this measurement is known as a declinometer, the approximate position of the north celestial pole is indicated by Polaris. In the northern hemisphere, declination can therefore be determined as the difference between the magnetic bearing and a visual bearing on Polaris. Polaris currently traces a circle 0. 75° in radius around the celestial pole. At high latitudes a plumb-bob is helpful to sight Polaris against an object close to the horizon. A rough estimate of the local declination can be determined from a general isogonic chart of the world or a continent, isogonic lines are also shown on aeronautical and nautical charts. Larger-scale local maps may indicate current local declination, often with the aid of a schematic diagram, unless the area depicted is very small, declination may vary measurably over the extent of the map, so the data may be referred to a specific location on the map. The current rate and direction of change may also be shown, the same diagram may show the angle of grid north, which may differ from true north
19.
Port and starboard
–
Port and starboard are nautical and aeronautical terms for left and right, respectively. Port is the side of a vessel or aircraft, facing forward. Starboard is the side, facing forward. Since port and starboard never change, they are references that are not relative to the observer. These terms are also being used as aeronautic terms, the term starboard derives from the Old English steorbord, meaning the side on which the ship is steered. Before ships had rudders on their centrelines, they were steered with an oar at the stern of the ship and, because more people are right-handed. The term is cognate with the Old Norse stýri and borð, since the steering oar was on the right side of the boat, it would tie up at wharf on the other side. Hence the left side was called port, formerly, larboard was used instead of port. This is from Middle-English ladebord and the lade is related to the modern load. Larboard sounds similar to starboard and in 1844 the Royal Navy ordered that port be used instead, the United States Navy followed suit in 1846. Larboard continued to be used well into the 1850s by whalers, in Old English the word was bæcbord, of which cognates are used in other European languages, for example as the present Dutch bakboord, the German backbord and the French term bâbord. Aircraft are lit in the same way
20.
Maritime pilot
–
A pilot, also referred to as a marine pilot, maritime pilot, or harbor pilot is a mariner who manoeuvres ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Since the pilot is on board the ship, he controls the tugs and linesmen through a radio, the ships captain ensures his crew carry out the pilots orders. Even if a ship Captain is a visitor to a certain Port, he can not match the expertise. In an unfortunate case of an accident, high pollution is a risk as the ships carry thousands of tonnes of fuel for her own consumption. Also if a ship is wrecked in the channel, the channel, legally, the master has full responsibility for safe navigation of his vessel, even if a pilot is on board. Only in transit of the Panama Canal and in Canada does the pilot have the responsibility for the navigation of the vessel. In English law, Section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 defines a pilot as any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof. In other words, someone other than a member of the crew who has control over the speed, direction, the current United Kingdom legislation governing pilotage is the Pilotage Act 1987. Pilotage is one of the oldest professions, as old as sea travel, the oldest recorded history dates back to about the 7th century BC. The economic and environmental risk from large cargo ships makes the role of the pilot essential. Eventually, because the act of pilotage needed to be regulated and to ensure pilots had adequate insurance. The California Board of Pilot Commissioners was the first government agency created by Californias legislature, before harbour boards were established, pilots known as hobblers would compete with one another. The first to reach a ship would navigate it to the docks. In Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, there is a monument to the hobblers who lost their lives, in Kent they were known as hovellers and worked alongside and in competition with the licensed pilots, but were sometimes blamed as wreckers. George Byng Gattie defends the hovellers or hobilers as lifesavers in his 1890 book about the Goodwin Sands, although licensed by the harbour to operate within their jurisdiction, pilots were generally self-employed, and so had to have quick transport to get from the port to the incoming ships. As pilots were often still dual-employed, they used their own fishing boats to reach the incoming vessels, but fishing boats were heavy working boats, and filled with fishing equipment, hence a new type of boat was required. Early boats were developed from single-masted cutters and twin-masted yawls, and these were effectively light-weight and over-powered single masted boats with large steeply angled keels, making them deep draft under power and shallow draft in lighter sail. Joseph Henderson was an early American harbor pilot and he is well known for being a Sandy Hook Pilot for the New York harbor and along the Atlantic Coast during the Civil War
21.
Quarantine
–
A quarantine is used to separate and restrict the movement of persons, it is a state of enforced isolation. This is often used in connection to disease and illness, such as those who may possibly have been exposed to a communicable disease. The term is often used to mean medical isolation, which is to separate ill persons who have a communicable disease from those who are healthy. Quarantine can be applied to humans, but also to animals of various kinds, for example, an article entitled Daily News workers quarantined describes a brief quarantine that lasted until people could be showered in a decontamination tent. The February/March 2003 issue of HazMat Magazine suggests that people be locked in a room until proper decon could be performed, but Capt. Chmiel said local health authorities have certain powers to quarantine people. It can also be used to limit exposure, as well as eliminate a vector, the first astronauts to visit the Moon were quarantined upon their return at the specially built Lunar Receiving Laboratory. Infected people were separated to prevent spread of disease among the ancient Israelites under the Mosaic Law, the word quarantine originates from the Venetian dialect form of the Italian quaranta giorni, meaning forty days. This is due to the 40-day isolation of ships and people entering the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. This was practiced as a measure of disease related to the Black Death. Between 1348 and 1359, the Black Death wiped out an estimated 30% of Europes population, later, isolation was prolonged to 40 days and was called quarantine. Other diseases lent themselves to the practice of quarantine before and after the devastation of the plague, Venice took the lead in measures to check the spread of plague, having appointed three guardians of public health in the first years of the Black Death. The next record of preventive measures comes from Reggio in Modena in 1374, the first lazaret was founded by Venice in 1403, on a small island adjoining the city. In 1467, Genoa followed the example of Venice, and in 1476 the old hospital of Marseille was converted into a plague hospital. The great lazaret of Marseilles, perhaps the most complete of its kind, was founded in 1526 on the island of Pomègues, the practice at all the Mediterranean lazarets was not different from the English procedure in the Levantine and North African trade. On the approach of cholera in 1831 some new lazarets were set up at ports, notably a very extensive establishment near Bordeaux. Since 1852 several conferences were held involving European powers, with a view to uniform action in keeping out infection from the East, all but that of 1897 were concerned with cholera. The principal countries which retained the old system at the time were Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, the aim of each international sanitary convention had been to bind the governments to a uniform minimum of preventive action, with further restrictions permissible to individual countries. The minimum specified by international conventions was very nearly the same as the British practice, an additional convention was signed in Paris on 3 December 1903
22.
Man overboard
–
Is an exclamation given aboard a vessel to indicate that someone has fallen off of the ship into the water and is in need of immediate rescue. Whoever sees the persons fall is to shout, Man overboard, and the call is then to be reported once by every crewmember within earshot, even if they have not seen the victim fall, until everyone on deck has heard and given the same call. This ensures that all other crewmembers have been alerted to the situation, pointing continuously at the victim may aid the helmsman in approaching the victim. Falling overboard is one of the most dangerous and life-threatening things that can happen at sea and this is especially so if falling from a large vessel that is slow to maneuver, or from a short-handed smaller boat. When single-handed and using self-steering gear, or when taking place at night or in stormy conditions, there have been various sailing maneuvers recommended and taught to handle man-overboard situations. Whoever sees the accident is to shout, Man overboard, loudly and clearly to alert the rest of the crew. At least one person should do nothing other than stand and point at the casualty maintaining continuous visual contact, whatever marker and flotation equipment is to hand should be thrown as near the casualty as possible by other crewmembers. This may include a horseshoe buoy or lifebuoy, a danbuoy or man overboard pole, if the equipment exists, man overboard alerts are to be triggered on whatever electronic gear is available including GPS receivers and DSC radio transmitters. The most direct action is to stop the boat immediately, very near to the casualty and this can be done by immediately tacking the bow of the boat through the wind without handling the jib sheets, so that the boat is effectively hove to. In some circumstances, this may be enough, and the casualty can be recovered as the boat back down onto them. In many cases, however, the maneuver will have left the boat too far away for that and it is recommended not to adjust the sails for efficient downwind sailing, so that too much speed is not built up when approaching the casualty. The main advantages of this method are its simplicity, and the fact that the boat does not need to be maneuvered far away of the casualty and it is more suitable for the open sea and rougher, windier conditions. Immediately after the accident, the boat is put onto a beam reach away from the casualty, once there is room to maneuver, the boat is either tacked or jibed back towards the casualty. It is important that the casualty is approached on a reach, so that wind can be spilled from the sails in order to slow down. Helmsmen are advised to test this during the approach by spilling wind on the way, in the end, the boat is luffed to windward close to the casualty, with a view to recovering them amidships. In a motorboat, or a boat with a working engine. This introduces the added hazard that the casualty may be injured by the spinning propeller at close quarters. It is important that a double-check is made for ropes trailing in the water before the engine is engaged, the yacht auxiliary could be used during final approaches of any of the sailing methods described above, and a motorboats engine will be used in any case
23.
Flag semaphore
–
Flag semaphore is the telegraphy system conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags, it is read when the flag is in a fixed position, semaphores were adopted and widely used in the maritime world in the 19th century. It is still used during underway replenishment at sea and is acceptable for emergency communication in daylight or, using lighted wands instead of flags, at night. The current flag semaphore system uses two short poles with flags, which a signalman holds in different positions to signal letters of the alphabet. The signalman holds one pole in each hand, and extends each arm in one of eight possible directions, except for in the rest position, the flags do not overlap. The flags are colored based on whether the signals are sent by sea or by land. At sea, the flags are colored red and yellow, while on land, they are white, flags are not required, their purpose is to make the characters more obvious. The following 30 semaphore characters are presented as they would appear when facing the signalman, letters can be signaled by first signaling J. The sender uses the Attention signal to request permission to begin a transmission, the receiver uses a Ready to receive signal not shown above to grant permission to begin the transmission. The receiver raises both flags vertical overhead and then drops them to the rest position, once only, to grant permission to send, the sender ends the transmission with the Ready to receive signal. The receiver can reply with the Attention signal, at this point, sender and receiver change places. The Japanese merchant marine and armed services have adapted the flag system to the Japanese language. The flags are specified as a white square for the left hand. It is the arm, holding the red flag, which moves as a pen would. As in telegraphy, the syllabary is the one used to write down the messages as they are received. Also, the Japanese system presents the number 0 by moving flags in a circle, and those from 1 through 9 using a sort of the dial system. Semaphore flags are sometimes used as means of communication in the mountains where oral or electronic communication is difficult to perform. Although they do not carry flags, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers have used hand semaphore in this manner, some surf-side rescue companies, such as the Ocean City Maryland Beach Patrol, use semaphore flags to communicate between lifeguards
24.
Pair trawling
–
Pair trawling is a fishing activity carried out by two boats, with one towing each warp. As the mouth of the net is kept open by the pull of the individual vessels. As doors are not necessary, the arrangements are simplified. Setting and hauling of the nets are carried out by one boat, while the other is used for towing. Pair trawling is effective on all demersal species, in shallow waters, where the noise from a single vessel may scatter fish, two vessels operating a distance apart tend to herd fish into the path of the net. Catch per vessel often considerably exceeds that attainable through standard bottom trawling, Pair trawlers targeting cod off the coast of New England have reported average per vessel catches of three to six times that from single trawls. This has caused controversy, due to the high level of marine mammal bycatch associated. Thomson, David, Pair trawling and pair seining
25.
Z flag
–
The Z flag is one of the international maritime signal flags. In the system of maritime signal flags, part of the International Code of Signals. When used alone, it means I require a tug or, the Z flag has special meaning in Japan due to its connection with and symbolizing of the great Japanese victory at the Battle of Tsushima. At the Battle of Tsushima on May 27,1905, Admiral Tōgō raised a Z flag on his flagship, by prearrangement, this flag flown alone meant The fate of the Empire rests on the outcome of this battle. Let each man do his utmost, the Z flag was raised on Vice-Admiral Nagumos flagship Akagi before the aircraft were flown off for the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, explicitly referencing Tōgōs historic victory. According to Samuel Elliot Morrison, the Z flag flown at Pearl Harbor was the one used at Tsushima. From 1905 to 1945, the Z flag was used as a naval ensign. This practice was revived in 2011, planes of the 3rd squadron of the 252nd Naval Air Group wore the Z flag on their vertical stabilizers during the Pacific War. During Project Z, the development of the Nissan Z-car which broke open the American market for Japanese automobile exports, during the strong yen crisis, the Nagasaki yards of Oshima Shipbuilding flew the Z flag to inspire the workers. The logo of the Japanese multinational corporation Zuken is partly based on the Z flag, the Z flag is sometimes waved by fans at Japanese sporting events as an exhortation to victory for their favored team. It is also used as a symbol by some fringe right-wing groups in Japan
26.
Tugboat
–
A tug is a boat or ship that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugboats are powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going, some tugboats serve as icebreakers or salvage boats. Early tugboats had steam engines, but today most have diesel engines, many tugboats have firefighting monitors, allowing them to assist in firefighting, especially in harbors. Seagoing tugs fall into four categories, The standard seagoing tug with model bow that tows its payload on a hawser. The notch tug which can be secured in a notch at the stern of a specially designed barge and this configuration is dangerous to use with a barge which is in ballast or in a head- or following sea. Therefore, notch tugs are usually built with a towing winch and these units stay combined under virtually any sea conditions and the tugs usually have poor sea-keeping designs for navigation without their barges attached. Vessels in this category are considered to be ships rather than tugboats. These vessels must show navigation lights compliant with those required of ships rather than required of tugboats. Articulated tug and barge units also utilize mechanical means to connect to their barges, the tug slips into a notch in the stern and is attached by a hinged connection. ATBs generally utilize Intercon and Bludworth connecting systems, aTBs are generally staffed as a large tugboat, with between seven and nine crew members. The typical American ATB operating on the east coast customarily displays navigational lights of a towing vessel pushing ahead, compared to seagoing tugboats, harbour tugboats are generally smaller and their width-to-length ratio is often higher, due to the need for a lower draught. In smaller harbours these are also termed lunch bucket boats, because they are only manned when needed and only at a minimum. The number of tugboats in a harbour varies with the harbour infrastructure, things to take into consideration includes ships with/without bow thrusters and forces like wind, current and waves and types of ship. River tugs are also referred to as towboats or pushboats and their hull designs would make open ocean operation dangerous. River tugs usually do not have any significant hawser or winch and their hulls feature a flat front or bow to line up with the rectangular stern of the barge, often with large pushing knees. Tugboat engines typically produce 500 to 2,500 kW, for safety, tugboats engines often feature two of each critical part for redundancy. A tugboats power is stated by its engines horsepower and its overall bollard pull. The largest commercial harbour tugboats in the 2000s-2010s, used for towing container ships or similar, had around 60-65 tons of bollard pull, Tugboats are highly maneuverable, and various propulsion systems have been developed to increase maneuverability and increase safety
27.
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
28.
Distress signal
–
A distress signal or distress call is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals are communicated by transmitting radio signals, displaying a visually observable item or illumination, a distress signal indicates that a person or group of people, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle is threatened by serious and/or imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. Use of distress signals in other circumstances may be against local or international law, an urgency signal is available to request assistance in less critical situations. In order for distress signalling to be the most effective, two parameters must be communicated, Alert or notification of a distress in progress Position or location of the party in distress. A hand-held flare burns for three minutes and can be used to localize or pinpoint more precisely the location or position of the party in trouble. An EPIRB both notifies or alerts authorities and at the time provides position indication information. Distress signals at sea are defined in the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, mayday signals must only be used where there is grave and imminent danger to life. Otherwise, urgent signals such as pan-pan can be sent, most jurisdictions have large penalties for false, unwarranted or prank distress signals. EPIRB signals are received and processed by a constellation of satellites known as COSPAS-SARSAT, older EPIRBs which use 121.5 MHz are obsolete. Many regulators require vessels which proceed offshore to carry an EPIRB, many EPIRBs have an in-built Global Positioning System receiver. When activated these EPIRBs rapidly report the latitude and longitude of the emergency accurate to within 120m, the position of non-GPS EPIRBs is determined by the orbiting satellites, this can take ninety minutes to five hours after activation and is accurate to within 5 km. Marine safety authorities recommend the use of GPS-equipped EPIRBs, a miniaturised EPIRB capable of being carried in crew members clothing is called a Personal Locator Beacon. Regulators do not view them as a substitute for a vessels EPIRB, in situations with a high risk of man overboard, such as open ocean yacht racing, PLBs may be required by the events organisers. PLBs are also carried during risky outdoor activities upon land. EPIRBs and PLBs have an identification number. A purchaser should register their EPIRB or PLB with the search and rescue authority. EPIRB registration allows the authority to alert searchers of the name, label, type, size and paintwork, to promptly notify next-of-kin. A DSC radio distress signal can include the position if the lat/long are manually keyed into the radio or if a GPS-derived position is passed directly into the radio
29.
Morse code
–
Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. It is named for Samuel F. B, Morse, an inventor of the telegraph. Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, each Morse code symbol represents either a text character or a prosign and is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes. The duration of a dash is three times the duration of a dot, each dot or dash is followed by a short silence, equal to the dot duration. The letters of a word are separated by an equal to three dots, and the words are separated by a space equal to seven dots. The dot duration is the unit of time measurement in code transmission. To increase the speed of the communication, the code was designed so that the length of each character in Morse varies approximately inversely to its frequency of occurrence in English. Thus the most common letter in English, the letter E, has the shortest code, Morse code is used by some amateur radio operators, although knowledge of and proficiency with it is no longer required for licensing in most countries. Pilots and air controllers usually need only a cursory understanding. Aeronautical navigational aids, such as VORs and NDBs, constantly identify in Morse code, compared to voice, Morse code is less sensitive to poor signal conditions, yet still comprehensible to humans without a decoding device. Morse is, therefore, an alternative to synthesized speech for sending automated data to skilled listeners on voice channels. Many amateur radio repeaters, for example, identify with Morse, in an emergency, Morse code can be sent by improvised methods that can be easily keyed on and off, making it one of the simplest and most versatile methods of telecommunication. The most common signal is SOS or three dots, three dashes, and three dots, internationally recognized by treaty. Beginning in 1836, the American artist Samuel F. B, Morse, the American physicist Joseph Henry, and Alfred Vail developed an electrical telegraph system. This system sent pulses of current along wires which controlled an electromagnet that was located at the receiving end of the telegraph system. A code was needed to transmit natural language using only these pulses, around 1837, Morse, therefore, developed an early forerunner to the modern International Morse code. Around the same time, Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Eduard Weber as well as Carl August von Steinheil had already used codes with varying lengths for their telegraphs. In 1837, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone in England began using a telegraph that also used electromagnets in its receivers
30.
CAM ship
–
CAM ships were World War II-era British merchant ships used in convoys as an emergency stop-gap until sufficient escort carriers became available. CAM ship is an acronym for catapult aircraft merchant ship, a CAM ship was equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Hurricane, dubbed a Hurricat or Catafighter. CAM ships continued to carry their normal cargoes after conversion, the German Luftwaffe had Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft with a range of nearly 2,000 nautical miles. After the Fall of France, these aircraft could operate from western France against British merchant ships in the Atlantic, flying from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, Fw 200s of I/KG40 could reach the convoy lanes west of Britain while staying outside the range of British land-based fighters. The Royal Navy had no aircraft available to provide close air cover for the convoys. The Fw 200s could shadow convoys, directing U-boat attacks on them, or drop bombs on convoy ships, without opposition and to deadly effect. To counter this threat, the Admiralty developed the fighter catapult ship – a converted freighter, manned by a naval crew, when an enemy bomber was sighted, the fighter would be launched into the air with rockets, and fly up to destroy or drive away the bomber. Being large and slow, the Fw 200 became a rather vulnerable target, after the combat, the fighter pilot would bail out or ditch in the ocean near the convoy, and be picked up if all went well. The Admiralty had already experimented with this system and they ordered 50 rocket-propelled aircraft catapults to be fitted to merchant ships. The planes were Hurricane Mark Is, converted to Sea Hurricane IAs, the pilots for these aircraft were drawn from the Royal Air Force. The RAF formed the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit on 5 May 1941 in RAF Speke by the River Mersey in Liverpool, moulton-Barrett commanded the unit providing training for volunteer pilots, Fighter Direction Officers, and airmen. After training, MSFU crews were posted to Liverpool, Glasgow, each team consisted of one pilot for Atlantic runs, with one fitter, one rigger, one radio-telephone operator, one FDO, and a seaman torpedoman who worked on the catapult as an electrician. MSFU crews signed ships articles as civilian crew members under the authority of the ships master. The ships chief engineer responsible for the catapult, and the first mate acted as Catapult Duty Officer. The single Hurricane fighter was launched only when enemy aircraft were sighted and agreement was reached via hand, the first four or five ships were taken into Royal Navy service as Auxiliary Fighter Catapult Ships, and later conversions were officially named CAMs manned by merchant crews. The first CAM ship, Michael E, was sponsored by the Royal Navy while the RAF MSFUs were working up, after a trial launch off Belfast, Michael E sailed with convoy OB327 on 28 May 1941. She was sunk by U-108 on 2 June, the first RAF trial CAM launch was from Empire Rainbow, at Greenock on the River Clyde on 31 May 1941, the Hurricane landed at Abbotsinch. Six CAM ships joined convoys in June 1941, when a CAM ship arrived at its destination, the pilot usually launched and landed at a nearby airfield to get in as much flight time as possible before his return trip
31.
Battle of Tsushima
–
It was naval historys only decisive sea battle fought by modern steel battleship fleets, and the first naval battle in which wireless telegraphy played a critically important role. It has been characterized as the echo of the old era – for the last time in the history of naval warfare ships of the line of a beaten fleet surrendered on the high seas. It was fought on 27–28 May 1905 in the Tsushima Strait between Korea and southern Japan, the destruction of the Russian navy caused a bitter reaction from the Russian public, which induced a peace treaty in September 1905 without any further battles. The Battle of Tsushima conclusively demonstrated that battleship speed and big guns with longer ranges were more advantageous in naval battles than mixed batteries of different sizes. The wireless telegraph had been invented during the last half of the 1890s, nonetheless Tsushima would be the first major sea battle in which wireless played any role whatsoever. In Japan, Professor Shunkichi Kimura was commissioned into the Imperial Navy to develop their own system. The Russo-Japanese war had thus begun, Japans first objective was to secure its lines of communication and supply to the Asian mainland, enabling it to conduct a ground war in Manchuria. To achieve this, it was necessary to neutralize Russian naval power in the Far East, at first, the Russian naval forces remained inactive and did not engage the Japanese, who staged unopposed landings in Korea. His successors failed to challenge the Japanese Navy, and the Russians were effectively bottled up in their base at Port Arthur, by May, the Japanese had landed forces on the Liaodong Peninsula and in August began the siege of the naval station. Both squadrons of the Russian Pacific Fleet would ultimately become dispersed during the battles of the Yellow Sea on 10 August, what remained of Russian naval power would eventually be sunk in Port Arthur. As the situation in the Far East deteriorated, the Tsar and this would consist of five divisions of the Baltic Fleet, including 11 of its 13 battleships. The squadron departed on 15 October 1904 under the command of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, the Second Pacific Squadron sailed through the Baltic into the North Sea. The Russians had heard rumours of Japanese torpedo boats operating in the area and were on high alert, in the Dogger Bank incident, the jumpy Russian fleet mistook a group of British fishing boats operating on the Dogger Bank at night for hostile Japanese vessels. The fleet fired upon the small civilian trawlers, killing several British fishermen, in the confusion the Russians even fired upon two of their own vessels, killing some of their own men. The firing continued for twenty minutes before Rozhestvensky ordered firing to cease, the British were outraged by the incident and incredulous that the Russians could mistake a group of fishing trawlers for Japanese warships, thousands of miles from the nearest Japanese port. Britain almost entered the war in support of Japan, with whom it had a defence agreement. The Royal Navy sortied and shadowed the Russian fleet while an agreement was reached. Forced to take a longer route to the Far East, the Russians sailed around Africa
