the B's and H's..

[She-Wolf]

oh dear, I need to understand about 'bearings' and 'headings' and stuff. I look at the guides as and when I need them, else it doesn't stay in, but on the topic of bearings and headings I THOUGHT I had a basic understanding of sorts - but it seems I don't. We almost came to sharp words last night when best beloved try to explain it to me - so I will ask here instead

Now then. There I am, tootling toward the south, so on a bearing of 180 - or should that be a heading? Then someone yells out that there is a warship closing, bearing 153 ( or something), so I think that means a little to my left, but suddenly a line shoots out from my sub ( this is on the navmap) and points to somewhere way behind me. I query best beloved and HE says something about the bearing being relative to me and that I have to subtract it from the course I am on. Eh? I says - and it goes downhill from there.. so please, to keep the gentle accord we are used to in this little house, will someone please explain in just the smallest and single-worded way possible about b's and h's so that this bear of little brain can understand. Ta

[Mush Martin]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

oh dear, I need to understand about 'bearings' and 'headings' and stuff. I look at the guides as and when I need them, else it doesn't stay in, but on the topic of bearings and headings I THOUGHT I had a basic understanding of sorts - but it seems I don't. We almost came to sharp words last night when best beloved try to explain it to me - so I will ask here instead

Now then. There I am, tootling toward the south, so on a bearing of 180 - or should that be a heading? Then someone yells out that there is a warship closing, bearing 153 ( or something), so I think that means a little to my left, but suddenly a line shoots out from my sub ( this is on the navmap) and points to somewhere way behind me. I query best beloved and HE says something about the bearing being relative to me and that I have to subtract it from the course I am on. Eh? I says - and it goes downhill from there.. so please, to keep the gentle accord we are used to in this little house, will someone please explain in just the smallest and single-worded way possible about b's and h's so that this bear of little brain can understand. Ta

OK course is the direction the ship is travelling against the compass

your watch crew calls out the bearing to target refering to the bow of
your own boat as north when they give the bearing so you can be heading

south on a course of 180 and a plane can come out of the north from
the compass bearing of zero but your crew will say

aircraft spotted 180

the compass on the conning tower and elsewhere have an outside and
an inside ring one for bearing and one for course.
have a look.

PS click the last link in my siggy.

[She-Wolf]

'against the compass' means 'in reference to'. So a southerly course = 180 deg, zat right?

but even though I am heading south, my crew will 'pretend' my bow is north = 360 degrees??

and then, when a plane flies from the North - 360 degrees, they will tell me it is on a bearing of 180 degrees, which will tell me its behind me, because I am going south, although they are pretending I am really pointed north?

think I will go and do the washing up!

It WILL make sense to me, the penny will drop - dont give up on me!

[Steppenwolf]

There are 360 degrees in a circle.

Heading or Course (same thing) is the direction you are travelling in:
North is always 0 degrees
As you rotate clockwise the number representing the heading increases so,
East is always 90 degrees
South is always 180 degrees
West is always 270 degrees
When you get all the way around the circle to 360 degrees, you are back facing North again. So 0 degrees and 360 degrees BOTH refer to NORTH.

NOTE: The game usually only refers to heading, when you click a new heading on the compass.

Bearing is where something is, relative to the front of your submarine:
Bearing is the numbers you see through the periscope and binoculars and on that big overlay that you see when you zoom way in on the F5 Navigation Map.
Bearing is also what the game is usually referring to, when it tells you about contacts.

The front of your sub is always 0 degrees
As you rotate around your bridge clockwise, the number representing the bearing increases so,
Directly to your right is always 90 degrees
Directly behind you is always 180 degrees
Directly to your left is always 270 degrees

Example: This is why, in your example, when your crew said a contact was at a bearing of 153, the contact line drawn was behind you and to the right. Because 153 is between 90(directly to your right) and 180(directly behind you).

[Mush Martin]

both you and the target ship have a course

you have a relevant bearing as seen from the target

the target has a relevant bearing while seen from you.

bearing is expressed in compass terms but with your
bow and stern being north and south.

course you already understand.

Own course and target course.

course can be synonimous with "heading"

whats target heading is the same question as whats target course

is this helping?

[robbo180265]

Zoom in on the Nav map and your sub icon will be surrounded by a circle with all the relative bearings on it-works for me

[She-Wolf]

There are 360 degrees in a circle.

yus

Heading or Course (same thing) is the direction you are travelling in:

right

North is always 0 degrees

yes....

As you rotate clockwise the number representing the heading increases so,
East is always 90 degrees
South is always 180 degrees
West is always 270 degrees

yes, still with you

When you get all the way around the circle to 360 degrees, you are back facing North again.

yes

So 0 degrees and 360 degrees BOTH refer to NORTH.

ah, yes, I see. North is 0 because it is, well North, fixed, but it is also 360 degrees on the compass...kay..

Bearing is where something is, relative to the front of your submarine:

so when a boat is spotted and the bearing is given, it isn't HIS bearing - the information isn't that he is (say) heading south (180deg) it is a bearing relative to where MY bow is pointing... eek

Bearing is the numbers you see through the periscope

yes, so if I am looking at a boat through the scope,say at 90, does that mean the boat I am looking at is east of me?


The front of your sub is always 0 degrees

this is where I have been coming unstuck...

As you rotate around your bridge clockwise, the number representing the bearing increases so,
Directly to your right is always 90 degrees
Directly behind you is always 180 degrees
Directly to your left is always 270 degrees

'kay

Example: This is why, in your example, when your crew said a contact was at a bearing of 153, the contact line drawn was behind you and to the right. Because 153 is between 90(directly to your right) and 180(directly behind you)

erm.. right.. its coming, I just have to ponder on it- thank you Steppenwolf, great help

[She-Wolf]

Grey Wolf, it IS helping, the light just needs to get through some rather woolly cloud!

[bigboywooly]

All bearings are relative to your sub
Whichever direction you are sailing in - all reports from your crew work from the point your bow is 0

If you get a report that an aicraft is 180 degrees its coming from behind
Irregardless of your boats heading

[She-Wolf]

Originally Posted by robbo180265

Zoom in on the Nav map and your sub icon will be surrounded by a circle with all the relative bearings on it-works for me

Oh, right, I will try that Robs

[She-Wolf]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

All bearings are relative to your sub
Whichever direction you are sailing in - all reports from your crew work from the point your bow is 0

If you get a report that an aicraft is 180 degrees its coming from behind
Irregardless of your boats heading

BB now I have it; my bow is ALWAYS 0. I don't quite understand WHY, but that bit of info has gone home - thank you

[bigboywooly]

[Rykaird]

Yup, you've got it.

There are two sets of compass directions:

1) Course: This is an absolute direction. It is the number of degrees you are heading from true north. A course of 0 degrees is due North; a course of 180 degrees is due south; a course of 90 degrees is due east; a course of 270 degrees is due west.

2) The bearing to the target. This is a relative direction, independent of your course and based completely on the target's direction relative to your bow. Your bow is simply considered to be pointing to zero, regardless of whether you are actually heading north, east, west, or south. A bearing of zero means the target is directly in front of you; a bearing of 90 degrees means the target is directly to your right; a bearing of 180 means they are directly behind you; a bearing of 270 means they are directly to your left.

As you have noted, the bearing of the target has absolutely nothing to do with the course of the target. If the target has a bearing of 180, he's directly behind you. But he could be gaining on you, running from, or crossing your path.

By the way, you shouldn't feel bad about this. If you watch the film "Das Boot" very carefully, there's a scene where they are being depth charged and the captain, an experienced and wily skipper, is doing the maths under his breath: "238 degrees minus 45 . . . "

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by She-Wolf

[BB now I have it; my bow is ALWAYS 0. I don't quite understand WHY, but that bit of info has gone home - thank you

The why should become easy if you think of your face as the boat. Your heading is the direction you're heading(!) If I'm standing to your right, then my bearing is RIGHT, no matter whether I'm heading (!) away from you, toward you or in the same or opposite direction. A ship always travels along its heading. It's bearing is always where it is in relation to you.

You already understand the where; I hope that helps with the why. If not, I'll go back under my bridge.

[Steppenwolf]

Glad you got it She-Wolf. Tag team teaching at its finest