All self-propelled craft, of whatever size, shape, form, or type, are required to steer a reasonably straight course in both smooth and rough water, to turn so as to change course or heading or to take emergency evasive action, to start, stop and back, and to perform any other desired maneuvers. Submarines are required to maneuver similarly in a vertical plane, including the operations of diving, depth keeping, hovering in one spot, and surfacing.
Dynamic stability of route
The ease and reliability of steering of a ship depend, among other things, upon whether or not it has dynamic stability of route. A self-propelled ship that is stable in this sense will, if left to itself with no rudder angle applied, continue generally on its original course. If disturbed by some external force, it may swing slightly or moderately to a new course, whereupon it will continue along that course or route until again disturbed. Most slender ships like destroyers are dynamically stable in route. Others of fat or chubby shape, if left to themselves and then disturbed, will swing farther and farther from the original route. A sign of route instability is the persistence of the ship in swinging one way after moderate corrective or opposite rudder is applied to stop the swing. A ship of this type may become positively unmanageable in shallow water, where the sluggishness of any ship is intensified.
Steering and turning
Steering involves corrections to bring a ship back to a given course or heading after it has deviated as a result of some disturbance. Steering by hand control is easier and more efficient if instruments in front of the steersman show almost instantly when these deviations begin. Gyrocompasses are far more satisfactory than magnetic compasses for this purpose. Further, a ship that is dynamically stable in route, but not too much so, and one that is not oversteered, requires only a small rudder angle and relatively infrequent use of the rudder. Automatic steering by gyro pilot is available for all sizes and types of ships.
Turning is involved when changing course; when maneuvering in formation with other ships, and when following a curved channel. However, the most important turning maneuver for any ship is to sheer off suddenly and to get clear of its original course when danger is unexpectedly sighted ahead along that course. To clear the extension of its original path in the shortest distance and the least time, assuming that the ship is going too fast to be stopped completely, requires rapid laying of the rudder to the emergency angle, rapid response of the ship in starting to turn, and rapid motion of the ship to the right or left of the course to clear the danger ahead.
The rudder action serves not only to swing the ship in the desired direction but also to keep its bow pointed inside the path of its centre of gravity so that a turning moment is generated. The inward-acting hydrodynamic force on the hull equals the outward-acting centrifugal force resulting from motion in a curved path. The amount by which the ship heads inside the instantaneous direction of motion is the drift angle.
In the course of turning, especially with a large drift angle, the increased hull resistance causes the ship to slow down, sometimes involving a reduction of 40 percent or more of the speed with which it approached the turn. After the average ship has turned at least 90°, conditions become steady and its centre of gravity moves at uniform speed in a circular path.
In the steady-state portion of the turn the inward force caused by the drift angle exactly balances, in both magnitude and moment about the centre of gravity, the outward rudder force and the centrifugal force at the centre of gravity caused by the turning action. If the wind and sea were entirely quiet, the ship would continue to turn in a steady circle as long as the rudder was held at a constant angle and the speed remained constant.
Ability to steer a straight course or to turn readily is achieved in any given ship design by the use of a large rudder area. When the rudder is at zero angle, it serves as a vertical stabilizing fin. When angled, the large area provides the large swinging moment necessary for good turning.
Stopping and reversing
Stopping in an emergency, as contrasted with normal coasting and gradual retardation, is achieved by slowing the propulsion device to less than driving speed and then by reversing its direction of thrust. If reversed too rapidly, it is liable to overload the engine, to draw air down from the surface to the propeller in large quantities and to churn the air-water mixture into excessive turbulence without developing the maximum astern thrust. Capacity to start and stop quickly is built into a craft by providing an engine that will reverse readily and by using a propulsion device with a large thrust-producing area. Both these features are stressed in the design of tugs.