Masts are used to support radio and radar antennas,signal halyards (lines used for hoisting signal flagssignal lights, and booms). Stays and shrouds, togetherwith other wires used for similar purposes on stacks,masts, and so on, are known as the ship’s standingrigging. Lines or wires used for hoisting, lowering, orcontrolling booms, boats, and so on, are known asrunning rigging.Look at figure 8-10. The top of a mast is called thetruck. A small sheave (a pulley, pronounced shiv) atthe truck is used to run halyard lines for hoisting. Thetop of the foremast is the foretruck, and the top of themain- mast is the main truck. Commissioned ships ofthe U.S. Navy fly a commission pennant secured to apigstick and hoisted to the truck. Ships that have radarantennas at the top of their masts fly the commissionpennant from a sheave fixed in the highest convenientlocation.Most foremasts have a light spar, called a yard, andmounted horizontally athwartships on their upper part.The port and starboard halves of a yard are the port andstarboard yardarms. The yardarms carry a number ofsheaves for signal halyards. Also, yardarms usuallycarry a set (two) of blinker lights, used (by means of atelegraph key) for signaling. The gaff is a light sparsuspended at an angle abaft the upper part of themainmast. The upper end of the gaff is the peak. Thenational ensign is flown at the peak while a ship is underway. When a ship is anchored or moored, the nationalensign flies from the flagstaff at the stern, and the unionjack flies from the jackstaff at the bow.The bridge, from which the ship is controlledwhile under way, is located in the superstructure. Thebridge contains the primary equipment used by thebridge watch personnel to control (conn) themovement of the ship: helm (steering control), leehelm (speed control), and radar repeaters. Ships alsohave a secondary conning station from which controlcan be maintained if the bridge is put out ofcommission. Some larger classes of ships have, inaddition to the navigation bridge (conn), a flag bridgefor the use of the squadron commander or admiral andstaff.The signal bridge (where Signalmen operate thesignal lights, flags, and pennants) is normally locatedatop the bridge. On aircraft carriers, the signal bridge isabaft and usually one deck above the navigation bridge.Outboard, open ends of a bridge are called bridge wings.Located near the bridge is the chart house, where charts(maps) are stowed and worked on by the Quartermaster.Also nearby (on some ships) is the combat informationcenter (CIC) manned by operations and combat systemsdepartment personnel.8-7Student Notes:Figure 8-10.—Top hamper.
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