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Comment by newnewpdro | Hacker News Reader

Transferring controls between stations seems to have obvious utility if you consider the desire to relieve sailors without removing others from their stations. Give the helmsman a bathroom break by transferring the controls to another's station rather than having the people move to the controls.

The whole splitting of throttle/steering controls seems a bit odd to me however. I can't imagine a situation where I was at the helm and didn't want the throttle at my command as well.

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> The whole splitting of throttle/steering controls seems a bit odd to me however. I can't imagine a situation where I was at the helm and didn't want the throttle at my command as well.

We lost electricity on our yacht at sea. There are electronic controls for both steering and throttle at the helm but none of them worked for a time. Because the yacht had two screws and the manual throttle control was in the engine room, we were able to steer and navigate the yacht with a man in the engine room with a radio. Traditionally throttle is the responsibility for engineering because there is a lot more going on with a ship than a car throttle.

Only a few decades ago navy ships would have been oil fired boilers with steam turbines. Adjusting throttles wasn't a case of moving a lever. A valve had to be moved by hand, changing the flow to the turbine. This had to be done in concert with the guys in the boiler room. Doing so may have required lighting up a number of extra burners in the boiler or changing the size of the nozzles in use.

Of course modern diesel engines are more flexible. You might still have to fire up the gas turbines on a modern navy vessel which would at least require checking oil etc.

The systems in use likely haven't evolved far for a number of reasons.

Damage control reasons as well. If a shell hits the bridge or CIC and wipes out half the stations, killing the sailors manning them, it's desirable to be able to move critical functions to other live sailors where they are and not make them clear away rubble or dead bodies before they can assume their functions. The previous station may not even exist anymore.

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