quote:

Originally posted by 93Corvette:
The way I always remember Port/Starboard/and the lights they represent (mmcmss will probably talk about the lights later) is:
Port - Left - Red --- Both Port & Left have 4 letters
Starboard - Right - Green --- Right & Green both have 5 letters.

quote:

Originally posted by MastersMate:
And just when you thought it was safe to duck into the pilothouse again, here's a tidbit of obscure information concerning orders to the helmsman. From the Navy History Center
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Orders to the Helm/Rudder

For centuries, orders to the helmsman were given in terms of the position of the tiller rather than the rudder. A helmsman would push a tiller in the opposite direction he wanted the vessel to turn. This practice continued even when a ship was steered by a wheel. Orders were not given in terms of the rudder until the second decade of the twentieth century. The change became official in the United States Navy in 1913, as promulgated in General Order No. 30, and clarified the following year in General Order No. 98.

GENERAL ORDER
No. 30

NAVY DEPARTMENT
Washington, D. C., May 5, 1913

ORDERS GOVERNING THE MOVEMENTS OF THE RUDDER.

1. On and after July 1, 1913, the present designations "starboard" and "port" governing movements of a ship's helm are hereby ordered discontinued in orders or directions to the steersman, and the terms "right" and "left," referring to movement of the ship's head, shall thereafter be used instead.

2. The orders as to rudder angle shall be given in such terms as "Ten degrees rudder; half-rudder; standard rudder; full rudder;" etc., so that a complete order would be "Right--Half-rudder," etc.

3. Commanders in chief and commanding officers acting independently may, in their discretion, institute the above changes at an earlier date.

F. D. ROOSEVELT,

Acting Secretary of the Navy.
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Just my own thought on the matter concerns the date of the order. On April 15th 1912 a certain White Star liner got her name in the headlines. As portrated in the recent movie, there was some debate as to the helm order given by the Watch Officer on Titanic. Starboard your helm, or words to that effect, but the helmsman turned the ships wheel to port.

Folks picked that up as maybe a Hollywierd film mistake, but it may actually have been the correct order and action.

This general order, just a year after the sinking, may have been a reaction by the Navy. A Possibility ???