Formations, Dispositions, Screens, and Maneuvering Rules

1
Formations, Dispositions, Screens, and
Maneuvering Rules
2
Maneuvering Definitions

• Large ship - greater than 450 feet
• Small ship - less than 450 feet
• Formation - ordered arrangement of two or more
  ships or units proceeding together
• Disposition - ordered arrangement of two or more
  formations proceeding together

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Maneuvering Definitions

• Main body - Principal ship of formation
• Screen - arrangement of ships or ASW helicopters
  designed to protect the main body
• Guide - ship on which other ships take station
  when forming or keep station when formed
• Station - prescribed position of a ship in
  relation to the guide

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Maneuvering Definitions

• OTC - Officer in Tactical Command
• Standard distance - range between ships in a line
  depending on size
• 1000 yards between large ships
• 500 yards between small ships
• 1000 yards between large and small ships

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LINE FORMATIONS

• Historically used as a cruising or battle
  formation
• Advantages
• Ease of station keeping, maneuvering,
  communications
• Basic line formations
• Column (also column open order)
• Line abreast (also loose line abreast)
• Line of bearing (also loose line of bearing)
• Diamond
• See figure 6.1

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Column

• Formation of ships in single file
• Usually front ship is guide
• Advantages
• Useful for transiting restricted waters such as
  swept channel in mine field or narrow strait
• Disadvantages
• Visual comms are difficult - signals must be
  passed ship to ship

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Column

• Column open order - Assists with visual comms

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Line Abreast

• Ships are maneuvered in a line on either side of
  the guide
• Advantages
• Useful for certain searches
• Loose line abreast is used to relax station
  keeping

Guide
Line Abreast to Port
9
Line of Bearing

• Ships are maneuvered on either a true or relative
  direction from the guide (other than on bow, beam
  or stern)
• Port or Starboard
• May form a loose Line of Bearing

Guide
Line of bearing 250R
10
Diamond Formation

• Allows greater space between ships without making
  formation longer

Guide
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MANEUVERING

• The movement of ships required to organize into
  line formations
• Normally executed upon signal by OTC
• Guide may automatically shift in some cases
• Maneuvering signal pro-words
• TURN
• CORPEN
• FORM
• See figure 6.3

12
TURN

• All ships turn simultaneously
• True bearings to other ships remain the same,
  relative bearings change
• Visual signal
• TURN pennant in conjunction with PORT or STBD
  flag to indicate direction of turn
• Three numerals is course to steer
• One or two numerals (0-18) indicated 10s of
  degrees to turn
• ANSWER pennant is used to indicate 5 degrees

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TURN

• Examples
• TURN PORT 3 ANSWER - turn 35 degrees to port
• TURN STBD 290 - turn to course 290

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TURN from a Line Formation
Before maneuver
After maneuver
Column formation
Line of Bearing
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CORPEN

• Wheeling - formation course is changed without
  altering arrangement of ships
• Relative bearings to other ships remain the same,
  true bearings change
• Visual signals
• CORPEN pennant in conjunction with PORT or STBD
  flag to indicate direction of turn
• Same numeral rules as TURN

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CORPEN

• A corpen may only be executed out of a column or
  line abreast (including column open order, loose
  line abreast, diamond)
• Limitations
• Column - 180 degrees
• Line abreast - 90 degrees
• Diamond - 30 degrees
• For column - follow in wake of the guide
• For line abreast - wheel formation

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CORPEN - from a Column
Before maneuver
After maneuver
Column formation
Column formation
18
CORPEN - from a Line Abreast
After maneuver
Before maneuver
Auto shift of guide
Line Abreast to STBD
Line Abreast to PORT
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FORM

• Used to change formation bearing without changing
  the formation course
• Guide maintains formation course and remaining
  ships form on new line of bearing
• Visual signal
• FORM pennant and three numerals indicate true
  line of bearing
• FORM pennant PORT/ STBD and one or two numerals
  indicate relative line of bearing

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FORM

• Examples
• FORM 150 - all ships form a line of bearing along
  150T from the guide
• FORM PORT 15 - all ships form on a line of
  bearing 150 to port of formation course

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SEARCH TURN

• Used to search a large body of water in close
  quarters - downed pilot, etc
• Ships must start in a line abreast
• Wing ship away from turn assumes the guide and
  immediately maneuvers
• Other ships turn when previous ship is astern
• See figure 6.4

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Screens

• An arrangement of ships, aircraft, subs for the
  protection of main body
• Normally designed to protect against one threat
  (ie. air, sub, surface)
• Design must be continuously evaluated to ensure
  threat protection

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Sector Screen

• Units are assigned areas of responsibility rather
  than points
• Units are required to patrol sectors
• Avoid maintaining base course and speed so that
  it cannot be determined passively
• Center is ZZ

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Sector Screen

• Boundaries are ordered by 4 numerals
• 2 for left in 10s of degrees true
• 2 for right
• Depth is also four numerals
• 2 for inner limit in thousands of yards
• 2 for outer
• Sector boundaries are followed by call sign of
  ship

25
Sector Screen

• Example0106-4575 DESIG M4NThe sector for M4N
  is from 010T-060T, 4,500-7,500 yards

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Maneuvering Sea Customs

• Small ships do not hamper the movements of large
  ships, especially in restricted waters
• Ships not in station shall remain clear of those
  in station
• Do not pass through formations
• Customary rules do not relieve ships from rules
  of the road responsibility

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Signal Flags

• Know the following
• Letter flags
• Numeral flags (not pennants)
• ANSWER flag and meaning
• PORT/ STBD flag
• TURN/ CORPEN/ FORM flags
• DESIG
• See figure 5.2