Bridge (ship)
Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRI : Bridge (ship)
The bridge of a ship is an area or room where the ship's navigational controls and other essential equipment related to ship operations are housed and operated. It is so called because it once was a bridge between paddlewheel housings on either side of early steamboats. This new vantage point was deemed so convenient that it was retained after the paddlewheels were superseded.
The bridge is especially useful when the ship is to be brought against a dock as it will usually extend out far enough so that the entire side of the ship may be viewed. The pilot house was initially only a small shelter on an otherwise open bridge, but since modern ships typically extend the pilot house across most or all of the span of the bridge, the two terms are now usually interchangeable.
When a ship is underway, the ship's captain or a senior officer is on the bridge at all times to maintain command and control.
See also
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.