Master/Chief Mate Offshore Supply Vessels, Revision & Practice Exams

As the propeller turns, voids are formed on the trailing and leading edges of the propeller blades causing a loss of propulsive efficiency, pitting of the blades, and vibration. Which term defines this effect?

1. Advance
2. Edging
3. Slip
4. Cavitation ✓

Which action(s) is/are included in crane operations?

1. Removing booms from stowage
2. Pre-operation checks and start-up
3. Luff, slew, and hoist operations
4. All of the above ✓

The most likely time for oil pollution while bunkering is when __________.

1. hoses are disconnected and being capped
2. first starting to receive fuel
3. final topping off is occurring ✓
4. hoses are being blown down

Why: Topping off is when tanks are nearly full and an overflow can occur in seconds; flow may still be substantial and the remaining ullage is small, making it the most likely moment for a spill.

A high cube container is designed specifically to accomplish which task?

1. Carry cargoes of very low stowage factors
2. Stow cargoes with concentrated weights such as machinery
3. Protect fragile cargoes
4. Carry low density cargoes ✓

Your vessel is damaged and listing to port. The rolling period is long, and the vessel will occasionally assume a starboard list. Which action should you take FIRST?

1. Fill an empty double bottom tank on the starboard side
2. Transfer all possible movable weights from port to starboard
3. Pump out ballast from the port and starboard double bottom tanks
4. Press up a slack centerline double bottom tank ✓

What is the objective of shoring a damaged bulkhead?

1. To support and hold the area in the damaged position ✓
2. To make a watertight seal at the damaged area
3. To force the warped, bulged, or deformed sections back into place
4. To withstand subsequent additional damage

All personnel on board a vessel should be familiar with the rescue boat's __________.

1. fuel consumption rates
2. maintenance schedules
3. boarding and operating procedure ✓
4. navigational systems

Why: In an emergency anyone aboard may need to launch, board, or operate the rescue boat quickly, so all personnel must know its boarding and operating procedures, not its maintenance or technical details.

A situation has occurred where it becomes necessary for you to be towed. What action should be taken to prevent your vessel from yawing?

1. Shift weight to the center of the boat
2. Shift weight to the bow
3. Throw excess weight overboard
4. Shift weight to the stern ✓

Why: Shifting weight aft sets the stern deeper, increasing drag aft so the towed vessel trails straight behind the towline like a weathervane instead of sheering from side to side.

How does bleeding from a vein appear?

1. Dark red and spurting
2. Dark red and has a steady flow ✓
3. Bright red and spurting
4. Bright red and slow

If the gyrocompass error is east, what describes the error and the correction to be made to gyrocompass headings to obtain true headings?

1. The readings are too low (small numerically) and the amount of the error must be added to the compass to obtain true ✓
2. The readings are too high (large numerically) and the amount of the error must be added to the compass to obtain true
3. The readings are too low and the amount of the error must be subtracted from the compass to obtain true
4. The readings are too high and the amount of the error must be subtracted from the compass to obtain true

When navigating in high latitudes and using a chart based on a Lambert conformal projection, which is TRUE?

1. The chart should not be used outside of the standard parallels
2. The course angle is measured at the mid-longitude of the track line
3. The distance cannot be measured directly from the chart
4. A straight line drawn on the chart approximates a great circle ✓

What is the major limitation in using the Sight Reduction Tables for Air Navigation Volume I (Pub. No. 249) for star sights?

1. Only first magnitude stars are tabulated.
2. Sights must be made at even time increments to benefit from the tables.
3. More accuracy is needed for celestial observations on board ship than what is tabulated.
4. Only certain stars are included and sights must be limited to those stars. ✓

An electronic depth finder operates on which principle?

1. Radio signals reflect from a solid surface
2. Pressure increases with depth
3. Sound waves travel at a constant speed through water ✓
4. Radar signals travel at a constant speed through water

What is the standard atmospheric pressure in millibars?

1. 760.0
2. 938.9
3. 1000.0
4. 1013.2 ✓

Which is the region containing 3/4 of the mass of the atmosphere and to which are confined such phenomena as clouds, storms, precipitation and changing weather conditions?

1. The tropopause
2. The troposphere ✓
3. The stratopause
4. The stratosphere

Why: The troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, contains about three quarters of its mass and nearly all its water vapor, so clouds, precipitation, storms, and changing weather occur there.

The Brazil Current flows in which general direction?

1. Southwesterly ✓
2. Northwesterly
3. Northerly
4. Southeasterly

At 0000 you fix your position and plot a new DR track line. At 0200 you again fix your position, and it is 0.5 mile east of your DR. Which statement is TRUE?

1. The current is westerly at 0.5 knot.
2. The current cannot be determined.
3. The drift is 0.25 knot. ✓
4. You must increase speed to compensate for the current.

Which describes the level of database information which cannot be removed from the ECDIS display and consists of information which is required at all times in all geographic areas and under all circumstances?

1. System electronic nautical chart
2. Standard display information
3. Chart display information
4. Display base information ✓

To make sure of getting the full advantage of a favorable current, you should reach an entrance or strait at which time in relation to the predicted time of the favorable current?

1. One hour after
2. 30 minutes before flood, one hour after an ebb
3. At the predicted time
4. 30 minutes before ✓

All of the following can be found on a Pilot Chart EXCEPT information concerning which item?

1. Percentage of frequency of wave heights
2. Amounts of precipitation ✓
3. Percentage of poor visibility conditions
4. Sea surface temperatures

Ascending and descending air masses with different temperatures is part of an important heat transmitting process in our atmosphere. Which term is given to this process?

1. Convection ✓
2. Barometric inversion
3. Radiation
4. Conduction

Why are low altitude sun sights not generally used?

1. The glare on the horizon causes irradiation errors.
2. Errors due to unusual refraction may exist. ✓
3. Modern sight reduction tables are not complete for low altitudes below 5°.
4. Sextants may have large errors at small angles of elevation.

Which type of precipitation is a product of the violent convection in thunderstorms?

1. Sleet
2. Snow
3. Freezing Rain
4. Hail ✓

How can the accuracy of an azimuth circle be checked?

1. Sighting a terrestrial range in line and comparing the observed bearing against the charted bearing
2. Aligning the relative bearing markings so that 000° is on the lubber's line and the line of sight passes over the center of the compass
3. Ensuring that the alignment marks on the inner face of the circle are in line with those on the repeater on relative bearings of 000° and 090°
4. Comparing observed azimuths at different altitudes with computed values at the times of observation to see if the difference is constant ✓

You take a bearing of 264° of a lighthouse. What bearing of another object would give the best fix?

1. 289°
2. 350° ✓
3. 120°
4. 081°

A great circle will intersect the equator at how many degrees of longitude apart?

1. 0°
2. 180° ✓
3. 45°
4. 90°

In which months will the North Equatorial Countercurrent be strongest?

1. July and August ✓
2. April and May
3. January and February
4. October and November

Under the U.S. Aids to Navigation System, which category is a yellow buoy?

1. A safe water buoy
2. A special mark ✓
3. A cardinal mark
4. A junction buoy

Which weather element cannot be measured accurately while on board a moving vessel?

1. Visibility ✓
2. Wind direction
3. Temperature
4. Atmospheric pressure

Why: Estimating visibility requires reference objects at known distances, and at sea there are none, so it can only be roughly judged. Wind, temperature, and pressure are measured by instruments, with corrections for the vessel's motion.

Your vessel is taking on fuel when a small leak develops in the hose. You order the pumping stopped. Before you resume pumping, you should __________.

1. Repair the hose with a patch
2. Notify the terminal superintendent
3. Replace the hose ✓
4. Place a large drip pan under the leak and plug the scuppers

You are at sea and have received a General Emergency message announcing the outbreak of war in Europe. You are directed to comply with the instructions in NGA (NIMA) PUB 117, Chapter Eight. Which statement is TRUE?

1. You should only enter a port in the danger zone during hours of darkness
2. You should attempt to coordinate with the Shipping Control Team ✓
3. When over 200 miles from a port in the danger zone, you should not darken ship
4. If on a coastwise voyage along the east coast of the U.S., you should put into the nearest port

What is the minimum number of people required to safely handle a 1-1/2 inch fire hose?

1. 1
2. 2 ✓
3. 3
4. 4

Which defines the function of a spark arrestor?

1. It keeps sparks from falling into an open tank
2. Grounds static electricity reducing chance of explosion
3. Utilized to secure covers on ullage openings
4. Prevents sparks from getting out of an engine's exhaust system ✓

Why: A spark arrestor traps glowing carbon particles in an engine's exhaust, preventing them from escaping the exhaust system and igniting flammable vapors or materials nearby.

When patching holes in the hull, how can pillows, bedding, and other soft materials be used?

1. As strongbacks
2. As gaskets ✓
3. As wedges
4. As shores

Which term is used to describe the horizontal port or starboard movement of a vessel?

1. Heave
2. Yaw
3. Sway ✓
4. Surge

Why: Sway is the bodily side-to-side (translational) motion of a vessel. Yaw is rotation about the vertical axis, surge is fore-and-aft bodily motion, and heave is vertical bodily motion.

Your vessel is required to have a slop chest. Which of the following articles is NOT required by law to be carried in the slop chest?

1. Foul weather clothing
2. Blankets
3. Candy ✓
4. Tobacco products

SOLAS requires a lifesaving training manual be provided in each crew cabin or in which other location?

1. In the recreation and messrooms ✓
2. In the engineering control station
3. On the bridge
4. In the fire control room

Your vessel has a beam of 40 feet, and you observe a still water rolling period of 20 seconds. What is the vessel's metacentric height?

1. 0.3 ft.
2. 0.5 ft.
3. 0.8 ft. ✓
4. 1.1 ft.

Using the information in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book, determine the danger angle for permanent list if the KG is 21.2 feet and the drafts are: FWD 27'-11", AFT 28'-07".

1. 19°
2. 72°
3. 24° ✓
4. 52°

What is the displacement of a barge which measures 85' x 46' x 13' and is floating in salt water with a draft of ten feet?

1. 17.5 tons
2. 500 tons
3. 1452 tons
4. 1117 tons ✓

The sailing drafts are: FWD 23'-02", AFT 24'-06" and the GM is 2.8 feet. Use the information in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book to determine the available righting arm at 30° inclination.

1. 1.3 feet
2. 2.5 feet ✓
3. 3.2 feet
4. 3.7 feet

The liquid mud tanks on your vessel measure 20'L by 18'B by 7'D. The vessel's displacement is 866 T and the specific gravity of the mud is 1.8. What is the reduction in GM due to a pair of these tanks (p/s) being slack?

1. 0.24 foot
2. 0.56 foot
3. 0.95 foot
4. 1.12 feet ✓

Your sailing drafts are: FWD 19'-06", AFT 20'-10" and the GM is 3.3 feet. What will be the angle of list if the #2 starboard deep tank (capacity 100 tons, VCG 19.1 feet, and 24 feet off the centerline) is filled? (Use the data in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book)

1. Less than 1°
2. 2°
3. 4° ✓
4. 6°

The SS AMERICAN MARINER is ready to bunker with drafts of FWD 19'-00", AFT 24'-00". After all bunkers are on board, soundings indicate the tonnages shown in table ST-0171 below. Use the white pages of The Stability Data Reference Book to determine the free surface correction.

1. 0.62 foot
2. 0.80 foot
3. 0.85 foot ✓
4. 0.99 foot

You are on a supply run to an offshore drilling rig. You are carrying the load show in table ST-0015 below. What is the height above the main deck of the center of gravity of the cargo?

1. 1.76 feet
2. 1.97 feet ✓
3. 2.21 feet
4. 2.32 feet