Mate < 500-1600 GRT, Revision & Practice Exams

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.

You are loading 465,000 barrels of cargo oil. At 0900 you find that you have loaded 207,000 barrels. At 1030 you find that you have loaded 223,000 barrels. If you continue loading at the same rate, you will finish at approximately __________.

1. 2100 that night
2. 0730 the next day
3. 0910 the next day ✓
4. 1215 the next day

The terms "ceiling" and "margin plate" are associated with which areas of the vessel?

1. The main deck
2. The crew's quarters
3. The engine room
4. The tank top ✓

What quality of a diesel fuel is most significant for efficient combustion?

1. Volatility ✓
2. Flash point
3. Specific heat
4. Viscosity

A well in the uppermost deck of a shelter deck vessel which has only a temporary means of closing for the purpose of gaining an exemption from tonnage measurement is called a(n) __________.

1. cofferdam
2. tonnage deck
3. tonnage opening ✓
4. exemption space

Which statement is TRUE concerning a motor lifeboat?

1. It is propelled by engine or hand-propelling gear.
2. It must be able to maintain a loaded speed of 6 knots. ✓
3. It has a sufficient fuel capacity, if motorized, for 48 hours of operation.
4. All of the above

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

On the all-purpose nozzle, what is the position of the nozzle valve when the handle is all the way forward?

1. spray
2. solid stream
3. shut ✓
4. fog

What is the difference between the starboard and port drafts due to the wind or seas called?

1. Trim
2. Flotation
3. List
4. Heel ✓

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.

Heave is motion along which axis?

1. The vessel's centerline axis
2. The vessel's transverse axis
3. The vessel's longitudinal axis
4. The vessel's vertical axis ✓

What is the spoken emergency signal for a distress signal over a VHF radio?

1. Pan
2. Red Alert
3. Security
4. Mayday ✓

How are chart legends which indicate a conspicuous landmark printed?

1. In italics
2. With underlined letters
3. In boldfaced print
4. In capital letters ✓

You are underway on course 050°T and your maximum speed is 13 knots. The eye of a hurricane bears 100°T, 120 miles from your position. The hurricane is moving towards 275°T at 25 knots. What course should you steer at 13 knots to have the maximum CPA?

1. 339°
2. 333° ✓
3. 326°
4. 320°

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

By what means are indications of the master gyrocompass sent to remote repeaters?

1. by transmitter ✓
2. by azimuth motor
3. by phantom element
4. by follow-up system

What happens to the intensity of a hurricane as it reaches higher latitudes and cooler waters?

1. Remains the same
2. Increases
3. Decreases ✓
4. None of the above

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

A List of Lights entry (L Fl) is a single flashing light which shows a long flash of not less than which duration?

1. 1.0 second duration
2. 1.5 seconds duration
3. 2.0 seconds duration ✓
4. 3.0 seconds duration

Why: A long flash (L Fl) is defined as a flash of not less than 2 seconds duration, distinguishing it from an ordinary flash, which is shorter.

Which type of weather could you expect soon after seeing "hook" or "comma" shaped cirrus clouds?

1. Rain with the approach of a warm front ✓
2. Continuing fog and rain
3. The formation of a tropical depression
4. Clearing with the approach of a cold front

Which is the reference datum used in determining the heights of land features on most charts?

1. Mean low water
2. Half-tide level
3. Mean sea level
4. Mean high 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.

Which term is given to the mechanical lifting of air by the upslope slant of the terrain?

1. Vertical lifting
2. Convective lifting
3. Topographic lifting ✓
4. Advective lifting

Which defines the term relative humidity?

1. The ratio of the actual vapor content at the current temperature to the air's vapor holding capability ✓
2. The maximum vapor content the air is capable of holding
3. The relation of the moisture content of the air to barometric pressure
4. The maximum vapor content the air is capable of holding at 70 degrees

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 ✓

Your vessel is on course 150°T, speed 17 knots. The apparent wind is from 40° off the starboard bow, speed 15 knots. What is the speed of the true wind?

1. 9.0 knots
2. 10.2 knots
3. 11.0 knots ✓
4. 12.0 knots

The owner or Master of a towing vessel shall ensure that each person that directs and controls the movement of the vessel can accomplish all of the following EXCEPT _________.

1. enter all required test and inspection results in the vessel's log or other record carried on board
2. reduce speed only where local speed limits are posted ✓
3. adjust speed with due regard for the weather and visibility
4. evaluate the danger of each closing visual or radar contact

A safe water daymark has what shape?

1. Diamond
2. Octagonal ✓
3. Circular
4. Triangular

Why: Safe water daymarks are octagonal and colored red and white. Triangles are starboard-hand marks and squares are port-hand marks, so safe water gets its own distinctive eight-sided shape.

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

When trying to sight a lighthouse you notice a glare from a town in the background. How does this affect the range at which the light may be sighted?

1. Increased if the light is red or green due to contrast with the glare
2. Considerably reduced and difficult to distinguish ✓
3. Unchanged
4. Increased slightly due to extra lighting

When within 300 miles of a named tropical storm or hurricane, it is standard practice to send weather reports at which time interval?

1. Every hour
2. Every 8 hours
3. Every 6 hours
4. Every 3 hours ✓

Which agency publishes the Light Lists?

1. United States Coast Guard ✓
2. National Ocean Service
3. Oceanographic Office
4. Army Corps of Engineers

Why: The U.S. Coast Guard publishes the Light List, describing lights, buoys, and other aids to navigation in U.S. waters. Charts and tide data come from the National Ocean Service.

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

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

What does the expression "the air is saturated" mean?

1. The relative humidity is 100% ✓
2. The precipitation has commenced
3. The cloud cover is 100%
4. The vapor pressure is at its maximum for the prevailing temperature

The error in a sextant altitude caused by refraction is greatest when the celestial body is in which location?

1. Rising above 45o elevation
2. High in the sky
3. At or near transit
4. Near the horizon ✓

You are on course 357°T and take a relative bearing of a lighthouse of 180°. What is the true bearing to the lighthouse?

1. 003°
2. 227°
3. 177° ✓
4. 363°

On a nautical chart, what does the inner ring of a compass rose indicate?

1. Compass error
2. Magnetic directions ✓
3. Deviation
4. True directions

What is TRUE concerning new editions of Light Lists?

1. New editions are published by the National Ocean Service.
2. Supplements to new editions are issued monthly by the U.S. Coast Guard.
3. New editions are corrected through the date shown on the title page. ✓
4. None of the above

What does a barometer showing falling pressure indicate?

1. The approach of a high-pressure system
2. A low dew point
3. The approach of a low-pressure system ✓
4. A high dew point

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.

Under the IALA-A Buoyage System, a buoy indicating the preferred channel is to port would have __________.

1. a pillar shape
2. horizontal bands ✓
3. an even number
4. an odd number

When compared to air temperature, which factor is most useful in predicting fog?

1. Barometric pressure
2. Absolute humidity
3. Vapor pressure
4. Dew point ✓

ECDIS units incorporate Digital Chart Data that utilizes which formats?

1. Imposed viewing formats
2. Both vector and raster formats ✓
3. Vector formats only
4. Raster formats only

When the period of beam seas equals the natural rolling period of a vessel, what will most likely occur?

1. Excessive rolling ✓
2. Excessive yawing
3. Excessive pitching
4. No change should be evident

Why is a VLCC (100,000 DWT+) with a 30,000 Shaft Horsepower Steam Turbine slow to respond to engine movements, and has less stopping power than normal ships?

1. They have a bigger propeller
2. They have smaller power to weight ratio ✓
3. They have larger power to weight ratio
4. They possess smaller propellers

Why: A loaded VLCC has enormous displacement but comparatively modest horsepower, a small power-to-weight ratio, so the engine has little leverage over the ship's huge momentum, making her slow to respond and hard to stop.

Deck foam systems, designed to protect cargo areas on tank vessels built after January 1, 1975, must have a supply of foam-producing material to operate the system at its designed rate of foam production for __________.

1. 15 minutes without recharging
2. 20 minutes without recharging ✓
3. 25 minutes without recharging
4. 30 minutes without recharging

A tug should not come alongside a tank vessel in way of its cargo tanks while it is loading grade A, B, or C cargo without the permission of the __________.

1. cognizant OCMI
2. person in charge of the transfer ✓
3. superintendent of the shoreside facility
4. local fire department

On an inspected vessel, when may a stability test be dispensed with?

1. Coast Guard does not have a qualified inspector available
2. Coast Guard has the approved stability test results of a sister vessel ✓
3. The projected cost is unreasonable
4. The vessel is of a proven design

Every entry required to be made in the Official Logbook shall be signed. Who is required to sign this logbook?

1. Mate on watch
2. Master only
3. Purser, one of the Mates, and some other member of the crew
4. Master and Chief Mate or other member of the crew ✓

Your vessel is being assisted by an icebreaker. How should you indicate that you are ready to cast off the towline?

1. Sound one prolonged blast on the whistle
2. Sound five short blasts on his whistle
3. Display code letter "Y" (Yankee) ✓
4. Display code numeral "5"

Your vessel is being assisted through an ice field in Thunder Bay by the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Alexander Henry. The starboard lookout reports that the icebreaker has run up the code flag "N" (November). Which action should you take?

1. Reduce speed
2. Reverse your engines
3. Stop your vessel instantly
4. Stop your engines ✓

Which of the following is classified as a flammable liquid?

1. Methyl alcohol ✓
2. Mineral spirits
3. Bunker C
4. Butane

Which is a precaution you should take before bunkering?

1. Plug the sounding pipes
2. Close the lids on the vents
3. Plug the vents
4. Plug the scuppers ✓

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

A tank vessel transferring non-flammable hazardous cargo in bulk must display warning signs. These signs must __________.

1. be displayed only while transferring cargo and fast to a dock
2. indicate "NO SMOKING"
3. be visible from both sides and from forward and aft
4. use black lettering on a white background ✓

According to the Lifesaving regulations in Subchapter W, fire and abandon ship drills must be held within 24 hours of leaving port if the percentage of the crew that has not participated in drills aboard that particular vessel in the prior month exceeds which percentage?

1. 5%
2. 10%
3. 25% ✓
4. 40%

Why: Subchapter W requires fire and abandon-ship drills within 24 hours of leaving port whenever more than 25 percent of the crew did not participate in drills aboard that vessel during the previous month.

The water in which a vessel floats provides vertical upward support. Which term is regarded as the point through which this support is assumed to act?

1. The center of buoyancy ✓
2. The center of gravity
3. The center of effort
4. The center of flotation

Why: The buoyant force acts through the center of buoyancy, the geometric center of the underwater volume. The center of gravity is where weight acts downward, and the center of flotation is the center of the waterplane.

The all-purpose nozzle will produce a fog spray when you take which action?

1. Pull the nozzle handle all the way back toward the operator
2. Insert a fog applicator between the fire hose and nozzle
3. Pull the nozzle handle back to a position where the handle is perpendicular to the plane of the nozzle ✓
4. Push the nozzle handle forward as far as it will go

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

When a vessel is stationary and in a hogging condition, the main deck is under which stress?

1. Compression stress
2. Racking stress
3. Shear stress
4. Tension stress ✓

The most detrimental effect on initial stability is a result of liquids __________.

1. flowing in and out of a holed wing tank ✓
2. flowing from fore to aft within a vessel
3. pocketing in a slack tank as a vessel heels
4. flowing from side to side within the vessel

A drill must be conducted in the use of the line throwing appliance. How often is this drill required to be conducted?

1. 2 months
2. 3 months ✓
3. 4 months
4. 5 months

Why: Regulations require a drill in the use of the line-throwing appliance at least once every three months.

Your vessel displaces 564 tons. The existing deck cargo has a center of gravity of 1.5 feet above the deck and weighs 41 tons. If you load 22 tons of ground tackle with an estimated center of gravity of 2.5 feet above the deck, what is the final height of the CG of the deck cargo?

1. 1.62 feet
2. 1.85 feet ✓
3. 2.10 feet
4. 2.46 feet

Which fog is produced by warm moist air passing over a cold surface?

1. Conduction fog
2. Frontal fog
3. Radiation fog
4. Advection fog ✓

The shoreline shown on nautical charts of areas affected by large tidal fluctuations is usually the line of mean __________.

1. high water ✓
2. low water
3. lower low water
4. tide level

Why: The charted shoreline in tidal areas is the mean high water line, the average of the high tides, so charted land may be surrounded by water at lower stages. Soundings, by contrast, use a low-water datum.

Safe water buoys may show ONLY which type of light?

1. flashing green lights
2. yellow lights
3. white lights ✓
4. flashing red lights

On a chart, the characteristic of the light on a lighthouse is shown as flashing white with a red sector. Which is TRUE of the red sector?

1. It indicates a danger area ✓
2. It indicates the limits of the navigable channel
3. It is used to identify the characteristics of the light
4. It serves no significant purpose

Why: Red sectors are arcs drawn to cover dangers such as shoals, rocks, or obstructions. Seeing the light turn from white to red means your bearing line lies within the charted danger area.

The southeast trade winds actually blow in which direction?

1. Southeast
2. South
3. East
4. Northwest ✓

Under the IALA Buoyage Systems, which is TRUE of safe water marks?

1. They must show a composite group-flashing, Fl(2 + 1), green light
2. They may show a quick-flashing, Q(9)15s, white light
3. They may show a white Morse (A) light ✓
4. They may show a composite group-flashing, Fl(2 + 1), red light

Why: IALA safe water marks show white lights with isophase, occulting, single long-flash, or Morse 'A' rhythm. Composite group flashing (2+1) red or green belongs to preferred-channel marks, and Q(9) is a west cardinal characteristic.

You have replaced the chart paper in the course recorder. Which statement is TRUE?

1. Line the course pen up on 0-degree mark
2. Adjust the chart paper to indicate GMT ✓
3. Set the zone pen to the far right of the paper
4. Test the electrical gain to the thermograph pens

Which of the following is the most accurate method of determining gyrocompass error while underway?

1. Comparing the gyro heading with the magnetic compass heading
2. Determining from the chart the course made good between celestial fixes
3. Comparing the gyro azimuth of a celestial body with the computed azimuth of the body ✓
4. It cannot be determined accurately at sea due to drift of unknown currents.

Which is the primary type of welding employed in shipyards in the construction of cargo vessels?

1. brazing
2. thermite welding
3. electric arc ✓
4. pressure welding

Your vessel has an injured crew member onboard that will require evacuation. Which of the following publications should you review for the procedures in conducting rescue/medivac helicopter operations?

1. International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual ✓
2. Pub 117 Radio Aids to Navigation
3. International Maritime Organization Life-Saving Appliance Code Manual
4. Merchant Marine Officers Handbook

Why: The IAMSAR Manual is the international reference for search and rescue operations, including standard procedures, signals, and safety precautions for helicopter evacuation from vessels.

If the cause of severe list is off-center ballast, what will counterflooding into empty tanks accomplish?

1. Increase list
2. Increase the righting arm
3. Increase the righting moment
4. Decrease list ✓

Why: Counterflooding an empty tank on the high side adds weight opposite the off-center ballast, shifting G back toward the centerline and reducing the list. It adds weight and free surface, so it does not improve righting arm.

What is the center of flotation of a vessel?

1. The point at which all the vertical upward forces of buoyancy are considered to be concentrated
2. The point at which all the vertical downward forces of weight are considered to be concentrated
3. The center of volume of the immersed portion of the vessel
4. The center of gravity of the water plane ✓

What is the usual depth of a beam bracket?

1. 2 1/2 times the depth of the beam ✓
2. 5 times the depth of the beam
3. same depth as the beam
4. 10 times the depth of the beam

Why: Standard construction practice makes beam brackets about two and a half times the depth of the beam they support, giving an effective rigid connection between beam and frame.

Your vessel is running in a following sea. Which term defines the motion your vessel is experiencing?

1. Yawing ✓
2. Heaving to
3. Pounding
4. Reduced speed

If you have a fire in the engine room, what is the FIRST action you should take?

1. Discharge the fixed CO2 system into the engine room
2. Secure the fuel supply and ventilation to the engine room ✓
3. Maneuver your vessel into the wind
4. Have all of your crew get into the liferaft

Why: Securing fuel and ventilation first starves the fire of fuel and oxygen; only then will the fixed CO2 system be effective. Releasing CO2 with ventilation still running wastes the agent.

What is meant by the term "broaching to"?

1. Having the vessel head toward the sea
2. Having the vessel filled with water
3. Running before a sea
4. Being turned broadside to the sea ✓

Why: Broaching to means being turned broadside to the seas, typically while running before them, leaving the vessel beam-on and in danger of capsizing.

Where would spontaneous combustion most likely to occur?

1. In dirty swabs and cleaning gear
2. In rags soaked in linseed oil ✓
3. In partially loaded fuel tanks
4. In overloaded electrical circuits

Why: Linseed oil oxidizes and generates heat as it cures; bunched rags trap that heat until it builds to ignition temperature, the classic spontaneous combustion hazard.

On a small boat, if someone fell overboard and you did not know over which side the person fell, which action should you take?

1. Immediately reverse the engines
2. Increase speed to full to get the vessel away from the person
3. First put the rudder hard over in either direction
4. Stop the propellers from turning and throw a ring buoy over the side ✓

Why: Stopping the propellers protects the person from the screw no matter which side they fell over, and the ring buoy gives flotation and marks the position for recovery.

An icebreaker is displaying a flag hoist which consists of the code letters "WO" (Whiskey Oscar). What does this signal indicate?

1. The icebreaker is icebound
2. Icebreaker support is finished ✓
3. The icebreaker is beset
4. Icebreaker support is commencing

You abandoned ship in the North Atlantic and one of the crew members is hypothermic. During a SAR helicopter extraction which lifting device should be avoided when hoisting this patient to the aircraft?

1. The rescue litter
2. The rescue basket
3. The rescue net
4. The rescue sling ✓

Where do signs of racking stresses generally appear on the vessel?

1. At the junction of the frames with the beams and floors ✓
2. At the thrust bearing of the main shaft
3. On the garboard strake, at each side of the keel
4. At the bow and stern shell frames and plating

The wind has caused a difference between drafts starboard and port. This difference is known as which of the following?

1. List
2. Trim
3. Heel ✓
4. Flotation

Which basic category of water level fluctuations on the Great Lakes is the most regular?

1. Outflow fluctuations
2. Short-term fluctuations
3. Seasonal fluctuations ✓
4. Long-term fluctuations

What speed do most bow thrusters generally become ineffective?

1. At any speed ahead
2. Over 3 knots headway ✓
3. Over 1 knot sternway
4. At any speed astern

Which spaces are required to be segregated from cargo tanks carrying grades A, B, C, or D cargoes?

1. Navigation spaces ✓
2. Cofferdams
3. Pump rooms
4. Enclosed deck spaces

What is acceptable flame screening?

1. A fitted single brass screen of 10 x 10 mesh
2. A fitted single stainless-steel screen of 15 x 15 mesh
3. A fitted stainless-steel screen of 30 x 30 mesh ✓
4. Two fitted brass screens of 10 x 15 mesh spaced 1/2 inch apart

The tankship Northland is loaded as shown in table BL-0026 below. Use the salmon-colored pages in the Stability Data Reference Book to determine the sagging numeral.

1. 72.42 numeral
2. 78.98 numeral ✓
3. 83.46 numeral
4. 91.48 numeral

You are on a multiple-product chemical tanker and will carry cargoes of butyric acid, propylene oxide, and octyl alcohol. Which statement is true?

1. Butyric acid is incompatible with octyl alcohol but not propylene oxide.
2. Propylene oxide may not be stowed in a tank adjacent to butyric acid. ✓
3. Octyl alcohol is incompatible with both butyric acid and propylene oxide.
4. All of these cargoes are compatible.

Given a dry bulb temperature of 78°F and wet bulb temperature of 66.5°F, what is the dew point?

1. 47.0°F
2. 51.5°F
3. 59.0°F ✓
4. 70.0°F

According to regulations when, if ever, may cargo hatches on Great Lakes vessels, with more than 6 feet of freeboard, be left uncovered or open while the vessel is being navigated?

1. At the discretion of the Master, for reasonable purposes ✓
2. If a Mate deems it necessary for ship's maintenance
3. On the authority of the Bosun
4. The hatch may never be uncovered

Which document is NOT required by law to be posted aboard a vessel?

1. Official Crew List ✓
2. Officer's licenses
3. Certificate of Inspection
4. Muster List

Flammable liquids should have what kind of label?

1. Green
2. Red ✓
3. Yellow
4. Skull and crossbones

When is a vessel tide rode?

1. When the vessel is being forced off of a pier by the hydraulic effect of the current
2. When the vessel is at anchor and stemming the current ✓
3. When the vessel is carrying extra rudder to compensate for the current
4. When it is necessary to adjust the course steered to allow for the current