Mate of Unlimited Tonnage, Revision & Practice Exams

How does the effect known as "bank suction" act on a single-screw vessel proceeding along a narrow channel?

1. It heels the vessel toward the bank.
2. It pulls the stern toward the bank. ✓
3. It pushes the entire vessel away from the bank.
4. It pulls the bow toward the bank.

Ship's officers should check every cargo compartment after it is filled with bulk grain to ensure which of the following?

1. All lighting circuits are energized
2. All spaces are filled ✓
3. The correct grade of cargo has been loaded
4. The heavier grade is in the lower hold

In accordance with U.S. regulations which statement is true concerning packages containing Class 1 explosive material?

1. Defective packages of Class 1 materials may not be accepted for shipment ✓
2. Defective packages of Class 1 materials require a Statement of Fact to be submitted prior to loading
3. Defective packages of Class 1 materials may be accepted for shipment
4. Defective package of Class 1 materials may be repaired onboard the vessel

Cargo hose carried on tank vessels must be designed to withstand the pressure of the shutoff head of the cargo pump or pump relief valve setting, but in no case should it be less than __________.

1. 100 psi
2. 150 psi ✓
3. 200 psi
4. 250 psi

When bunkering is complete, which is the correct procedure concerning the bunker hoses?

1. The hose must be drained, blanked off, and stored securely ✓
2. The hose must be stowed vertically and allowed to drain
3. The hose should be washed out with hot soapy water
4. The hose must be cleaned internally with a degreaser

Which type of weld testing can be used to detect internal flaws?

1. Chemical reaction
2. Radiographic ✓
3. Magnetic particle
4. Dye penetrant

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

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

The atmosphere in a tank is too rich when it is __________.

1. capable of supporting combustion
2. in a noncombustible state which can be relied on to occur naturally on a regular basis
3. incapable of supporting combustion because the hydrocarbon vapor content makes the atmosphere below the LFL (Lower Flammable Level)
4. incapable of supporting combustion because the hydrocarbon vapor content makes the atmosphere above the UFL (Upper Flammable Limit) ✓

You are involved in an emergency landing of a helicopter on the water. When should you inflate your life jacket?

1. After reaching the water, but prior to exiting the helicopter
2. After exiting clear of the helicopter ✓
3. Prior to reaching the water
4. Upon entering the helicopter

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.

What term indicates the immersed body of the vessel aft of the parallel mid-body?

1. Stern
2. Run ✓
3. Counter
4. Flow

Charts should be corrected by using information published in which text?

1. American Practical Navigator
2. Notice to Mariners ✓
3. Coast Pilot
4. Light List

Why: The Notice to Mariners (and Local Notice to Mariners) is published specifically for correcting charts and publications, listing chart-by-chart changes to aids, depths, and hazards. The other publications are themselves corrected from it.

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

Radar makes the most accurate determination of the __________.

1. size of a target
2. shape of a target
3. distance to a target ✓
4. direction of a target

The light characteristic of flashing is used in the Aids to Navigation System on the Western Rivers. Which example is required to utilize this characteristic?

1. Daymarks with no lateral significance
2. Preferred channel buoys
3. Lights marking the right descending bank ✓
4. Lights marking the left descending bank

What happens to the barometric pressure after a cold front passes?

1. Drops, and the temperature drops
2. Rises, and the temperature drops ✓
3. Rises, and the temperature rises
4. Drops, and the temperature rises

You are on course 180°T and take a relative bearing of a lighthouse of 225°. What is the true bearing of the lighthouse?

1. 180°
2. 270°
3. 135°
4. 045° ✓

Which theoretical minimum number of measurements from satellites does a GPS receiver need in order to provide an exact three-dimensional position?

1. Five
2. Four ✓
3. Three
4. Two

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

Severe exposure to chlorine gas can be fatal. Chlorine gas is primarily a __________.

1. respiratory irritant ✓
2. blood poisoning agent
3. nerve paralyzing irritant
4. skin burning agent

What should you do if you have transmitted a distress call a number of times on channel 16 and have received no reply?

1. Turn up the volume on the receiver before transmitting again.
2. Repeat the message using any other channel on which you might attract attention. ✓
3. Key the microphone several times before transmitting again.
4. Report the problem to the head electrician.

How can you indicate that your vessel is in distress?

1. Displaying a large red flag
2. Displaying three black balls in a vertical line
3. Continuously sounding the fog whistle ✓
4. Sounding five or more short and rapid blasts on the whistle

What does subtracting GM from KM yield?

1. BL
2. KG ✓
3. GM
4. FS

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

If you wear extra clothing when entering the water after abandoning ship it will accomplish which of the following?

1. Make it more difficult to breathe
2. Make you more buoyant
3. Help preserve body heat ✓
4. Reduce your body heat

Why: Clothing traps a layer of water that the body warms, slowing heat loss and delaying hypothermia, the chief killer in cold-water survival. Buoyancy should come from the lifejacket, not the clothing.

Which position includes the effects of wind and current?

1. Estimated position ✓
2. Dead reckoning position
3. Leeway position
4. Set position

Information about the pilotage available at Miami harbor may best be obtained from which publication?

1. Sailing Directions
2. United States Coast Pilot ✓
3. World Port Index
4. Pilot Chart

Why: The United States Coast Pilot supplements charts for U.S. waters with information on pilotage, anchorages, bridges, and port facilities. Sailing Directions and the World Port Index cover foreign ports.

Your ship is entering port from sea, and you sight a pair of range lights. When in line, they bear 315° per standard magnetic compass. The chart shows that the range bearing is 312°T, and that variation is 6°W. What is the deviation of your compass at the time of the sighting?

1. 3°E ✓
2. 3°W
3. 9°E
4. 9°W

Which action will affect the trim of a vessel?

1. Adding weight at the tipping center
2. Moving a weight forward ✓
3. Moving high weights lower
4. Removing weight at the tipping center

Which term defines when a boat turns broadside to heavy seas and winds, thus exposing the boat to the danger of capsizing?

1. Yawed
2. Trimmed
3. Pitchpoled
4. Broached ✓

Why: Broaching is being thrown broadside to heavy seas, usually while running before them; beam seas then roll the boat violently and can capsize her. Pitchpoling is being flipped end over end.

Which expresses the term leeway?

1. The momentum of a vessel after her engines have been stopped
2. The lateral movement of a vessel downwind of her intended course ✓
3. The difference between the true course and the compass course
4. The displacement of a vessel multiplied by her speed

Why: Leeway is the sideways drift caused by wind pushing the vessel downwind of the course steered. Carrying way after stopping engines is headway; course differences are compass error.

Your vessel is discharging containers from the main deck with the ship's cranes. Which of the following must be taken into account when calculating the center of gravity as the containers are discharged?

1. The vertical distance from the main deck plus the vertical distance to the head of the boom ✓
2. The vertical distance from the main deck plus the height of the container
3. The vertical distance from the main deck to the heel of the boom plus half the height of the container
4. The vertical distance from the main deck plus half the height of the container

Why: Once the crane lifts a container, its weight acts at the point of suspension, the boom head, so the rise in the vessel's center of gravity is calculated to the head of the boom.

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.

An icebreaker assisting a vessel through an ice field would display a visual signal consisting of the code letter "M" (Mike). What does this signal signify?

1. I am altering my course to port
2. I am altering my course to starboard
3. My vessel is stopped and making no way through the water ✓
4. I am operating astern propulsion

On the Great Lakes, which defines the term "controlling depth"?

1. The designed dredging depth of a channel constructed by the Corps. of Engineers
2. The minimum amount of tail water available behind a dam
3. The distance in units of the chart (feet, meters or fathoms) from the reference datum to the bottom
4. The least depth within the limits of the channel which restricts the navigation ✓

Fog can form in any season on the Great Lakes, but it is most likely to occur over open waters in which period?

1. Winter and early spring
2. Autumn and early winter
3. Spring and early summer ✓
4. Summer and early autumn

What is the purpose of cant frames in steel vessels?

1. To provide strength to shell plating at the stern ✓
2. To support the plating of a cylindrical tank
3. To support the overhang of the stern
4. To add strength to the deck beams which support the weather decks