Proper procedure in testing the steering the gear in a ship?

Answer 1

For a new ship, extensive trials will be required to demonstrate that the gear has been designed and built correctly.

Once the trials are complete, the continued correct operation of the gear has to be proved every time the ship is about to put to sea. A typical approach to this would be:

With both steering motors running, operate the controls in every mode (Hand Steering, Non-follow-up, Emergency Lever) from every position (bridge and tiller flat), using each channel of the control system.

For non-follow-up modes, ensure that with no demand, the rudder sits steadily without significant drift, then measure the sweep times in each direction (sweep from 35 degrees one side to 35 degrees the other, and time from first moving the controls to the point where the rudder passes 30 degrees on the far side.) With both motors running, the sweep times should be no more than 14 seconds.

In hand-steering, measure sweep times as above, then move the rudder from Midships to Port 10, then to Port 35, then Port 10, Midships, Stbd 10, Stbd 35, Stbd 10 and Midships, checking at each point that the achieved rudder position accurately reflects the handwheel position in each case (you'll see that this procedure approaches each position from both directions, this is to detect any hysteresis.)

Now repeat the whole process with just one steering motor running, and then again with just the other one running. Measured sweep times with a single motor running will be longer, but should not exceed 28 seconds.