Bridge (ship)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. The bridge can also be referred to as the wheel house, or pilot house.
It is so called because it once was a bridge between paddlewheel housings on either side of early steamboats, allowing the captain to see over the high wheel housings that would otherwise have blocked his view. "Bridge" remained the general term for the command post of a powered ship even after paddlewheels were superseded.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.
The Bridge of Ships evolved out of the Steamship Era. Engineers required a Bridge over the ship to inspect both paddleweels. When the paddlewheel was dropped in favor of the Propeller on the steamship Great Britain, The Bridge stayed.
