5 ms·

If it's old, could it be about watches in the sense of a period of time that one person keeps watch on the ship. So the meaning is go by yourself or as three pe

If it's old, could it be about watches in the sense of a period of time that one person keeps watch on the ship. So the meaning is go by yourself or as three people. Not about teling the time.

Avshalom 4y ago
It's about using clocks to compare local noon to Greenwich noon in order to calculate longitude. Thing is that about 50% of all English expressions relate to the British navy and the other 50% are falsely attributed to the British navy so it's hard to say if 1-or-3 was actually real advice.
- killjoywashere 4y ago
  Navy sailor here. Trained in celestial navigation. The 3 clocks thing is for real. On my first ship we still had mechanical clocks, on the theory that an EMP wouldn't bother them.
  - cperciva 4y ago
    Is there any point knowing exactly where you are if the ship is dead in the water because all the electronics are fried?
    - defrost 4y ago
      That's an odd take. Captains have navigated oceans in rowboats to fetch rescue and survive mutiny. It all starts with knowing where you are and where you intend to go. Also: Ships aren't neccesarily killed by EMP - mechanical engines still work, they can be tuned by hand, rudders are operated by levers and hydraulics, these can be manually moved, etc.
      - cperciva 4y ago
        Yes, but the scenario where you're relying on a mechanical clock because it survived an EMP attack is the scenario where you're getting attacked with nuclear weapons. Which... I dunno, the idea of rowing to safety seems a bit implausible in that scenario? As for mechanical engines still working -- I would assume there's electronics in any modern hydrocarbon engines, for efficiency reasons (adjusting engine timing etc), never mind nuclear powered ships.
        defrost 4y ago
        Well, EMP bursts going off overhead is not the same as being attacked by such weapons - the scenario planned for would be maximal operation after an EMP burst. Dunno about you but I still have my working early model Sun workstation (pizza box years) rated to survive EMP with shielded casing, monitor, etc. > I would assume there's electronics in any modern hydrocarbon engines assume .. so, you've never worked on a container ship as a mech engineer babysitting a Wärtsilä RT-flex96C and you think the navy has a lot of nuclear powered ships then? Have a deep think on this - do you think the US military designs ships to be useless when the electronics go? No capability for manual weapons aiming, no ability to operate the engines or steer? We've got a navy person commenting upthread here about having three mechanical clocks for longitude estimation in the event of no GPS .. what do you think that's all about?
        cperciva 4y ago
        early model Sun workstation (pizza box years) rated to survive EMP with shielded casing, monitor, etc. Obviously, while it might survive some EMP, there's a limit to the efficacy of the shielding. Anything your Sun workstation would survive is trivially survivable by a quartz watch sitting in a shielded box. you think the navy has a lot of nuclear powered ships then? My understanding is that the entire submarine and aircraft carrier fleets are nuclear powered, yes. Have a deep think on this - do you think the US military designs ships to be useless when the electronics go? I think in a nuclear war scenario, surface ships are already useless (and most likely vaporized) so maximizing the efficacy of their navigation systems in such a scenario is probably not a priority. We've got a navy person commenting upthread here about having three mechanical clocks for longitude estimation in the event of no GPS .. what do you think that's all about? My guess is that the three mechanical clocks was more a matter of tradition than efficacy in modern warfare.

If it's old, could it be about watches in the sense of a period of time that one person keeps watch on the ship. So the meaning is go by yourself or as three people. Not about teling the time.

Avshalom 4y ago

It's about using clocks to compare local noon to Greenwich noon in order to calculate longitude. Thing is that about 50% of all English expressions relate to the British navy and the other 50% are falsely attributed to the British navy so it's hard to say if 1-or-3 was actually real advice.

killjoywashere 4y ago
Navy sailor here. Trained in celestial navigation. The 3 clocks thing is for real. On my first ship we still had mechanical clocks, on the theory that an EMP wouldn't bother them.
- cperciva 4y ago
  Is there any point knowing exactly where you are if the ship is dead in the water because all the electronics are fried?
  - defrost 4y ago
    That's an odd take. Captains have navigated oceans in rowboats to fetch rescue and survive mutiny. It all starts with knowing where you are and where you intend to go. Also: Ships aren't neccesarily killed by EMP - mechanical engines still work, they can be tuned by hand, rudders are operated by levers and hydraulics, these can be manually moved, etc.
    - cperciva 4y ago
      Yes, but the scenario where you're relying on a mechanical clock because it survived an EMP attack is the scenario where you're getting attacked with nuclear weapons. Which... I dunno, the idea of rowing to safety seems a bit implausible in that scenario? As for mechanical engines still working -- I would assume there's electronics in any modern hydrocarbon engines, for efficiency reasons (adjusting engine timing etc), never mind nuclear powered ships.
      - defrost 4y ago
        Well, EMP bursts going off overhead is not the same as being attacked by such weapons - the scenario planned for would be maximal operation after an EMP burst. Dunno about you but I still have my working early model Sun workstation (pizza box years) rated to survive EMP with shielded casing, monitor, etc. > I would assume there's electronics in any modern hydrocarbon engines assume .. so, you've never worked on a container ship as a mech engineer babysitting a Wärtsilä RT-flex96C and you think the navy has a lot of nuclear powered ships then? Have a deep think on this - do you think the US military designs ships to be useless when the electronics go? No capability for manual weapons aiming, no ability to operate the engines or steer? We've got a navy person commenting upthread here about having three mechanical clocks for longitude estimation in the event of no GPS .. what do you think that's all about?
        cperciva 4y ago
        early model Sun workstation (pizza box years) rated to survive EMP with shielded casing, monitor, etc. Obviously, while it might survive some EMP, there's a limit to the efficacy of the shielding. Anything your Sun workstation would survive is trivially survivable by a quartz watch sitting in a shielded box. you think the navy has a lot of nuclear powered ships then? My understanding is that the entire submarine and aircraft carrier fleets are nuclear powered, yes. Have a deep think on this - do you think the US military designs ships to be useless when the electronics go? I think in a nuclear war scenario, surface ships are already useless (and most likely vaporized) so maximizing the efficacy of their navigation systems in such a scenario is probably not a priority. We've got a navy person commenting upthread here about having three mechanical clocks for longitude estimation in the event of no GPS .. what do you think that's all about? My guess is that the three mechanical clocks was more a matter of tradition than efficacy in modern warfare.