Maritime Knowledge Base
Browse questions and answers across marine machinery, merchant navy careers, shipboard operations and maritime glossary terms.
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Marine Machinery
Troubleshooting guides for pumps, boilers, purifiers, compressors and auxiliary systems.
Merchant Navy Careers
Questions about joining the merchant navy, exams, cadetships, ranks and sea-time.
Maritime Glossary
Plain-English definitions of shipping, engine-room, navigation and regulatory terms.
Shipboard Operations
Practical Q&A for watchkeeping, safety, maintenance routines and onboard documentation.
Results for "Blackout"
How do you recover from a blackout (total loss of electrical power)?
A blackout is the total loss of electrical power on a ship — recovery depends on the emergency generator, restarting the main plant and restoring services in the right order.
Marine MachineryWhy won't two generators share load equally when running in parallel?
When paralleled generators fail to share load evenly, the fault lies in the governor and speed settings for active power, or the excitation for reactive power.
Shipboard OperationsWhat is the difference between magnetic variation and deviation?
Variation is the angle between true and magnetic north caused by the Earth's field; deviation is the compass error caused by the ship's own magnetism. Together they make up compass error.
Marine MachineryWhat is a shaft generator and why is it used?
A shaft generator produces electrical power by being driven from the main engine or propeller shaft, so the ship can meet its electrical needs at sea without running separate auxiliary generators.
