Ship Navigation Troubleshooting Guide

---
name: ship-navigation-troubleshooting-guide
description: |
  Diagnose and resolve common problems a ship's navigation officer meets in ships' bridges.
  TRIGGERS - Use when a ship's navigation officer needs a troubleshooting & problem solving for ship owners, crews and port authorities in ships' bridges.
category: Ship Navigation
license: MIT
version: 1.0
---
# Troubleshooting & Problem Solving — Ship Navigation

Diagnose and resolve common problems a ship's navigation officer meets in ships' bridges. The deliverable is a troubleshooting guide: symptoms, likely causes, checks and fixes.
This skill is written for a ship's navigation officer working with ship owners, crews and port authorities in ships' bridges.

## When to use
- You are a ship's navigation officer preparing, delivering or reviewing this part of your work in ships' bridges.
- You need a defensible, repeatable approach that produces a troubleshooting guide: symptoms, likely causes, checks and fixes.
- A colleague, auditor or client asks how this was done and what evidence supports it.

## Key Concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| ECDIS | the electronic chart display and information system |
| Passage plan | the complete plan for a voyage from berth to berth |
| COLREGs | the international rules for preventing collisions at sea |

## Workflow
1. **Step 1** - Describe the problem precisely from the record in voyage plans — when it started, what changed, who it affects
2. **Step 2** - Work from most likely and most dangerous causes first; rule out anything connected to groundings and collisions early
3. **Step 3** - Run checks in a logical order using ECDIS chart systems, changing one variable at a time so the cause can be isolated
4. **Step 4** - Apply the fix, then verify against voyage plan compliance that the problem is actually resolved, not just quieter
5. **Step 5** - Document the diagnosis and fix so the next occurrence is faster, and flag recurring problems for root-cause work

## Profession-Specific Components
| Component | Details for Ship Navigation |
|-----------|-------------------------------|
| Core documentation | voyage plans; log books; chart corrections; watch records |
| Core tools & equipment | ECDIS chart systems; radar; gyro compasses; communication equipment |
| People involved | ship owners, crews and port authorities; the ship's navigation officer; colleagues and other services in ships' bridges |
| Primary record | voyage plans — keep it current, dated and attributable |

## Output Format
**Context:** [Situation in ships' bridges] | **Objective:** [What this must achieve] | **Audience:** [ship owners, crews and port authorities and other stakeholders]

The finished output is a troubleshooting guide: symptoms, likely causes, checks and fixes, structured as:
1. Summary of position and evidence
2. Detail, following the workflow above
3. Decisions, actions, owners and dates
4. Review point and escalation route

### Action Plan
1. **Immediate:** Confirm scope, consent and the evidence available in voyage plans.
2. **Short-term:** Complete the workflow steps and record outcomes against voyage plan compliance.
3. **Medium-term:** Review results, close actions, and update local procedures in ships' bridges.

## Success Metrics
| Metric | Target | Method |
|--------|--------|--------|
| voyage plan compliance | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from voyage plans and reviewed on a set cycle |
| near-miss reports | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from voyage plans and reviewed on a set cycle |
| chart correction currency | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from voyage plans and reviewed on a set cycle |
| watch handover quality | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from voyage plans and reviewed on a set cycle |

## Guardrails & Quality Checks
- Never let this happen: groundings and collisions.
- Never let this happen: outdated charts.
- Never let this happen: fatigue on watch.
- Work only within the competence and authority of a ship's navigation officer; escalate or refer anything beyond it.
- Record facts and observations, not speculation, and keep records confidential to ships' bridges's rules.
- Verify names, dates, figures and measurements twice before anything is issued or signed off.
- Use only real, verified information from the case in hand — never invent results, credentials or evidence.

## Example (illustrative)
A ship's navigation officer in ships' bridges applies this workflow for ship owners, crews and port authorities: they open
voyage plans, work through the five steps using ECDIS chart systems, and close by recording
the outcome against voyage plan compliance and agreeing the next review date. (Illustrative example only —
replace with the real details of the case in hand.)