Why there is no solar eclipse on every new moon day even though the sun, moon and earth

are in same line?

The above fig explains the inclination of orbital plane of moon around the earth, which is the primary cause of the solar eclipse not to occur on
every new moon day

Conditions for solar eclipse to occur:

1. Moon must be in Inferior Conjunction with the sun ( New moon day )
2. The Sidereal hour angle (SHA) and the Greenwich hour angle (GHA) of both sun and moon should be equal.
3. Declinations of Sun and moon should be equal and of same name.
4. Moon should be at the ecliptic (or) at or near its Nodes.

TANKER OPERATIONS.

1. Does a fully loaded VLCC, on even keel, at full sea speed, squat by the head or by the stern ?

By the head. The fully loaded VLCC, sailing out on even keel, should, as soon as possible, on reaching deep water, trim herself about 1.5 metres by
the stern, to counteract the effect of squat. This will minimize the load on the main engine, minimize fuel consumption and improve steering
capability of the Tanker. This trim must be maintained throughout the voyage by ballasting or deballasting, or by cargo transfer, as a last resort.

2. How are hydrocarbon gases, on a Crude oil Tanker, prevented from going back to the Engine room spaces, if the Inert Gas Deck Seal, the nonreturn flap and the deck isolation valve fail ?

A small goose neck with a valve is fitted on the IG line between the deck seal and the IG blower room. This valve must be kept open only at sea, to
prevent back flow of gases to the engine room, in case all other systems fail.

3. How is vapour contamination prevented on board a product tanker ?

By isolating the common venting line from the respective tanks and fitting portable relief valves to prevent pressure build-up and rupture of tank
tops. Vapour contamination can put cargoes off-specification, with regard to their flash point.

4. A manual valve of any size on any line is opened and left open. There are no indicators to see if it is open. Some time later, an officer comes by to
check if the valve is open or shut. How can you make absolutely sure that it is very easy to check the valve position ?

By turning the valve handle back half a turn every single time, after opening it fully, and leaving in that position. If the valve handle is left in the
fully open position, it may get stuck in that position, sometimes making it difficult to determine if it is fully open or fully shut.

5. When carrying out closed-cycle tank cleaning slop to slop, why does the port slop tank tend to overflow, setting off the high-high level alarm ?

Generally because the gravity, or equalizer line, between the slops is of lesser dimension (to prevent oily water mixture from going across too
easily), reducing the rate of equalizing. Hence there is build up of liquid quantity in the port slop tank, which may result in an overflow if the ullage
is not monitored carefully.

Cheers, will post more questions through this blog in the weeks to follow!
From the Desk of Capt.K.Vivekanand

Captain Kartik: Questions and Answers...

Greetings!
I would like
to
commence
my
contribution
to this
website with
some
questions for
the Oral
Competency
examination
s. I have
observed
that a
question for
which the
answer is
not readily

available
unsettles a
candidate
and
somehow
forces him to
make a
series of
errors often
at a heavy
price.
Here are
some of the
best I have
in my rather
expansive
collection:

Q. Why is CO2 used to inflate life-rafts?

A. This is because, CO2 has the highest expansion factor amongst all known gasses (1 liter of liquid CO2 occupies 0.564 cu. Mtrs. of air space at
STP). Hence the size of the cylinder required for inflating a stated volume of air chambers would be minimal.

Q. What is meant by minimum crude oil washing programme as per MARPOL?

A. It means only 25% of the cargo tanks in which the cargo was carried must be crude oil washed. If a tanker carried cargo in 8 tanks out of her total
12 tanks, only 2 tanks (25% of 8 tanks) can be crude oil washed during the discharge operation.

Q. What is the importance of knowing the co-ordinates of the vertex in a Great Circle track?

A. 1. Information regarding the maximum latitude attained in the track will assist in route planning avoidance of bad weather or ice edges
through planned composite tracks.
2. Knowledge of the co-ordinates of the vertex will allow calculation of co-ordinates of intermediate waypoints when plotting the great circle
track on a Mercator chart.

Cheers, will post more questions through this blog in the weeks to follow!
Captain VS Kartik