1 | P a g e Wh a t i s R O T I ( R a t e O f T u r n I n d i c a t o r ) ?

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RATE OF TURN INDICATOR
(R.O.T.I.)

Unlike road vehicles a ship does not turn sharply. With lesser friction in water and under the
influence of momentum a vessel continues on her initial course for some time, beginning to
turn slowly and then rapidly later. Vessel thus traverses a curved track which can be treated as
an arc of a circle.
For small ships such arcs are small and can be executed without much problem. But for large
sized merchant vessels these arcs assume greater radii and need to be treated differently. This
becomes all the more important when vessel is altering courses in restricted waters or in close
proximity to navigational hazards.
For same reasons roundabouts are charted in traffic separation schemes.
Under navigation watch keeping principles, vessel is required to do berth to berth passage
planning. It is also required to lay courses in curved segments as well, where required and to
mark the wheel over positions.
In view of the above, vessels having 50,000 GT and above are mandatorily required to be
fitted with ROTI (Rate Of Turn Indicator) as per Chapter V, SOLAS.
ROTI assists OOW in planning, executing and monitoring vessels progress along curved
segment of charted course.
The purpose of ROTI is to provide rate of turn to port and to starboard side of ship. The
indicator is usually in the form of a circular dial with zero at top. Port turn is indicated on left
of zero and starboard turn on right of zero. Graduations are provided to indicate ROT up to at
least 30 degrees/minute on either side. ROTI can be self-contained, or it may derive
information from other equipment or it may form a part of the other equipment. However, the
design is such as to preclude degradation of other equipment to which ROTI is connected,
irrespective of weather ROTI is in operation or not.

DERIVATION OF FORMULA FOR ROT:
ROT (/t) is expressed in degrees per minute.
Consider following diagram:
AB = Initial course
BC = Final course
DE = Curved segment of charted course;
D is commencement of turn and E is completion of turn.
Length of the curved segment = d
= Amount of alteration in degrees (Angle MBC or Angle DOE)

C
= in radians
R = Radius of the circle of which arc forms the part
t = Time
2 | P a g e Wh a t i s R O T I ( R a t e O f T u r n I n d i c a t o r ) ?
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Now, we know that, by definition, radian is the angle subtended at the center of a circle by an
arc equal in length to the radius of the circle. Thus, we have:

C
= d/R = (V x t)/R



Or, /57.3
o
= (V x t)/R (Note: is in degrees)

Or, /t = (V x 57.3)/R in degrees /hour
Or, /t = (V x 57.3)/60R in degrees /minute

Using approximation and cancelling 60 and 57.3 with each other, we have:

/t = V/R in degrees /minute

Thus, we have ROT (/t) given by:






EXAMPLE: Let us assume that a vessels initial course is 000 (T) and final course is 060 (T).
She is steaming at 15 knots and intends to negotiate a turn about an islet keeping a distance of
1.5 miles. What will be the ROT and how long will she take to complete the turn?

= V
(degrees per minute)

t R

So, ROT = V/R = 15 / 1.5 = 10 degrees.
Thus vessel will turn at the rate 10 degrees per minute, while maintaining a distance of 1.5
miles from the islet.

Now amount of alteration = 60 derees
Thus vessel will take 60/10 = 6 minutes to complete the turn

CONSTANT RADIUS TURN:
In this method radius R is kept constant.
We have seen that rate of turn (ROT) is given by (/t) = V/R
Or, R = V/ (/t)
If radius R is to be kept constant, the expression on the RHS will have to be kept constant. But
as vessel turns, velocity V reduces. Thus ROT (/t) will have to be varied proportionately so as
keep R as constant. Thus in constant radius turn ROT does not remain same and changes as
= V
(degrees per minute)

t R

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vessel negotiates the turn. Constant radius turn is negotiated in the following two ways,
depending on weather the object O is visible or imaginary.
Object O available as visually or radar conspicuous feature:
1. With O as center and R as radius draw an arc. (The value of R will be decided by
OOW/Master and will depend on vessels size, draft, weather conditions, proximity
to other dangers etc,).
2. Draw AB and BC as tangents to the arc, representing initial and final courses
Object O not available as visually or radar conspicuous feature:
1. Draw AB and BC as initial and final courses respectively.
2. Choose suitable value of R depending on size, loading condition of vessel, weather
conditions etc.
3. Calculate BD = BE = R tan /2
4. Draw small arcs, with radius R, from D and E to cut at O.
5. Now O as center and R as radius, draw arc DE. This is the curved segment of the
planned course.

MONITORING THE TRACK ALONG CURVED SEGMENT:
Object O is visually conspicuous:
We know that any radius to the point of contact of a tangent is perpendicular to the
tangent. This means that for vessel to remain on the curved track, the object O must
remain abeam or very nearly abeam. If the object is falling abaft the beam, it means
that vessel is going outside the arc ( or she is turning slowly) and ROT needs to be
increased by giving greater helm.
Conversely, if object is moving ahead of beam, vessel is going inside the
arc (or she is turning too fast) and ROT needs to reduced by easing the helm.

Object O is radar conspicuous:
In this case VRM along with parallel indexing techniques is utilized for keeping the
vessel on the curved segment of the track. Both RM and TM modes are equally
suitable for the procedure.
Object O is imaginary:
In this case vessels position has to be closely monitored at more frequent intervals to
ensure that the vessel stays at the curved segment of the track.
With ECDIS onboard:
ECDIS has brought a revolutionary change in the way we navigate ships. The way
computers have made many old human skills irrelevant; ECDIS is also likely to play
the same role. As per IMO performance standards for route planning and monitoring
on ECDIS, it should be possible to draw both straight and curved segments of planned
courses. Thus, executing and monitoring ships progress along any curved segment is
very easy. The fact that the courses drawn can be seen against the background of chart
on the screen itself makes the procedure a very simple task. ECDIS provides real time
fixing. Hence, OOW knows where the vessel is at any moment rather than where the
was few moments ago.
4 | P a g e Wh a t i s R O T I ( R a t e O f T u r n I n d i c a t o r ) ?
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CONSTANT RATE TURN:
In this method ROT (/t) is kept constant.
We know that rate of turn (ROT) is given by (/t) = V/R
If ROT is required to be kept constant, the expression on the RHS will have to be kept
constant. But as vessel turns, velocity V reduces. Thus radius R will have to be varied
proportionately so as to keep ROT as constant. Thus in constant rate turn radius R does not
remain same and changes as vessel negotiates the turn.
Practically ROT is calculated for a mean value of vessels speed (mean of speed at the start of
curved segment and speed at the end of curved segment). This value corresponds nearly to
vessels position midway on the arc. At other locations on arc value of radius will differ from
R. But these variations are small and within practical and tolerable limits.

WHEEL OVER POINT (WOP):
It is the point on initial course at which wheel is put over to initiate the turning of the vessel.
The distance between the WOP and the ship commencing its turn is denoted by F and depends
on:
Size of vessel
Loaded/ballast condition
Trim
Type of vessel

WHEEL OVER LINE:
It is a line drawn through wheel over point (WOP) parallel to the final course.

TURN BEARING:
It is a bearing decided beforehand of a fixed charted feature from the wheel over point. The
bearing of the object should be as close to the beam as is possible, when vessel is at WOP. The
moment the bearing of the object matches the predetermined bearing, wheel is put over to
execute the desired turn.