Page 168 - NAVAL SCIENCE 3 TEXTBOOK

174 NAVAL SKILLS

The guided missile destroyer USS Stetham being positioned for a Med-type moor. (Nardelito Gervacio)

\Vhen a ship has one anchor down, it is (lIIcllOred. \·Vhen it has holding power as a stockless anchor. This makes the cost of the
two anchors down and swings from a mooring swivel connected anchor and the gear to handle it much lower. Most new destroyers,
to both, it is l1Ioored. (A ship secured to a pier with lines or to a frigates, and cruisers have L\VT anchors that are bower anchors.
buoy with an anchor chain is also moored.) In a type of mooring The two-fluke, balanced-fluke anchor is used for anchoring
cOlllmon in the iVfediterranean (called a lHerll1loor), a ship usu- some new surface ships and the newest submarines. It is housed
ally has the stern tied up to a pier, and an anchor out on each side in the bottom of the ship. It is used on board some surface ships in
of the bow. place of a bower anchor, in order to prevent interference with the
]\·10st navill ships have pntcllt or stockless (lIIcliors because they ship's bow sonar dome.
are easy to stow and handle. They can be raised directly into the
hawsepipe because there is no long stock. Stock less anchors are
Anchor Chains and Related Equipment
also called bower anchors because they are always carried on and
used from the bow. The arms, or flukes, of this kjnd of anchor call Even though it is made up of links, an anchor chain is llsually called
swing to either side to permit the anchor to dig into the h,ubor an anchor cable by custom. Modern naval anchor chain is made of
bottom. The largest stockless anchors weigh 30 tons and ilre lIsed high-strength steel links. The size of chain varies according to the
on aircraft Glrriers. size of the ship and its anchors. All links are studded, that is, a solid
Submarines are equipped with a 1/1115111"00111 ntlcllO/" so they piece is welded in the center of the link to prevent chain kinking.
can anchor even when submerged. The mushroom is also llsed to To give YOll some idea of the weight of a large anchor chain. a
anchor buoys and barges. single link of a large aircriltt carrier chain weighs about 250 pounds!
Lightweight type (LWT) anchors are relatively new, and have i'v{ost ships are equipped with two anchors and two chains.
been used mostly for small craft until recently. The L\VT anchor The lengths of chain that make up the ship's anchor cable are
has a short stock, which makes it eas)' to stow in the hawsepipe. The called shots. A standard shot is 15 fathoms, or 90 feet, long. Shots
L\VT anchor tends to bury itself deep in the bottom whell under are connected by detnchnblc lillks, painted in a red, white, and
strain, and has better holding power than the stockless anchor. blue sequence to let the anchor detail know how much chain has
Also, a L\VT anchor only half the size of a stockless has the same run out.