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Maritime Navigation

Practice every navigation skill tested on the USCG Nav Problems module — from plotting a dead-reckoning track to reducing a celestial sight. These games build the numerical intuition and chart-reading speed that make the difference between a pass and a fail.

🗺️ Chart a Course Dead reckoning, set and drift, danger bearings — plot a track that clears the hazards. 🌊 Tide Tables Rule of Twelfths, tidal range, secondary ports, and under-keel clearance calculations. ⭐ Celestial Fix Sextant corrections, sight reduction tables, meridian passage, and azimuth calculation. 📡 Sat-Nav Fix Three-bearing visual fix, cocked hat, and running fix with a transferred LOP. 🔴 Buoyage IALA Region B lateral and cardinal marks — red right returning — by shape, colour, and light rhythm. 🧭 Compass Swing Magnetic compass adjustment: B/C/quadrantal correctors and the deviation card. ⚓ Anchor Watch Hold the anchorage in a gale — scope, dredging, and dragging detection. 🧊 Ice Navigation IMO Polar Code, POLARIS risk indexing, and lead-reading in pack ice.

Why navigation skills matter on the USCG exam

The USCG Nav Problems module is the largest single section of every deck officer examination, accounting for approximately 25–30% of questions at the Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV) level and more at the Master grade. Questions cover dead reckoning, tidal calculations, celestial navigation, position fixing, and compass error — each of which requires both conceptual understanding and numerical accuracy under time pressure.

These games are built around the exact problem types in the official NMC question bank. Play them in study mode to build understanding, then use the timed format to simulate real exam conditions. Each game's "About" section lists the specific rules, tables, and regulations covered.

Navigation topics covered

  • Dead reckoning: course to steer, set and drift, cross-track error, danger bearings
  • Tidal calculations: Rule of Twelfths, NOAA tide table format, secondary port differences, under-keel clearance
  • Celestial navigation: sextant altitude corrections, sight reduction (Pub. 229), meridian passage latitude, azimuth
  • Visual position fixing: three-bearing fix, cocked hat, running fix, transferred line of position
  • Buoyage: IALA Region B lateral, cardinal, isolated danger, and safe water marks
  • Compass: variation, deviation, compass error, and the deviation card correction procedure

All navigation content is cross-referenced to the USCG National Maritime Center (NMC) examination syllabus and STCW Table A-II/1 operational-level navigation competencies.