by Admiral Amanda Dallin-Vanbeeck With SPD compatible fighting sail ships, Kedging is a way to turn a ship when there is insufficient wind to move the ship or the ship is facing into the wind (in irons). In SL kedging happens almost instantly. The early SPD compatible ships would kedge at any speed. In 2012 guidelines were adopted limiting kedging when the ship is “in irons” or traveling at a slow speed.
What is kedging? The dictionary definition of kedging is: to move (a ship) by means of a line attached to a small anchor dropped at the distance and in the direction desired. Or Laying the kedge anchor out in a boat and warping ahead to it The Manual of Seamanship for Boys and Seamen of the Royal Navy, 1883 The captain of a ship would have a light anchor, called a kedge anchor, loaded on to a ships boat and hauled as far away in the direction he wished the ship to travel as the anchor's line would reach. The boat crew would then lower the anchor where it could hopefully find a firm place to set in the sea bottom. On the ship, the crew would either haul on the line directly or (especially on large ships) use a capstan to haul the line in thus pulling the ships bow toward the kedge anchor. Kedging was not an operation that could be done on the fly or in the midst of a fast-moving battle. It certainly could not be done when the ship was moving at more than a slow speed. And would be impossible in waters deeper than the anchor cable. Do not confuse kedging with a sea anchor. A kedge anchor could be used as a sea anchor to slow a ship, but this is a separate function from kedging. A sea anchor is a way to slow a ship down using anything that can provide drag in the water. They are used to limit drift of a ship in water too deep to use a regular anchor and can be used to steer if the regular steering is broken but not turn at high speeds as some SPD compatible ships do. A good example of kedging in battle is from the USS Constitution during the War of 1812: At that critical juncture, one of Hull's officers, Lieutenant Charles Morris, suggested a technique that he had used in the past to make his way out of windless harbors–kedging, which involved rowing an anchor ahead of the ship, dropping it and then having, the crew haul the ship along by the hawser. Hull sounded the water and, on finding it to be 26 fathoms (156 feet) deep, agreed to give Morris' idea a try. All nonessential ropes were spliced into a line nearly a mile long. One end was tied to a small, sharp-fluked kedging anchor, which was then rowed ahead in the ship's cutter. When the anchor was dropped, Constitution's crew grabbed the hawser and walked aft–slowly and gingerly at first, then gradually increasing the pace as the ship began to move. Each crewman who reached the stern let go of the line and raced forward to pull anew. Meanwhile, more rope was spliced and another anchor attached, so that while Constitution was being kedged along on one anchor, the second could be hauled ahead. Hull lost some distance on the British while improvising his kedging arrangements, but once the laborious process got underway, he found Constitution beginning to leave Shannon behind again. In what for him was a rare fit of overconfidence, Hull ordered his ship's colors hoisted high and a stern chaser fired a cocky farewell salute to his would-be captors. It did not take long, however, before Captain Byron again figured out how the Americans had increased their speed and signaled it to Broke. Soon, British crews were hauling away at their own kedging lines. From USS Constitution: The Legendary Survivor by Jon Guttman originally published in the February 1997 issue of Military History magazine It is not possible or even advisable to make a completely true RL simulation in our fighting sail game. We need some way to turn ships stuck in irons or in low wind situations. The Ships Code of Ethics standardized the technical aspects of how our ships function in order to promote fairness in our battles. This code says that ...(ships) also has to include kedge anchors to move to right and to left; maximum amount is 10 degrees per step on medium and small boats, and a maximum of 7 degrees per step on big ships; on both cases the time between steps has to be at least 3 seconds. Ships should only be able to kedge when traveling slower than 2.0 m/s on small and medium ships and 1.5 m/s on big ships (optional: this limitation can be disabled when the ship is in the irons), and kedges have to be disabled at 1 HP. This implementation of kedging is not a perfect simulation of RL kedging. It is a compromise to prevent some ships having an artificial advantage over others. Scarlet (Red) Team Captains Pabo, Tracy, Kaz, and Zan Azure (Blue) Team Captains Otho, Amanda, Henry, and Persepone Round OneRound TwoAzure (blue) Team
Ship of the Line: Captain Xi with Blithe and Aiko escorts: Captain Zan and Captain Tracy with Mercy Scarlet (Red) Team Ship of the Line: Captain Angelic with Sam, Kira, and Spin escorts: Captain Persephone and Captain Paul Sketches after the beak Round OneRound TwoScarlet (Red) Team Persepone, Rorik, ohTracy, Xi, Ramona, and Kaz Azure (Blue) Team Amanda, Cheeryana, Larl Lane, Henry, and Otho Round OneRound TwoScarlet (Red) Team Persepone, Ramona, Xi, Laqtus, and Pabo Azure (Blue) Team Zan, Chris, Otho, Kaz, and Amanda Round OneRound TwoWe used Frigates this week. The Scarlet Frigate was Captained by Amanda with Randy gunning. The Azure Frigate was Captained by Xi with a gunner. Scarlet (Red) Escorts Tracy, Shorty and Persepone Azue (Blue) Escorts Pin, Angelic, and Zan |
Fighting Sails
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