The conn, also spelled con, cun, conne, cond, conde, and cund, is the status of being in control of a ship's movements while at sea. The following quote summarizes the use of the term:
"Conn" is also a verb describing the act of controlling a ship.
Within the
U.S. Coast Guard, Shipyard and
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
, the captain of a vessel typically selects a junior officer to perform the role of conning for him or her. Such an individual has the title of "
officer of the deck" (abbreviated ''OOD'') or "the conning officer" while on duty, and he or she will stand watches at four-hour intervals carrying out the captain's commands. However, the captain can immediately take the conn by simply issuing an order to the
helm. On navy ships, neither the ship's
navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...
nor the ship's
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
is usually the conning officer, whereas on merchant ships the conning officer may be the captain, the
deck officer
The deck department is an organisational team on board naval and merchant ships. Seafarers in the deck department work a variety of jobs on a ship or vessel, but primarily they will carry out the navigation of a vessel from the bridge. Howeve ...
, the pilot, or another
warrant officer
Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...
. The officer of the deck may give the conn to a junior officer for training purposes, in which case the officer of the deck and the conning officer may not be the same individual (the officer who has the deck retains responsibility for the ship's safe passage; the conning officer only has responsibility for giving the helm instructions on direction and thrust of the ship's engines).
It is from this term that the concept of a
conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...
, an elevated platform from which a conning officer can view all aspects of a ship's movement, is derived.
Although the origin of the term is not entirely clear, it appears that "conn" is a shortened form of "conduct"; the term is also frequently used as a transitive verb, i.e., to conn (therefore ''conduct'') a ship.
The term may also be related to the knotted "conning line," which was a rope connecting the wheel and the rudder of a ship. Such a line was later replaced by chains and eventually by other mechanical and electronic systems.
References
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Nautical terminology