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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Navigation & the Bridge

Knot

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/nɑːt/nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, knot means: The unit of speed at sea, equal to one nautical mile per hour, or about 1.85 kilometres per hour.

In Turkish: knot, deniz mili/saat, mil

How it is used

Used for a ship's speed, for current and for wind: 'making 14 knots', 'a current of two knots', 'wind 25 knots'. Speeds reported to VTS and pilots are always given in knots.

Example sentences

  1. We are making twelve knots and expect to reach the pilot station by 1400.

  2. Reduce speed to eight knots when entering the channel.

Common collocations

  • make ten knots
  • speed of 12 knots
  • reduce to eight knots
  • knots over ground
  • nautical mileThe unit of distance used at sea and in the air, defined as exactly 1,852 metres. It is based on one minute of latitude, which makes distances easy to measure on charts.
  • courseThe direction in which a ship is intended to travel or is actually travelling, given as an angle from 000° to 359° measured clockwise from north.
  • headingThe direction in which a ship's bow is pointing at a given moment, shown by the compass as an angle from north.
  • ETAEstimated Time of Arrival: the time when a ship is expected to arrive at a port, a pilot station or another point. ETD is the estimated time of departure.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Navigation & the Bridge

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