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and accurately, you might prevent the crew's having
to swim the cold waters of the North Atlantic or the
shark-infested waters of the South Pacific. The key
phrase for all lookouts is BE ALERT!!
In good weather, well-trained lookouts can easily
spot planes at 15 miles with the naked eye. With
binoculars, and in unusually clear weather, lookouts
have detected planes at 50 miles. At night, skilled
lookouts can detect objects that the untrained lookout
would never suspect were there.
SURFACE SEARCHING
Surface lookouts scan the water from the ship to
the horizon and are responsible for all contacts in their
sector. In searching the assigned sector, always start
at the forward part of the sector and search aft. (See
figure 5.) To search and scan, hold the binoculars
steady so the horizon is in the top third of the field
of vision. Direct the eyes just below the horizon and
Figure 5.—Surface searching.
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