Maritime Master OOW: A Serious Study Companion for the Officer of the Watch
- Reece Smith-ward
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
Studying towards Officer of the Watch asks a lot of you. There are calculations to keep sharp, a wide reference base to hold in your head, regulations to revise, and a record of sea time to build over many months. Maritime Master OOW brings those pieces together in one place, so the maths, the references and your progress all live in a single study companion rather than scattered across notebooks and loose sheets.
It is designed for Officer of the Watch candidates and working deck officers who want a calm, organised way to revise. The app is available on iPhone and iPad through the Apple App Store, and also on Android through Google Play, so you can pick it up on whichever device is closest when a spare half hour appears.
Calculators You Will Reach For
At the core is a broad set of navigation calculators covering speed, course and distance, ETA, dead reckoning, position fixing, and set and drift. Terrestrial navigation tools handle compass error, parallel indexing, object distance, and advance and transfer, and there is a radar plotting assistant and a manoeuvring estimator alongside them. Stability tools work out mean draft, trim and vertical centre of gravity, while meteorological tools cover true wind, barometer correction and Beaufort conversion. A collection of unit converters rounds out the maths so you can practise a method rather than hunt for the right formula.
A Reference Library to Revise From
The reference library is where a lot of the revision happens. It includes the full COLREGs with sound signals and day shapes, IALA buoyage, navigation lights, semaphore and signal flags, plus clear summaries of SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW, the ISM Code and the ISPS Code. There are notes on safe watchkeeping practice, bridge resource management, logbook guidelines and standing orders, together with material on ECDIS functions, AIS data interpretation, AIS codes and MMSI numbers. GMDSS, VHF channels, radio frequencies, emergency procedures and SOPEP are covered too, along with bridge equipment and handover checklists to read through as you study.
A Private Sea Time Log
The app includes a sea time and voyage log that is stored privately in your own iCloud account, so only you can see it. An OOW progress tracker sits alongside it to help you see how your studies are shaping up towards certification, and home screen widgets keep useful details close, including ship data, upcoming voyages, sun times and Zulu time. It is a helpful personal record to keep as you revise, but it is a study aid rather than an official document, and it does not replace your official records or an official logbook.
Practise for the Exam
For active revision there are exam question sets ranging from fifteen to sixty five questions, flash card packs and recognition games to test yourself in shorter bursts. A growing library of downloadable PDF study documents adds further material to work through, including radar plotting sheets, and many of these are free. The idea is to give you plenty of ways to revisit the same knowledge until it feels familiar.
How to Get It
Maritime Master OOW is a one-time purchase, with an optional one-time premium unlock that opens up the full study document library. There is no subscription and nothing renews. You will find it on iPhone and iPad through the Apple App Store, and on Android through Google Play.
A Note on Use
All tools and content are for training, study, and revision only, not for real-world navigation or operational use, and the personal sea time log does not replace official records or an official logbook. Treat the app as support for your study and revision as you work towards Officer of the Watch, and continue to rely on your approved course and official procedures for anything operational.
