Global Maritime Distress and Safety System

It may seem a little strange to include a chapter about distress communications in a book dedicated to radio navigation, but the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) is of prime importance to all maritime personnel. The system has been developed to provide mariners with a global communications and locating network, elements of which are capable of being operated by an individual with minimum communications knowledge and yet enable alerting and Search and Rescue (SAR) to be reliably achieved and controlled. A simplified description of the GMDSS and its navigational elements follows. For a full and detailed description of the system, refer to our book Understanding GMDSS .