In Kyiv, not far from the Southern Bridge, a massive round concrete tower rises above the water. Many residents of Kyiv consider it a Stalin-era fortification. However, those over 50 still remember the times when it was not there. It was built already in the 80s of the last century, and in fact it is a so-called deviation tower.
Oleksandr Sokolovskyi, Kyiv businessman, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Light Industry Employers, tells us what is the real purpose of this tower, and why riverboats often approach it, on his Facebook page.
This tower appeared on the Dnipro River in 1983. At first it was built where the Southern Bridge is now. But then, when the construction of the bridge began, it was moved further away. Only the relocation of this construction cost 2 million Soviet rubles. And it was a huge amount of money. Therefore, this construction was very important.
The deviation tower is the object against which ships check their compasses. And in this era of electronics and satellite navigation, the old mechanical compasses have not lost their relevance. After all, electronics can fail, but a compass never fails.
However, a compass can also fail, because over time it accumulates the so-called deviation error. It arises due to the impact of large masses of metal surrounding the compass on the ship. Ships must correct this error annually.
How magnetic deviation is corrected
"Sometimes summer residents on Osokorky and passengers of steamships could see how various vessels were moored to this tower or going in circles around it. This is how the error of ship's compasses, which is called magnetic deviation, is corrected. It arises due to the influence of large masses of metal that surround the compass on the ship," the author says.
In order to correct the accumulated error, a ship must get close to the tower and check the readings of its ship's compass with the coordinates of this object.
"The process of adjusting a ship's compass is the following: using special equipment, a specialist deviator checks the compass readings against the tower coordinates and adjusts it to the correct readings in case of deviation. Then the deviator issues a certificate and puts a "wet seal" on the vessel; without this document, the vessel is not allowed to operate. This profession is quite rare, and there are barely ten deviators in the whole of Ukraine," the publication says.
This is how the error is corrected, and the magnetic compass starts working correctly again.
Earlier we published photos and history of a house with demons in the center of Kyiv.