Maneuvering board

It is typically a writing surface with a pre-printed compass rose of polar coordinates about a central point, often including adjacent linear scales, and sometimes a time/speed/distance nomogram.

[1] With the aid of a marking device, dividers, and parallel rulers, the maneuvering board provides a template for graphical solution of relative motion problems.

[2] Prior to widespread availability of pocket calculators and computers, maneuvering boards were used aboard ships and aircraft to provide rapid solutions to commonly encountered relative motion problems.

[3] Where observation of fixed points is available, the maneuvering board can be used to estimate wind and/or current and course corrections required to reach a desired destination.

Ships operating together used maneuvering boards to determine course and speed required to change station within formation.

This large, edge-lighted plexiglass combat information center maneuvering board for grease pencils has been used for display of other information. Most maneuvering boards are printed on pads of paper.
Working with a maneuvering board on USS Montpelier (CL-57), during operations in the Solomon Islands, 23 December 1943.