The new course distances of a ship are one of the important factors of the safety handling as the indices to indicate directly her abilities of course alteration. Recently, International Maritime Organization (IMO) exhorts that all vessels should use maneuvering booklets in which are drawn the curves of new course distances obtained from the test of measuring them and noted other maneuvering performance standard in various navigation conditions. This paper describes the method to calculate many new course distances for many rudder angles by turning circle test without observation or using other calculating methods. The main results are as follows: 1) The mean difference of the distances between two new course distances by the turning circle test and heading test of the experimental ship was about 7.7% vaules of the ones by the heading test. when her altering angles were 48˚, 63˚and 70˚, using the rudder angle of 35˚ . These new course distances were therefore found to be small in difference of those. 2) The mean difference of the distance between two new course distances by the turning circle test and the maneuvering indices of the experimental ship was about 4.5% values of the ones by the maneuvering indices, when her altering angles were 48˚, 63˚and 70˚, using the rudder angle of 35˚, these new course distances were therefore found to be small in difference of those. 3) The mean difference of the distance between two new course distances by the turning circle test and the observation of the experimental ship was about 6.1% values of the ones by the observation, when her altering angles were 48˚, 63˚and 70˚, using the rudder angle of 35˚. These new course distances were therefore found to be small in difference of those. 4) It is confirmed that many new course distances for many angles can be calculated easily by using the method of ship's simple turning circle test, without observation or using the maneuvering indices and heading test method. 5) It is considered to be helpful for the safety of ship handling to draw curves of new course distances by turning circle test and Φ4 - Φ2 by heading test, and utilize them at sea.

The new course distances of a ship are considered to be the indices to indicate directly her abilities of course altercation. Generally, they have long been calculated by using the maneuvering indices obtained from her Z test. However, at sea actually the maneuvering indices can not sometimes be obtained according to ship's condition or circumstances and the new course distances can not be calculated. To find out other method to calculate the new course distances, in this paper the author analyzed them from a viewpoint of ship motion, and worked out a numerical formula to calculate them easily, using the data of ship's heading test. In order to check whether the presented method is applicable to actual ships or not, the experiment by them were also performed. The results obtained are summarized as follow: 1. The mean difference of the distance between two new course distances by the heading test and the maneuvering indices of the experimental ship was about 0.98% values of the ones by the maneuvering indices, when her heading were 10。, 20。 and 30。, using the rudder angle of 15。. These new course distances were therefore found to be almost same in values of the distance. 2. The mean difference of the distance between two new course distances by the heading test and the observation of experimental ship was about 1.16% values of the ones by the observation, when her headings were 10。, 20。 and 30。, using the rudder angle of 15。. These new course distances were therefore found to be almost same in values of the distance. 3. It is confirmed that the new course distances can be calculated easily by using the method of ship's simple heading test, without the observation or using the maneuvering indices. 4. It is considered to be helpful for the safety of shiphanding to draw curves of new course distances by ship's heading test and utilize them at sea.