  "bearing" is a term used in navigation to refer, depending on the context, to the direction of motion or the direction of a distant object relative to the current course. in aerial navigation, bearing refers to the actual compass direction of the forward course of the aircraft. for example, a bearing of 0 degrees would indicate a craft flying north. in land or sea navigation, bearing refers to the angle between the craft's forward direction, and the location of another object. for example, an object bearing of 0 degrees would be dead ahead; an object bearing 180 degrees would be behind.rutstrum, carl, the wilderness route finder, university of minnesota press (2000), isbn 0-8166-3661-3, p. 194 bearings can be measured in mils or degrees. ==some specific usages== ===us army definition=== the us army defines the bearing from point a to point b as the angle between: either a north, or south, ray, whose origin is point a and ray ab, the ray whose origin is point a and which contains point b. the bearing consists of 2 characters and 1 number: first, the character is either n or s. next is the angle value. third, the character representing the direction of the angle away from the reference ray - thus, either e, or w. the angle value will always be less than 90 degrees. for example, if point b is located exactly southeast of point a, the bearing from point a to point b is s 45Â° e.u.s. army, map reading and land navigation, fm 21-26, headquarters, dept. of the army, washington, d.c. (28 march 1956), ch. 3, pp. 69-70 the us army defines the azimuth between point a and point b as the angle, measured in the clockwise direction, between the north reference ray and ray ab. for example, if the bearing between point a and point b is s 45Â° e, the azimuth between point a and point b is 135Â°. the angle value in a bearing can be specified in the units of degrees, mils, or grad. an azimuth is specified in the same angle units.u.s. army, advanced map and aerial photograph reading, headquarters, war department, washington, d.c. (17 september 1941), pp. 24-25 ==general examples== ===piloting=== a bearing can be taken on another vessel to aid piloting. if the two vessels are traveling toward each other and the relative bearing remains the same over time, there is likelihood of collision and action needs to be taken by one or both vessels to prevent this. ===warfare=== a bearing can be taken to a fixed or moving object in order to target it with gunfire or missiles. this is mainly used by ground troops when using an air-strike on the target. ===search and rescue=== a bearing can be taken to a person or vessel in distress in order to go to their aid or, when that is not possib
Navigation