CONN

CONN stands for the control or helm station on a ship. To have the CONN is to be in charge. The helmsman traditionally in the Navies of Europe, were often ordered to CONN the ship, meaning to manhandle the wheels. Later the term also was applied to the Pilot, Navigator and or Helmsman. We see it in TOS Star Trek as a station handled by the Helmsman, and later there is a CONN officer, who is in the Operations department of Starfleet, (Flight Operations), on TNG.

The orders in the sailing days were to "Conn the Ship to heading xxx, and make fast the sails." This was later changed in modern navies as technology no longer made the term conning applicable. Some of the terms like "take the conn" or literally "take the wheel" and the Conning tower (on submarines) is an original reference to the "aft castle" or "conning deck." This still remains in use today. The Conning deck later became enclosed as the age of sails came to an end and they were renamed wheel houses, or bridges.

By Daniel Greene Edited by herbalsheila