You have steamed 560 miles at 23 knots and burning 524 barrels of fuel per day. You must decrease your consumption to 260 barrels per day with 316 miles left in your voyage. What must you reduce your speed (kts) to in order to burn this amount of fuel?

Correct Answer: Option B — 21.6

Navigational fuel management requires utilizing the cube law relating speed and consumption from Bowditch. Factoring the initial 23 knots and 524 barrels against the required 260 barrels for the remaining 316 miles calculates a safe steaming speed of 21.6 knots.