What is maneuver number 17?

• A. Line
• B. Left and right to center
• C. Propeller reverse
• D. Pairs alternate left and right at the rail

Answer: (C)

Maneuvers in this kind of practice set map numbers to specific actions you perform with the vessel. The seventeenth maneuver is propeller reverse—the action of reversing the propeller thrust to move the stern backward or to slow the forward motion. This is a key tool for precise control in tight spaces, like docking, because it lets you quickly reduce speed and back away while using the rudder to steer.

The other options describe different drills that don’t involve reversing thrust: one sounds like line handling or staying on a line of travel, another is about steering corrections toward the center, and the last is a deck-crew drill with alternating positions at the rail. None of those are about reversing propulsion, which is why propeller reverse fits as the seventeenth maneuver.