Which lights will be visible on a vessel overtaking another vessel?

When a vessel is overtaking another vessel, the overtaking vessel is required to adhere to specific visibility of navigation lights as stipulated in the Rules of the Road. The answer focuses on the fact that, when a vessel is viewing the overtaken vessel from behind, it will only see the stern light of that vessel.

The stern light is the white light placed at the stern (or rear) of the vessel, and it indicates to other vessels that the overtaken vessel is moving away from them. Since the overtaking vessel is approaching from the rear, it will have limited visibility to the other navigation lights of the vessel being overtaken—the only light clearly visible from this position would be the stern light.

In contrast, the other options suggest visibility of additional lights that would not be possible when an overtaking situation occurs directly from behind, where only the stern light is visible while the bow and side lights remain obscured.