SHIP STRUCTURE

AND
CONSTRUCTION
For
Marine Engineers

Compiled
By
Azaruddin Momin
(Naval Architecture, MS by Research, IIT Madras)
Ship construction & Stability Academy for Marine Engineers
SHIP STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

For Marine Engineers

Compiled
By
Azaruddin Momin
(Naval Architecture, MS by Research, IIT Madras)
 INDEX

Chapter Chapter Name Page

Number Number

1 Ship Types …………………………….. 1

2 Ship Terms …………………………….. 11

3 Stresses in ship structure …………………………….. 19

4 Materials and sections in ship …………………………….. 28

5 Welding in shipbuilding …………………………….. 33

6 Double bottom tank …………………………….. 40

7 Bulkhead in ship …………………………….. 47

8 Fore end arrangement …………………………….. 55

9 Aft end arrangement …………………………….. 68

10 Mid ship sections of ship …………………………….. 86

11 Load line and tonnages …………………………….. 98

12 Offshore technology …………………………….. 104

13 Shipyard practice …………………………….. 115

14 Ship survey …………………………….. 128

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CHAPTER 1
SHIP TYPES
1. Introduction
2. Types of ship
2.1 Container Ships
2.2 Bulk Carrier
2.3 Tanker Ships
2.4 Passenger Ships
2.5 RO-RO ship
2.6 Offshore Ships
2.7 Special Purpose Ships

1. Introduction
Cargo ships are classified into various types based on purpose, size, type of cargo etc. The
economic factor is of prime importance in designing a merchant ship. Every owner wants
maximum return on their investment, which means a ship’s construction not only depends on the
current economic necessities, but the factor of future adaptability also plays a part. From the
preliminary design of a vessel due for construction, the following information can be obtained:

1. Dimensions
2. Displacement
3. Stability
4. Propulsive characteristics and hull form
5. Preliminary general arrangement
6. Principal structural details
A layout of the various ship types and their subdivisions will be listed, covering a wide range of
all vessels in operation. The type of ship plays an important role in deciding the above-
mentioned parameters.

2. Types of Ships
Ships are mainly classified into the following types:

2.1 Container Ships

2.2 Bulk Carrier
2.3 Tanker Ships
2.4 Passenger Ships
2.5 RO-RO ship

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2.6 Offshore Ships
2.7 Special Purpose Ships

2.1 Container Ships

Container ships carry most of the world’s manufactured goods and products, usually on
scheduled liner services. Container ships transport a combination of two standardized container
sizes known as 20- or 40-feet equivalent units, abbreviated to TEUs and FEUs. The containers
are carried in cellular holds and stacked on the ships hatch covers and upper deck. The contents
of the containers can be non-perishable, or perishable, with the latter often being carried in
refrigerated containers.

Types of Container Ships On Basis of Sizes:

 Panamax
 Suezmax
 Post-Panamax
 Post-Suezmax
 Post-Malaccamax

2.2 Bulk Carrier Ships

Bulk carriers are a type of ship which transports cargoes (generally dry cargo) in bulk quantities.
The cargo transported in such ships is loose cargo, i.e. without any specific packaging and
generally contains items like food grains, ores and coals and even cement.

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 Conventional bulkers
 Geared bulker
 Gearless bulker
 Self-discharging bulker
 Lakers
 BIBO
Some other forms of dry cargo are:

Tramps: A boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade does not have a fixed schedule or published
ports of call.
Cargo Liners: An ocean liner is designed to transport passengers from point A to point B. The
classic example of such a voyage would be a transatlantic crossing from Europe to America.

2.3 Tanker Ships

Tanker ships are specialised vessels for carrying a large amount of liquid cargo. Tankers are
further sub-divided into different types based on the cargo they carry.

The main types of tankers are:

Oil Tankers: Oil tankers mainly carry crude oil and its by-products.
Liquefied Gas Carriers: A gas carrier (or gas tanker) is designed to transport LPG, LNG or
liquefied chemical gases in bulk.
Chemical and Product Carriers: A chemical tanker is a type of tanker ship designed to
transport chemicals and different liquid products in bulk
Other types of tankers: Some other types of tankers are juice tankers, wine tankers, integrated tug
barges etc.

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Based on their size, tankers are further divided into various types such as:

 VLCC
 ULCC
 Panamax
 Aframax
 Suezmax
 Capesize
 Handymax
 Lighters
 Handy

2.4 Roll-on Roll-Off Ships

Ro-Ro is an acronym for Roll-on/roll-off. Roll-on/roll-off ships are vessels that are used to carry
wheeled cargo.
 Pure Car Carrier (PCC) and Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) RoRo Ships
 Container Vessel + Ro-Ro (ConRo) Ship
 General Cargo + Ro-Ro Ship (GenRo) Ships
 RoPax
 Complete RoRo Ships

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2.5. Passenger Ships

Passenger ships, as the name suggests, are mainly used for transiting passengers.

They are mainly classified into:

Ferries – Vessels used for transiting passengers (and vehicles) on short-distance routes are
called ferries.
Cruise Ships – Mainly used for recreational activities, cruise ships are like luxurious floating
hotels with state-of-the-art facilities.
They are further classified as:

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Liners, Cruise Ships, Pilgrimage Ships
Cross Channel Ferries, Coastal Ferries, Harbour Ferries
Arctic and Antarctic Cruises

2.6. Offshore Vessels

Offshore vessels mainly help in oil exploration and construction jobs at sea. Offshore vessels are
of several types.

Some of the main ones are:

 Supply Ship: Vessels that supply to offshore rigs

 Pipe Layers: Vessels engages in laying pipes and cables
 Crane Barges or floating cranes: A crane vessel, crane ship or floating crane is a ship with
a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads
 Semi-submersible Drill Rigs: These are Mobile Offshore Drilling Units to make stable
platforms for drilling oil and gas
 Drill Ships: A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling
of new oil and gas wells or scientific drilling purposes
 Accommodation Barges: Could be a stand-alone floating hotel or can include
accommodation as well as space for Cargo
 Production Platforms: To extract and process oil and natural gas or to temporarily store
product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing
 Floating Storage Unit (FSU) – Floating vessel mainly used for storage of oil and by-
products.

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 Floating Production and Storage Unit (FPSO): A floating production storage and
offloading unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the
production and processing of hydrocarbons and the storage of oil
 Anchor handling vessels – These are used for offshore construction and installation
operations.
 Diving vessels – Are vessels used by divers for diving in the ocean for underwater jobs.
2.7. Fishing Vessels
Ships or boats used for recreational or commercial fishing at sea are called fishing vessels.

Fishing vessels are mainly classified into two types – trawlers and non-trawling vessels.

 Trawlers, Purse Seiners: A fishing trawler, also known as a dragger, is a commercial

fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that
involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers.
A purse seine is a large wall of netting deployed around an entire area or school of fish. The
seine has floats along the top line with a lead line threaded through rings along the bottom.
Once a school of fish is located, a skiff encircles the school with the net.
 Factory Ships: A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going
vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales.

2.8. Specialty Vessels

Specialty vessels are constructed and used for specific purposes.

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Tugs: A tug (tugboat) is a boat or ship that manoeuvres vessels by pushing or towing them.
Tenders – A boat or a larger ship used to service or support other boats or ships, generally to
transport people and/or supplies, is called a tender vessel.
Pilot Crafts – Pilot crafts are used for the transportation of harbour pilots.
Cable Layers – Cable laying vessels help in laying cables onto the sea bed.
Research Vessels – They are special types of vessels used to carry out a variety of research at
sea. Some of the most common types of research vessels are – seismic vessels, hydrographic
vessels, oceanographic vessels, polar vessels etc.
Salvage Vessels – Salvage vessels are vessels engaged in salvage operation; recovery of lost
property at sea.
Lightships: A light vessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. They are used in
waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction.
Barge Carriers: A barge is a flat-bottomed boat built mainly for river and canal transport of
heavy goods.
Timber Carriers: Vessels that carry timber
Livestock Carriers: Vessels that carry livestock/animals
Ice breaker ships: They are used for cutting ice deposits in extremely cold climate conditions to
make waters navigational.

2.9. High-Speed Craft

High-speed crafts are a special type of technologically advanced high-performance (typically
high speed) marine vehicles. Though most of these technologies are not used in commercial
vessels, a few have been successfully implemented and tested in conventional merchant vessels
of small scale.

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Some of the main types of high-speed crafts are:

 Multihulls including wave piercers

 Small waterplane area, twin-hull (SWATH)
 Surface effect ship (SES) and Hovercraft
 Hydrofoil
 Wing in Ground Craft (WIG)
2.10. Dredgers
Dredging is an excavation activity usually carried out underwater, in shallow seas or freshwater
areas, to gather up bottom sediments and widen.

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Dredgers are vessels with excavation tools used for removing sand and other types of deposits
from the seabed. Dredgers are used for several purposes, such as making shallow coastal areas
navigational, deep-sea mining etc.

Dredgers are mainly classified into two types:

 Mechanical dredgers
 Hydraulic dredgers

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CHAPTER 2
SHIP TERMS
1. Port and Starboard Sides 16. Rise of Floor
2. Length Overall 17. Bilge Radius
3. Stem/Bow 18. Tumble Home
4. Forward Perpendicular 19. Stem Rake
5. Aft Perpendicular 20. Keel Rake
6. Length Between Perpendicular 21. Strake
7. Breadth Extreme 22. Bilge Strake
8. Breadth Molded 23. Stealer Plate
9. Depth Extreme 24. Garboard Strake
10. Depth Molded 25. Sheer Strake
11. Draft Extreme 26. Stringer
12. Draft Molded 27. Coffin Plate
13. Freeboard 28. Margin Plate
14. Camber 29. Bulwark
15. Sheer 30. Gunwale

Basic Terms and Definitions In Ship Construction

1. Port and Starboard Sides:
Viewing the ship from the aft, the left side of the ship is called the Port side, and the right, is
called the Starboard side.

2. Length overall:
The distance from the extreme fore part of the ship to a similar point aft and is the greatest
length of the ship. This length is important when docking.

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3. Stem/ Bow:
Front-most part of the boat or ship's bow is termed as stem of the ship.

4. Forward perpendiculars (FP):

The fore perpendicular is the point at which the Summer Load Waterline crosses the stem.

5. After perpendicular (AP):

The after perpendicular is the after side of the rudder post or the center of the rudder stock if
there is no rudder post.

6. Length between perpendiculars:

The distance between these two points is known as the length between perpendiculars, and is
used for ship calculations.

Profile view of ship

Transverse View

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7. Breadth extreme:
The greatest breadth of the ship, measured to the outside of the shell plating.

8. Breadth molded:
The greatest breadth of the ship, measured to the inside of the inside strakes of shell plating.

9. Depth extreme:
The depth of the ship measured from the underside of the keel to the top of the deck beam at
the side of the uppermost continuous deck amidships.

10. Depth molded:

The depth measured from the top of the keel.

11. Draught/Draft extreme:

The distance from the bottom of the keel to the waterline. The load draught is the maximum
draught to which a vessel may be loaded.

12. Draught /Draft molded:

The draught measured from the top of the keel to the waterline.

13. Freeboard:
The distance from the waterline to the top of the deck plating at the side of the deck
amidships. Freeboard represents the safety margin showing to what depths a ship may be
loaded under various service conditions e.g., the type of cargo, the waters to be navigated,
and the season of the year.

14. Camber or round of beam:

The transverse curvature of the deck from the centreline down to the sides. This camber is
used on exposed decks to drive water to the sides of the ship. Other decks are often

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cambered. Most modern ships have decks which are flat transversely over the width of the
hatch or centre tanks and slope down towards the side of the ship.

15. Sheer:
The curvature of the deck in a fore and aft direction, rising from midships to a maximum at
the ends. The sheer forward is usually twice that aft. Sheer on exposed decks makes a ship
more seaworthy by raising the deck at the fore and after ends further from the water and by
reducing the volume of water coming on the deck.

16. Rise of floor:

The bottom shell of a ship is sometimes sloped up from the keel to the bilge to facilitate
drainage. This rise of floor is small, 150 mm being usual.

17. Bilge radius:

The radius of the arc connecting the side of the ship to the bottom at the midship portion of
the ship.

18. Tumble home:

In some ships the midship side shell in the region of the upper deck is curved slightly
towards the centreline, thus reducing the width of the upper deck and decks above. Such a
tumble home improves the appearance of the ship.

19. Stem Rake:

Inclination of the stem line from the vertical.

20. Keel Rake:

Inclination of the keel line from the horizontal. Trawlers and tugs often have keels raked aft
to give greater depth aft where the propeller diameter is proportionately larger in this type of
vessel. Small craft occasionally have forward rake of keel to bring propellers above the line
of keel.

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21. Strake:
On a vessel's hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of plating which runs from the boat's stem
post (at the bows) to the sternpost or transom (at the rear).

22. Bilge strake:

It is a strake at the turn of the bilge called as bilge strake.

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23. Stealer plate:
At the ends of a vessel, particularly at the bow/aft, the width of the strake decreases and it is
often desirable to merge two strakes into one, this being done by a stealer plate.

24. Garboard strake:

It is a strake adjacent to the keel on each side of the ship called Garboard strake.

25. Sheer strake and its importance:

It is the largest continuous strake at the top of the side of the vessel on the main deck. Or
uppermost strakes of side plating which meet the upper deck. It is 10-20% thicker than other
side plating.
Importance: when vessel is bending to forces from tension to compression and sheer strake
is subjected to maximum compressive and tensile stress. Which contributes to the strength of
the hull.

26. Stringer:
The stiffeners used to strengthen the sides surface of the ship are called stringer, without stringer
the hull shape does not form.

27. Coffin plate:

It is used to connect the stern frame to the flat plate keel.

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28. Margin plate:

At bilges, the tank top may be either continued straight out to the shell by means of a tank
margin plate. Which is water tight and sets an angle of about 450 to the tank top and meets
the shell almost at right angle.

29. Bulwark:
It is a solid wall that extends above the weather deck or any other deck to be exposed to
weather and fitted for the safety of the crew. At Least 1 m in height spacing of stays and is
not exceed 1.2 m on the forecastle.

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30. Gunwale:
The upper edge of a ship’ s side where the sheer strake meets the deck plating called.

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CHAPTER 3
STRESSES IN SHIP STRUCTURE
1. What is load?
2. Define shear force and bending Moment
3. Explain sagging and Hogging
4. Explain Racking
5. Explain panting
6. Explain slamming
7. Explain loadicator

1. What is load?

A ship floating in still water has an unevenly distributed weight owing to both cargo
distribution and structural distribution. The buoyancy distribution is also non-uniform
since the underwater sectional area is not constant along the length and the vessel may be
trimmed. Though total weight and total buoyancy are balanced, but at each section there
will be a resultant force or load, either an excess of buoyancy or excess of weight.

Fig.1: Weight and Buoyancy distribution in a ship

2. Define shear force and bending Moment

Shearing Force
That type of force that causes or tends to cause two adjacent parts of the same body to
slide relative to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact.

Bending Moment
A bending moment exists in a structural element when a moment is applied to the
element so that the element bends. Moments and torques are measured as a force
multiplied by a distance so they have as unit Newton-meters (Nm).

When a bending moment exists in a structural element it induces tensile stresses and
compressive stresses in the element.

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The bending moment at a section through a structural element may be defined as "the
sum of the moments about that section of all external forces acting to one side of that
section".

Fig.2: Sign convention for shear force and bending moment

3. Explain sagging and Hogging

When a vessel bends with excess weight at the amidships is said to sagging. When
sagging, the deck would be in compression and bottom shell in the tension.

Fig.3: Sagging and Hogging of ship

When a vessel bends with excess weight at the ends is said to be hogging. When hogging,
it can be seen that, the deck of the ship will be in tension and keel in compression.
Distinguish between hogging and sagging by explaining the loading conditions
which give rise to hogging and sagging stresses.

In still water the vessel is subjected to bending moments, either hogging or sagging
depending on the relative weight and buoyancy forces.

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Hogging condition

Sagging condition

Fig.4: Sagging and Hogging due to uneven distribution of cargo loading

When in seaway the waves with their troughs and crests produce a greater variation in the
Hogging and Sagging conditions. If the trough is amidships the buoyancy forces will tend
to 'sag' the ship. If the crest of a wave is amidships the buoyancy forces will tend to 'hog'
the vessel.
In a seaway, therefore, overall effect is an increase of bending moment from that in still
water when the greater buoyancy variation is taken into account.

Fig.5: Sagging and Hogging due to waves

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Fig.6: A Tanker suffered apparent hogging and split amidships leaving the rare sight of the deck,
rose to the level of the bridge while stern and bow remained barely above water.

4. Explain Racking
Transverse loads tend to change the shape of vessel's cross section and thereby introduce
transverse stresses.

Fig.7: Racking stresses arises in corners

When a ship is rolling, the deck tends to move laterally relative to the bottom structure
and the shell on one side to move vertically relative to other. This type of deformation is
called racking. It is the dynamic effect of rolling. Racking stress is also results from
transverse impact of seas. The angle between a beam and side frame tends to open on one
side and close on the other side at the top and reverse its action at the bottom.
Racking stresses due to rolling reaches maximum in a beam sea each time the vessel
completes an oscillation in one direction and is about to return.

What arrangements are made to counter racking stresses?

The stress comes mainly on the corners of the ship that is on the tank side brackets and
beam knees, which must be made strong to resist it and provide enough resistance to this
stress. With the usual spacing of bulkheads and side frames the effect of racking is
negligible.

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Fig.8: Stiffening members used to reduce racking stress

5. Explain panting

Panting is an in and out, bellow like, motion of the plating in the bows of a ship and is
caused by fluctuating water pressure as the bow passes through successive waves. The
figure below illustrates how it is caused. It is greatest in fine bowed ships.

Fig.9: Fluctuation of fore side shell due to effect of waves

List which part of the ship is affected by these and what measures are in place to
counter panting.

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Panting affects side shell plating of the fore peak region. Additional stiffening is provided
in the fore peak structure, the transverse side framing being supported by any, or a
combination of the following arrangements:
Side stringers spaced vertically about 2m apart and supported by struts or beams fitted at
alternate frames. These 'panting beams' are connected to the frames by brackets and if
long may be supported at the ships centre line by a partial wash bulkhead. Intermediate
frames are bracketed to the stringer.

Fig.10: Stiffening members used to reduce panting

Side stringers spaced vertically about 2m apart and supported by web frames. Perforated
flats spaced not more than 2.5m apart. The area of perforations being not less than 10 per
cent of the total area of the flat.

6. Explain Pounding or slamming

When a ship is pitching, her bows often lift clear of the water then come down heavily, as
shown in figure. This is 'pounding'. Severe pounding with the bow falling in water
violently is also known as slamming.
It occurs most in full-bowed ships. It may cause damage to the bottom plating and girder
work between the collision bulkhead and a point about one-quarter of the ship's length
from the stem.

Fig.11: Slamming

These pounding stresses, as they are known; are likely to be most severe in a lightly
ballasted condition. Additional stiffening is required in this region.

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List which part of the ship is affected by this stress and what measures are put in
place to counter such stresses?

Pounding stresses are to be expected in the ship's bottom between points 5% of the ship's
length abaft the stem and 25% of the length abaft the stem; or 30% in some cases.

Fig.12: Effect of slamming at bottom fore part of ship

In transversely-framed bottoms, plate floors are fitted at every frame space and are
connected to the outer bottom plating by continuous welds. Extra inter-costal side girders
are to be fitted, so that the distance between side girders does not exceed 2.2 meters.
Further inter-costal side girders, of half the depth of the main ones. are to be fitted
midway between the latter.

Transversely framed double bottom

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In longitudinally-framed bottoms, plate floors are fitted at alternate frames. longitudinal
may have to be stronger than normal, and side girders must be not more than 2.1 meters
apart.

Longitudinally framed double bottom

Fig.13: Stiffening arrangement to reduce slamming stresses

7. Explain loadicator
A loading instrument is an instrument which is either analog or digital and by means of
which it can be easily and quickly ascertained that, at specified read-out points, the still
water. Bending moments, shear forces, in any load or ballast condition, do not exceed the
specified permissible values.
The loading instrument may also be used to perform stability checks if it
incorporates stability software. If stability software is installed on board vessels
contracted on or after 1 July 2005, it should cover all stability requirements applicable to
the vessel and is to be approved by classification society.

Describe the input and output data from such stress calculation machines.
A. Stored Data of ship's particulars in Loadicator
B. User Input of load condition of ship
C. Output from software regarding strength and stability of the ship.

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A. Stored Data
The software requires various stability and stress related data, which normally appears in
ship's trim and stability particulars and other stress related charts, to be pre-programmed.
Therefore the software is customized to particular ship.
The stored data include the following:
 Hydrostatic data
 Stability data
 Compartment data
 Strength calculation data

Hydrostatic data:
Displacement, LCB, LCF, VCB, KMt and MCT versus draught.

Stress calculating data:

Sheer force (SF) and Bending Moments (BM) at regular interval along the ship's length
for calm harbor and dynamic sea conditions. It also displays the maximum allowable
limits for SF and BM for various loading conditions.

B. User Input
The ship's officer feeds in to the software, compartment-wise location, type and amount
of cargo, ballast, fuel, fresh water, stores and other weights on board, stowage factor of
cargo, density of ballast water etc to find if stability and strength of the ship is within safe
limits.

C. Output
Based on the stored data and the user input the software calculates and display the
following results in numerical values and graphical forms such as curves:
 Hydrostatic data
 Stability data
 Compartment data
 Strength data

Strength data:
Shear force and bending moment curves tells the ship's officer that the stresses are within
the allowable limits and ship will be able to withstand hogging and sagging, Shear force
and Bending moments, and other stresses at sea.

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CHAPTER 4
MATERIALS AND SECTIONS USED IN SHIPBUILDING
1. Material Used in ship Building
2. Sections used in ship building

1. Material Used in ship Building

Steel:
This is a highly versatile ship construction material and is used extensively on ships for the
making of its integral structure and parts. One major drawback of employing steel in ship
constructions is the weight of steel. For the construction of the hull of a ship, mild steel
containing 0.15% to 0.23 % carbon, and reasonably high manganese content is used. Sulphur and
phosphorus contents in the mild steel are kept to a minimum (less than 0.05%) as higher contents
of each hamper the welding properties of the steel.

Furthermore, cracks and such can develop easily during the rolling process if the Sulphur content
is high. High Tensile Steels which have higher strength than that of mild steel are employed in
the more stressed regions of large tankers, container ships and bulk carriers. They are often used
for the deck and bottom regions of larger tankers as well. As this leads to a reduction in the
scantlings of these structural items, it proves advantageous both for the shipbuilder and owner.

Aluminium Alloys:
There are three main advantages which Aluminium alloys have over mild steel in the
construction of ships.

 Aluminium is lighter than mild steel and studies suggest that up to 60 percent of the weight
of a steel structure can be saved by using Al alloys. For merchant vessels, this is a key
advantage for increasing the cargo carrying capacity of ships.
 Aluminium is highly resistant to corrosion.
 Its non-magnetic properties and low-cost maintenance.
The most often used Al-alloys used in shipbuilding are the 5083 type for plates and 6082 for
extrusions. These alloys are reliable in marine service as well as during manufacture. It has
estimated that the selection of Al-Mg (Aluminium-Magnesium) type alloys brings a potential for
at least 10% lower costs in respect of the heat-treatable, and appears favorable after a total
estimation for applicability in shipbuilding.
Excellent corrosion properties of aluminium can be used easily, but correct maintenance
procedures and careful insulation from the adjoining steel structures are necessary when using
this material. A major disadvantage of the use of aluminium alloys is their high initial cost (They
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are estimated to cost 8 to 10 times the price of steel per tonnage). This high initial cost must be
absorbed by an increase in the earning capacity of the vessel or a major increase in
passenger accommodation on the same draft. Aluminium alloys can replace carbon steels of
normal strength. The weight saved by using Al alloys improves the ship stability – and allows
the design of narrower ships, which in turn enhances fuel efficiency.

Materials Used on Different Parts of a Ship

The Shell Plating:

This forms the watertight skin of the ship contributes to the longitudinal strength of the structure
and resists vertical shear forces. The bottom and side shell plating consist of several flat and
curved steel plates are butt welded together. They are of greater length than breadth.

Insulation:
A steel hull structure is an excellent conductor of heat. Some form of insulation must be
provided at the boundaries where there is a requirement to maintain desired temperatures, such
as the refrigeration compartments.
Cork, glass fibre, and different kinds of foam plastics in sheet or granulated form may be used
for insulating purposes. Air spaces, which are less efficient, may be provided. Glass fibre is
widely used in modern ships as it has several advantages over the other materials. It is light in
weight, tends to be vermin-proof, does not absorb moisture and is fire-resistant.

Superstructures:
The introduction of aluminium alloy superstructures has provided increased passenger
accommodation on the same draft, and/or a lowering of the lightweight centre of gravity with
improved stability. These are hence used on passenger ships and cruise ships. It is possible to
accept more significant deformation in these superstructures than would be possible with steel.
This is brought about by the lighter weight of the aluminium structure.

Watertight Doors:
In some instances, it is necessary to provide access between compartments on either side of
a watertight bulkhead. Hence watertight doors are fitted for this purpose. For example, in a cargo
ship, direct means of access is required between the engine room and the shaft tunnel. In
passenger ships, watertight doors are found where passengers are allowed to pass between one
point of the accommodation and another. Mild steel or cast steel watertight doors are fitted below
the water line, which prevents flooding of the compartments when shut while providing adequate
strength in the case of emergencies.

The Stern Frame:

This structure supports the rudder and the propeller. The stern itself may be cast, forged, or
fabricated from steel plate and sections. Modern rudders are also fabricated from steel plates,

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with plate sides that are stiffened by internal webs. To prevent corrosion, the internal surfaces are
suitably coated, and the rudder may be filled with inert plastic foam.

Rudder Pintles:
The rudder pintle is a bolt or pin which is inserted into a gudgeon to attach the rudder to the ship.
Older ships may have a brass liner or bronze liner shrunk on the pintles which turn in hardwood
(Lignum Vitae) bearings, fitted in the gudgeons. In these days, the industry practice is to use
synthetic materials like Tufnol for the bearings, and in some cases stainless steels for the liners.
In either, the water which immerses the bearing is used to lubricate it.

Rudder Stock:
The stock may be of cast or forged steel, with its diameter as determined by the torque and any
bending moment it is to withstand.

Propellers:
As they have to withstand the corrosive effects of saltwater, ship propellers are constructed from
copper alloys such as brass. These are designed to minimize cavitation, which happens when a
propeller working under heavy load creates a region of low pressure. Bubbles of water vapour
form suddenly and then burst next to the propeller blades, blasting little pits into the surface and
wearing it away.

The fitting of zinc plates in the way of bronze propellers and other immersed fittings being used
as sacrificial anodes is common practice in shipbuilding. These anodes are metals or alloys
attached to the hull, which have more anodic potential than steel when immersed in sea water.
Hence these anodes supply cathodic protection current and get consumed in doing so. Regular
maintenance and replacement are hence required in such systems for protection.
Modern anodes are based on alloys of zinc, aluminium, or magnesium which have undergone
many tests to examine their suitability; high purity zinc anodes are also used. Sacrificial
anodes are fitted with the hull and also often in ballast tanks as well.

2. Sections used in ship

Strength of any primary plates can be increased by increasing its thickness uniformly along its
length and breadth. As strength increases weight of plate is also increase and hence this option is
not recommended in ship construction as it increases light weight of ship. To overcome this
problem verity of plating’s / stiffeners are welded to primary plates along length and width (See
fig below) Which will increase the strength of primary plating by increasing minimum amount of
weight.

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Stiffeners are secondary plates or sections which are attached to primary plating to stiffen them
against bending to loads. Following stiffeners with different cross-sections are used in ship
construction.

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CHAPTER 5
WELDING IN SHIPBUIDLING
1. Common Welding Methods used in shipbuilding industry
2. Weld Defects in Shipbuilding Industry
3. Non-destructive testing methods of welding

1. Common Welding Methods Used in Shipbuilding Industry

The three main welding techniques that are used in a shipyard are as follows:
 Arc Welding
 Gas Welding

Arc Welding:
The fundamental principle of arc welding is to connect a metal electrode to an electrical power
supply, forming a closed circuit if the plate is touched with the electrode. When the electrode is
raised from the plate by a few millimetres, the electric current jumps the gap and an electrical arc
is created at high temperature. This results in melting the parent metal and the metal in the
electrode, allowing both the metals to fuse.

Fig.1: Arc Welding

Arc shielding is an important aspect of all arc welding processes. In order to prevent oxidation
the fused metal, the arc is shielded from the ambient air, and contact with oxygen and water
vapour are cut off. The two mostly used shielding techniques used by shipyards are as follows:
 Slag Shielded Arc Welding
 Inert Gas Shielded Arc Welding

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Slag Shielded Arc Welding:
Slag is the residue left over after the parent metals and the electrode metal has fused. It forms a
layer over the arc and the welded joint, protecting it from oxidation. The presence of slag
stabilises the arc, providing a better weld quality. There are three main Slag Shielded Arc
Welding processes used in shipyards:

Shielded Metal Arc Welding:

The filler metal of most electrodes used in the shipbuilding industry is mild steel. Mild steel
drawn in form of rods are coated with a mixture of mineral oxides, fluorides, silicates,
hydrocarbons, and a liquefied binder which binds them together to form a solid envelope around
the fuller metal. This coating forms the slag, stabilises the arc and prevents oxidation of the joint.
Shielded metal arc welding is used in the fabrication of panels, grillages, tank units, etc. They are
used in manual arc welding processes, and can help achieve welding at different positions,
namely:
 Down hand welding.
 Overhead welding.
 Vertical welding.

Submerged Arc Welding:

In this welding process, the arc is sparked and maintained under a blanket of granulated flux
which is laid on the weld joint before the arc strikes the joint. A hopper containing granulated
flux runs along the length of the weld joint. It deposits a blanket of flux on the joint. The hopper
is followed by a trolley which holds the filler metal electrode. The electrode is continuously fed
by rollers driven by a drive motor, and the feed rate of the electrode is set to such a value so that
the electrode tip is always submerged within the flux. The arc is hence generated within the layer
of flux, allowing complete insulation from the environment.
The speed of movement of the trolley, the feed rate of electrode and amount of flux on the joint
are very important parameters that are pre-decided depending on the thickness of the plates, the
material of the parent metal, and quality of weld joint to be achieved.Submerged arc welding is
the most commonly used downhand welding method in the shipbuilding industry, owing to its
arc stability and quality of joint. Since most of the joints are welded on one side, a backing strip
made of ceramic material is placed under the joint, to prevent the flow of weld bead from the
other side.

Stud Welding:
This welding process is used when a stud or bolt is to be welded to a parent metal. The stud is
fixed at the muzzle of the stud welding gun. When the gun is fired, the stud is struck onto the
metal. The high velocity of the stud along with the completed electric circuit generates the arc
which fuses both the metals. Once the stud is driven into the metal, the electrical supply is
automatically cut off. Granular flux is contained at the end of each stud to provide insulation

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from air. This process is used for fastening insulation panels to bulkheads, wooden flooring onto
deck plates.

Inert gas Shielded Arc Welding Processes:

Gas shielded arc welding processes use a blanket of a gas, instead of flux, to provide insulation
to the arc against the ambient environment. They are used extensively in shipyards to welding
the comparatively lighter structures.

Gas Welding
Tungsten Inert Gas Welding (TIG):
In this welding process, the arc is created between a non-consumable tungsten electrode and the
parent metal plates. The tungsten electrode is surrounded by a nozzle that maintains a continuous
flow of an inert gas around the arc. This inert gas shields the arc from oxygen, hence stabilising
it, and preventing oxidation of the weld pool. A filler rod is introduced into the arc, which helps
in the fusion of the two metals. The inert gas used in this process is usually Argon. TIG welding
is preferred for plates of thickness usually less than 6 to 8 mm.

Metal Inert Gas Welding (MIG):

Metal inert gas welding is, in a way, an advancement on tungsten inert gas welding, where the
electrode is a consumable metal wire.

Fig.2: Metal Inert Gas Welding.

The welding torch consists of an electrical contact tube which connects the electrode wire to the
power supply. The electrode wire is continuously fed into the nozzle by a pair of driver rollers. It
passes through the electrical contact tube. The flow of an inert gas is maintained into the welding
torch through a separate line leading into the torch. It creates a blanket of inert gas around the
stabilized arc.
Carbon dioxide is the most widely used inert gas for this purpose. MIG welding has been widely
used in welding of aluminium deckhouses and spherical membrane tanks in liquefied gas
carriers.
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2. Weld Defects in Shipbuilding Industry

Every weld joint is inspected by a team of trained inspectors for weld defects. Welding defects
may arise due to lack of skill in welders, use of incorrect materials, or improper welding methods
and ambient conditions.

The most common weld defects are as follows:

Over Lap
This is overflow of weld metal over the base metal without fusion. Failure of the joint is certain
when the overlap is located at the toe of the weld.
This is one of the serious welding defects on ships and should be avoided. It may be caused by:

 Low welding current

 Fast travel
 Improper electrode manipulation

Under Cut
This is a cutting away of the base metal surfaces at the edge of the weld. It decreases
the thickness of the metal at that point. Any material reduction in the metal thickness also
reduces the metal strength, thus causing joint failure since the designed load of the joint is based
on the original metal thickness.
The possibilities of failure at this point are increased when under cutting occurs at the toe of the
weld; a point there is high stress concentration. This defect is caused by:

 Improper arc manipulation

 Slow travel
 Excessive welding current

Porosity
It is the presence of pockets containing gas, in the welds. Excessive porosity in metal arc welds
has a serious effect on the mechanical properties of the joint.

Avoiding best prevents porosity:

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 Overheating and under heating of the weld metal,
 Too high a current
 Too long in arc.

Slag Inclusion
Slag inclusions are elongated or globular pocket of metal oxides and other solid compounds. It
may be caused by concentration of the weld metal by foreign bodies. In multi-layer welding
process, failures to remove the slag between the layer cause slag inclusion. Preparing the groove
and weld properly before each beat is deposited can prevent most slag inclusion, making sure
that all slag has been removed and cleaned from the surface of the previous bead.

Lack of Penetration
This is the failure of the filler in base metal to fuse together at the root of the joint. Lack
of penetration will cause weld failure if the weld is subjected to tension or bending stresses.

This may be due to:

 Incorrect joint design,
 Fast travel
 Electrodes too large
 Current setting too low.

Lack of Fusion
Lack of fusion is the failure of a welding process to fuse together layers of weld metal or weld
metal and base metal.
This is generally referred to as overlap. Lack of fusion is caused by failure to raise
the temperature of the base metal or the previously deposited weld metal to the melting point.

Reason for this failure include:

 Too small electrode
 Too fast travel
 Too close and arc gap
 Too low welding current.

Distortion
It is caused by uneven heating and cooling, which involve the expansion and contraction of the
base metal. The heat can be controlled by back-step welding sequences, by clamping the
parts into their original position in a special fixture, and by single beat welding, which means
that instead of making two or three passes with small diameter electrodes, one parts is made with
a large electrode. Distortion can be eliminated by increasing the welding speed and by closing
the distance between the parts to be welded.

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Center Line Cracking
It is caused by the inability of base metal to move when the weld solidify and contracts, by using
incorrect electrodes, by using in balance of base metal masses or in too high carbon content in
the base metal.

This can be eliminated by

 Design the joint correctly,
 Preheating the parts to be welded prior to welding,
 Maintaining the preheat temperature in the base metal during process,
 Allowing the base metal to move freely as the welding process takes places
 Stress relieving the welded parts as soon as the operation completed.

3. Non-destructive testing methods of welding

The most commonly used non-destructive methods of weld quality inspection are discussed
below.

Visual Inspection:
Visual inspection is carried out by a trained inspector, in which any surface defect is detected by
the aid of a naked eye. Surface slag deposition, the incorrect shape of weld beads, incorrect
alignment of plates and excessive reinforcement on the surface can be detected by visual
inspection. However, all the undersurface defects require other methods of inspection that are
discussed further.

Dye Penetrant Inspection (DPI):

Surface cracks are most commonly detected by the dye penetrant method. First, the weld joint is
cleaned so as to remove any slag or unwanted material on the surface of the welded joint. A layer
of developer is sprayed over the weld joint. This is white in colour and aids the eye in the further
steps. The dye is then sprayed over the weld joint. The colour of this dye is usually bright red
because it is most noticeable to the human eye. After a sufficient waiting time, the weld joint
surface is cleaned. The cleaning removes all the dye from the surface, however, the layer of
developer remains. In the case of presence of any surface crack, the dye seeps in, hence after
cleaning of the surface, the crack clearly appears red. It is in order to notice this with clarity that
the developer is applied. The presence of any red lines indicate surface cracks, and corrective
measures are hence taken.

Magnetic Particle Testing:

Smaller cracks are not noticeable in DPI tests. However, magnetic particle inspection reveals
them clearly, due to the change in magnetic field at the cracks. In this test, the magnetic powder
is spread on the weld joint to be tested. The alteration in magnetic field at a crack on a ferrous

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material, the magnetic particles accumulate along the length of the cracks, forming clusters at
their vicinity. This provides a clear indication of surface cracks. The image below shows two
regions of clusters of small cracks on a pipe.

Radiographic Testing:
The method of radiographic testing is based on a fundamental principle of subjecting the test
piece to a beam of radiation from one side, and capturing or recording the emitted radiation on a
photographic plate on the other side of the test piece. This is where radiographic testing comes of
great use in detection of subsurface weld defects. Any obstacle within the weld joint would
change the radiation density in that area, which would be reflected on a photographic plate.
Hence radiography is basically used to test the consistency of the weld metal. The following
figure shows the detection of a surface and subsurface discontinuity on a photographic film
reduced, the presence of a third spike due to a weld defect would also cause a reduction in the
amplitude of the second wave.

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CHAPTER 6
DOUBLE BOTTOM TANK CONSTRUCTION
1 Introduction
2 Transverse framing
3 Longitudinal Framing
4 Single bottom
5 Double bottom
6 Single bottom, transverse framed
7 Double bottom, transverse framed
8 Double bottom, longitudinal framed
9 Importance of Ship’s Keel and Types of Keel

1. Introduction
One of the most integral parts of the ship is its bottom structure. It is designed not only to give
the hull the required strength to withstand the weight of the cargo but also to withstand the
external hydrostatic loads that act on the bottom of the hull.
A ship’s hull is basically made up of bent plates welded together. If these plates are not stiffened,
the bending moments on the plates due to the loads may exceed the value of stress that can be
withstood by the material, and hence cause failure. So, the plates are stiffened (or their section
modulus is increased) by adding stiffeners to them.

Now, there are two basic ways to stiffen a ship

 Transverse Stiffening
 Longitudinal Stiffening

2. Transverse Stiffening or Transverse Framing

This is carried out in ships less than 120 meters in length. In transverse stiffening, the stiffeners
run along with the breadth of the ship. We would be discussing this with interesting details a
little later.

3. Longitudinal Stiffening or Longitudinal Framing

This type of framing employs stiffeners that run longitudinally, that is along the length of the
ship, and is used in all seagoing ships having a length more than 120 meters.
Now that we have an idea of the two types of framing, we need to acquaint ourselves with
another categorization of bottom structure framing in ships.

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4. Single Bottom
Usually, all smaller ships are single bottomed, as they do not need a double bottom to withstand
the load of the cargo. In these ships, the plate floors (see the figure to understand the context of
‘Floors’ in shipbuilding) themselves act as the stiffening members of the bottom shell plating.
Plate floors (as shown in the figures) constitute transversely running plates at every frame
spacing.

Fig.1: Single Bottom (transversely framed)

When the hydrostatic pressure under the bottom shell exerts a bending moment in the bottom
shell, the plate floor takes up the bending stress. So, designers treat all such members taking up
bending stresses as beams. Empirically, the bending moment in a beam increases with the
increasing span. So, what if we could reduce the span of the plate floor to further increase its
stress capacity?
This is why intercostal girders are used (see the image). The number of intercostal girders would
however increase with an increasing beam of the ship since that would also result in increased
length of a plate floor.
A uniform wood ceiling is provided on top of all the plate floors, to provide stowage of cargo.
But that doesn’t make it a double bottom structure as the wood would not take up any stresses
exerted onto the bottom structure.

5. Double Bottom
All seagoing ships are double-bottomed. In such a structural arrangement, a tank top is provided
above the plate and bracket floors. Bracket floors are a little different from plate floors, in as
much as they are not comprised of one single plate running athwartship, but only brackets at the
port and starboard end, with struts that support the tank top with the bottom shell.

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Bracket floors are mostly placed at each frame, and plate floors are generally placed at every
three to four frame space. The space within the double bottom (that is, between the tank top, and
outer bottom shell) is used up for carrying ballast, fuel oil, dirty oi , freshwater, and other
consumables.

Fig.2.: Cross section view of Oil tanker

One of the most important factors in designing a double bottom of a ship is deciding the height
of the double bottom. How does a designer decide what height would be most feasible for a ship
of a particular length?
This is governed by the height of the keel that is required by the ship. So while estimating the
scantlings of a ship, the designer first calculates (using the rules specified by the authorised
Classification Society) the height of the centre girder, which must always be housed within the
double bottom. Hence, this factor now decides the double bottom height.
Double bottom heights often increase in the ways of engine rooms, as they need to take up higher
stresses due to heavy machinery in those regions. In the engine room region, all the frames are
provided with plate floors, and no bracket floors are used. However, there is another factor a
designer must take care of while providing an increased double bottom height in high-stress
regions. The height must not be increased abruptly, therefore resulting in a discontinuity, which
would lead to concentration of stresses, and eventually a structural failure. So the increase in
height should be gradually tapered up and down. The taper should start a few frames forward of
the engine room bulkhead, and continue up to three or four frames aft of the engine room to
allow proper stress flow or structural continuity. The intricacy in the design of a bottom structure
begins after one has understood the above concepts. We have seen two separate categorizations
of double bottoms. The first dealt with the type of stiffening used, and the second dealt with
single and double bottoms. When a ship’s bottom structure is designed, both the categories are

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mixed together to obtain the final structure. Most budding naval architects initially find this part
confusing, which is why let us first list down the four types of possible bottom structures:
 Transversely Framed, Single Bottom
 Transversely Framed, Double Bottom
 Longitudinally Framed, Single Bottom
 Longitudinally Framed, Double Bottom
Out of these four types, three are used, and one is not. While it is easy for experienced designers
to point out that one type, it may not be easy for everyone. Because there is an underlying
concept to it, which we shall understand now.
Why is longitudinal framing used when we could easily have provided transverse framing in
longer ships too? The answer lies in the fact that ships longer than 120 meters are subjected to
high global longitudinal bending stresses like hogging and sagging in different load conditions,
unlike smaller ships.
So if longer ships would be stiffened transversely, the transverse stiffeners would have no role in
taking up the longitudinal bending stresses of the hull girder, and therefore lead to more chances
of failure. Hence, stiffeners are aligned longitudinally in longer ships.
It should be very clear now, that since longer ships have longitudinal stiffening, and since they
are also designed to carry a higher amount of cargo, a double bottom is necessary. Hence,
longitudinally framed single bottom structures (3rd in the above list) do not exist. Since we are
now done with the basics of a bottom structure, it would be easy to visualise each type
henceforth.

6. Transversely Framed - Single Bottom

 The plate floors act as transverse stiffeners, and their spans are reduced by the use of
intercostal side girders that run longitudinally.
 Most single bottom ships are provided with a bar keel that extends along the length of the
ship up to a certain waterline at the stem. The bar is slightly protruded outside the outer
bottom shell.
 The outer bottom shell plating just adjacent to the bar keel is called Garboard strake, and
its thickness is more than the thickness of the remaining bottom shell.
 All the plate floors are flanged at their tops, so as to increase their bending strength.
 Manholes are provided on the plate floors for crew access. These holes are flange too, so
as to reduce stress concentration.

7. Transversely Framed - Double Bottom

 This is used in ships of length less than 120 meters. (See how the length factor dominates
over the type of framing used)
 The bracket floors form the transverse stiffeners at every frame, and plate floors are used
at every 3 to 4 frame space, or 1.8 meters intervals.

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 Similar to the single bottom, to reduce the span of the plates, intercostal side girders of
keelsons are used that run longitudinally. An important thing to note is that the side
girders are continuous members, that is, where there is an intersection between a plate
floor and a side girder, the plate floor is cut and welded on both the sides of the girder
and not the other way round. Why? Remember, we needed to reduce the span of the plate
floors, hence the girders will act as supporting members to the plate floors.
 Flat plate keels are used in these structures. The keel plating thickness is a very important
decision-maker in the strength of the ship. This is to be calculated from the formula
dedicated to this purpose, provided by the relevant classification society.
 Intercostal girders or side girders, and plate floors will have lightning holes at regular
intervals to reduce the structural weight and will have manholes (flanged) to provide
access.
 Drain holes will be provided on the plate floors to help drainage of liquids. Plate floors
are further stiffened by flat bar stiffeners (see image below), and bracket floors, by angle
struts to prevent warping.

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Fig.3: Transversely Framed - Double Bottom

8. Longitudinally Framed- Double Bottom

 The prime stiffening members are longitudinally running bulb sections or angle sections.
The stiffeners on the bottom plating are called outer bottom longitudinals, and those that
stiffen the tank top plating are called tank top longitudinals.
 The span of each longitudinal is equal to three of four frame spaces. That is, at each three
or four frames, there would be a plate floor to support the longitudinal. A bracker floor is
placed at almost every frame, but it does not support the longitudinals.
 Intercostal girders are used, as usual, to reduce the span of the plate floors.
 If you notice carefully, the longitudinals run across plate floors through holes called
scallops. So in a frame, where it is required to support the span of a longitudinal using a
plate floor, the longitudinal is welded with a small plate to the plate floor, therefore
rendering the scallop as a support end.
 In bracket floors, tank top and bottom shell longitudinals are supported to each other by
means of angle struts.
 In plate floors, the longitudinals of the tank top and bottom shell are supported to each
other by flat bar stiffeners, to restrict bending, torsion, and buckling.
 As usual, drain holes are used for fluid drainage and air holes are used for the passage of
air. Note their positions in the images, to visualize the exact layout.
 Margin plates are used in some designs, to lead the flow of waste fluids (bilge) towards
the bilge wells on either side of the ship.
 A continuous centre girder runs through the length of the ship, supporting the entire
bottom structure, the keel plate, and the garboard strake.

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Fig.4: Longitudinally Framed Double Bottom

In modern analyses of the bottom structure of ships, designers take a lot of care for various
modes of failure. A disastrous mode of failure other than bending is buckling, which a bottom
structure can be often subjected to.
For example, consider a ship to be hogging. The outer bottom shell undergoes a compression that
leads to buckling of the bottom plate and associated structure. Torsion can also be a mode of
failure in cases of container ships.
So, as a ship designer, when one analyses the feasibility of a bottom structure, it is important to
test for all possible modes and types of failure.
Because, for example, if a designer certifies a bottom structure only on the basis of bending
stress, without taking into consideration buckling or torsion.

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What could happen? In a situation, when buckling occurs, the structure might fail due to
buckling (if its buckling strength is lesser than its bending strength), even when the bending
stresses have not reached the failure limits!
Hence, the principal design criteria must be decided base on all possible modes of failure, at
various load cases, analysed by efficient and certified FEM tools, so as to attain a safe and
economical factor of safety for the structure, from all possibilities of failures at sea.

9. Importance of Ship’s Keel and Types of Keel

The keel of a ship is similar to the spinal cord of humans. As the spine functions to keep our
backbone upright by linking and supporting our body, the keel is the primary structural member
and backbone of the vessel which runs along the centerline of the bottom plate around which the
hull of the ship is built. It is the main longitudinal component of the ship to which every other
main structural item is connected directly or indirectly. Keel is a plate which runs longitudinally
from stem to stern of the ship and has slightly more thickness than the adjoining plates as the
ship sits on this area in the blocks during construction as well as in dry docks.

Importance of Keel in Ship’s Operation

Under keel clearance: It is the vertical clearance between the deepest point of the ship in the
water and the seabed. It is important to calculate the under-keel clearance of vessel to avoid
grounding of the ship. Safe under keel clearance helps the ship to manoeuvre so that no damage
to the hull occurs due to hull impact on the ground.

Under-keel clearance is calculated as follows:

UKC = (Charted Depth of Water + Height of Tide) –(Draft)
Charted depth of water is the distance from chart datum to the seabed. Chart datum is merely a
reference point from which all the depths on the chart are measured. Charted depth is not the
actual depth of water. Actual depth of water will be from the waterline to the seabed, not from
chart datum to the seabed. Therefore, seafarers need to add the height of the tide.
Charted Depth plus the height of tide will give the total depth of water, minus the draft of the
vessel will provide under-keel clearance. On the basis of under-keel clearance, we can decide
whether is it safe to go in the area or not.

Keel Laying:
Laying the keel is the first part of a ship’s hull construction and the day is often marked with a
ceremony known as keel laying ceremony. Keel related traditions from older times are said to
bring good luck to the ship during the construction process and to the captain and crew during
the vessel’s sea life.
It is attended by ship owners and shipbuilding dignitaries and is considered as a significant
moment in shipbuilding process. Keel laying also has importance in many IMO conventions as
it’s the date the construction of the ship starts.

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According to SOLAS Chapter 5, ‘constructed’ concerning ship means a stage of construction
where the keel is laid. Keel laying date is taken reference for various classification surveys,
inspections, modifications, etc.

Types of Keel
There are three types of keel namely flat keel, bar keel, and duct keel.

Flat Keel
Flat Keel is a solid plate which is supported by frames running around the vessel. It is thicker
than the adjoining plates and must be of full uniform thickness for 3/5th length amidship. It may
gradually reduce towards ends of the ship and is most common in a majority of ocean-going
vessels.

Flat plate keel may be fitted with the single bottom hull or with the double bottom hull. In single
bottom hull construction, the flat keel plate forms an ‘I’ section with a vertical longitudinal
centreline plate on top of it and a horizontal plate above the longitudinal beam. The vertical
longitudinal beam is known as Keelson plate, and the vertical plate above it is known as the
Rider plate. In double bottom construction, flat plate keel forms a strong ‘I’ section with the
vertical plate commonly called the centre girder and the horizontal plate being part of the tank
top.

Bar Keel
A steel bar is placed at the centre of the keel called bar keel. It consists of a bar which is
supported by frames running around the vessel. It was used primitively when shipbuilding
changed from wood to steel. The bar keel is made up of a flat steel bar or a steel plate of depth
and thickness built to classification society requirements. It is stronger and heavier than the flat
keel. Steel plates on either side of the bar keel are known as garboard strake.

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It is found mostly on single bottom hulls supported by solid floors with or without center keelson
plate. It is less common on new ships and is more common on smaller vessels like ferries, tugs,
and boats where grounding is more of a risk. Bar keel doesn’t provide sufficient strength for
large ships as there is no direct connection between the keel and the floors. Hence flat plate keels
have replaced bar keels on large vessels.

Duct Keel
Duct keel is provided in double bottom hull ships and consists of solid plates welded into a box
shape, forming an internal watertight passage running along the length of the ship, usually from
collision bulkhead to forward engine room bulkhead. It is formed by two longitudinal girders
which should not be less than 1.83 m apart.

Following are the advantages of Duct keel:

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1. They are a higher strength compared to other types of the keel as they give excellent
resistance to loads due to its box structure.
2. It allows protected cables, bunker pipelines, and ballast pipelines to run fore and aft
beneath the cargo spaces. This allows the pipelines to be easily inspected even when
cargo is loaded.
3. It is possible to carry oil and water pipes in the duct to prevent contamination, which
could occur if the pipes passed through cargo tanks.
4. It acts like a cofferdam and is provided with a sounding pipe to detect any leakage.

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CHAPTER 7
BULKHEAD IN SHIP
1. Introduction
2. Types of bulkhead
2.1 Transverse and longitudinal Bulkhead
2.2 Plain bulkhead
2.3 Corrugated bulkhead
2.4 Thermal class bulkhead
2.5 Collision Bulkhead

1. Introduction

Watertight bulkheads are vertically designed watertight divisions/walls within the ship’s
structure to avoid ingress of water in the compartment if the adjacent compartment is flooded
due to damage in ship’s hull.

Purpose of bulkhead in ship

 Increase the structural rigidity of the vessel
 Limit the flooding by preventing loss of Buoyancy
 Divide functional areas into rooms and Compartments
 Prevent Spreading of fire

Fig.1: Bulkheads shown in green color

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2. Types of Bulkheads

Bulkheads are different types according to their Purpose, Position or construction. Some
Important types of bulkheads are given below,

Fig.2: Types of bulkhead

2.1 Transverse and Longitudinal Bulkhead

Though most watertight bulkheads are transverse in orientation, some ships also have
longitudinal watertight bulkheads within a compartment for longitudinal compartmentalization
within a compartment. Other than water tightness, the transverse bulkheads also add to the
transverse strength of the ship.

Fig.3: Transverse and longitudinal bulkhead

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2.2 Plain Bulkhead

In small ships, a transverse bulkhead may be constructed from a single plate. However, for larger
ships, the plating of a transverse bulkhead usually consists of a series of horizontal strakes
welded together. But what’s interesting here is that, the thickness of these strakes increase with
depth, in order to strengthen the bulkhead against the maximum hydrostatic pressure in case the
compartment is fully flooded. So prior to erection, two dimensional strakes are first cut out from
plates of different thicknesses.

Fig .4: Watertight plain bulkhead with vertical stiffeners

The bulkhead plate itself is not resistant enough against large scale transverse forces like shear
forces. So they are stiffened, either vertically or horizontally. But we usually go for the vertical
stiffening instead of the horizontal. Why? Because horizontal stiffening in ships with high beam
would require stiffeners of long span, which would also increase the scantling and weight of the
stiffener, affecting usable cargo volume. However, with vertical stiffening, the span (and hence,
the scantling) of the stiffener can be kept low by introducing a stringer at mid-depth (a stringer
acts as a fixed end, therefore reducing the span).

The sections used for stiffening the bulkheads are usually flat bars, angles or bulb bars,
depending upon the required section modulus. An important aspect of the design of bulkhead
stiffeners is meeting the end conditions. In order to meet the boundary conditions so that the
stiffeners respond as per the theoretical calculations, their end supports must be designed

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accordingly. At the upper end, they are attached to the underside of the deck plating with
brackets, providing a hinged boundary condition. To achieve fixed ends, they are welded directly
to the deck plate and the stringer.

2.3 Corrugated Bulkhead

Most modern day ships use an advanced technology to achieve the required strength of bulkhead
plates. They use corrugated bulkheads instead of stiffened ones. The corrugations are in the
vertical direction, except when the breadth of the bulkhead is significantly low. However, there
is one trade-off that needs to be made here. Since the corrugations are provided on the bulkhead
plate right in the early fabrication stage, corrugated bulkheads are made of plates having uniform
thickness (which is, the thickness equal to the lower most strake in case of a conventional
bulkhead). This increases the weight of the bulkhead when compared to a conventionally
stiffened bulkhead. In spite of this, usage of corrugated bulkheads come handy due to ease in
fabrication and reduction of welded joints on the bulkhead.

Fig.5: Corrugated bulkhead

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2.4 Fire Class of Bulkheads
In order to prevent the propagation of fire from one compartment to another, all watertight
bulkheads are also provided with fire-resistant paneling. However, depending on the extent to
which bulkheads can retain the fire and smoke to the affected side, they are classified into three
categories:

Class-A Panel

All watertight bulkheads are Class-A type. Bulkheads of Class A must be constructed of steel or
equivalent material and should pass the standard fire test, preventing the passage of fire or smoke
to the unaffected side for at least one hour. With Class A bulkheads in use, the average
temperature on the unaffected side must not exceed 120 degree Celsius. Added to that, there are
three categories of Class A panels depending on the time up to which the temperature at any
point on the bulkhead must not rise above 160 degree Celsius:

A-60 Panel: 60 minutes.

A-30 Panel: 30 minutes.
A-15 Panel: 15 minutes.
A-0 panel: 0 minutes.

Class-B Panel

Bulkheads of Class B are constructed of materials that are approved by SOLAS and
classification societies as incombustible materials. And should pass the standard fire test,
preventing the passage of fire or smoke to the unaffected side for at least thirty minutes. With
Class B bulkheads in use, the average temperature on the unaffected side must not exceed 120
degree Celsius. There are two types of Class B panels depending on the time up to which the
temperature at any point on the bulkhead must not rise above 206 degree Celsius:

B-15 Panel: 15 minutes.

B-0 panel: 0 minutes.

Class-C Panel

Class C bulkheads and decks are constructed of materials that are approved by SOLAS and
classification societies as incombustible, but they are not required to meet any requirements
related to rise in temperature or passage of smoke and flame to the unaffected side.

Class A and B panels are used adjacent to most of the enclosed spaces within the ship, for
example: cargo holds, control stations, stairways, lifeboat embarkation stations, galleys,

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machinery spaces, tanks, public spaces and accommodation areas. Class C panels are mostly
used in open decks and promenades, where requirement of fire safety is minimum. They can also
be used between two similar spaces if they are not separated by a watertight bulkhead, in which
case a Class A panel is mandatory.

2.5 Collision Bulkhead

A collision bulkhead is the forward-most bulkhead in a ship. There are two factors that
determine the position of a forward collision bulkhead. The final position of the collision
bulkhead is so decided that it takes into consideration both the factors listed below:

Factor 1: Position based on flood-able length calculations.

Factor 2: Position based on the classification society code books. Most of the classification
society rules have an allowable range of distance at which the collision bulkhead can be placed
from the forward-most point of the ship’s hull. This distance is usually a function of the length of
the ship and factors related to the shape of its bow.

Factor 3: Position based on SOLAS rule, which states that the collision bulkhead should be
located aft of the forward perpendicular at a distance not less than 5 percent of the ship’s length
of the ship or 10 meters (whichever is less). The distance must also not exceed 8 percent of the
ship’s length.

However, the position of the collision bulkhead should be such that maximum cargo storage
volume is achieved.

The collision bulkhead is a heavily strengthened structure, its main purpose being limiting the
damage of a head-on collision to the part of the bow forward to it. To limit the damage to its
forward region also means that the collision bulkhead is watertight bulkhead. It is usually
vertically stiffened with sections of scantlings higher than those on the surrounding structures. It
is also stiffened by triangular stringers of higher scantling, called panting stringers. Panting
stringers are usually provided at every 2 meters from the bottom, forward of the collision
bulkhead.

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Fig. 6: Collision Bulkhead (profile and transverse view).

As per SOLAS rules,

 The collision bulkhead must be watertight upto the bulkhead deck. A bulkhead deck is
basically the deck level upto which all the watertight bulkheads are extended.
 For providing access to chain locker room and the forward part of the bulkhead, steps may be
provided on the collision bulkhead. However, this must not violate Factor 3.
 There must be no doors, manholes, access hatches, ventilation ducts or any openings on the
collision bulkhead below the bulkhead deck. However, the bulkhead can be allowed to have
only one piercing below the bulkhead deck for the passage of one pipe to cater to the fluid
flow to the forepeak ballast tank. The passage of the pipe must be flanged and must be fitted
with a screw-down valve which can be remotely operated from above the bulkhead deck.
This valve is usually located forward of the collision bulkhead. However, the classification
society certifying the ship may authorise a valve aft of the bulkhead provided it is easily
serviceable at any condition, and is not located in the cargo area.
 In case of ships having superstructures at the forward region, the collision bulkhead is not
terminated at the bulkhead deck. It must be extended to the deck level next to the weather
deck. This would ensure sufficient structural continuity and keep the shear forces within safe
limits.
 If the collision bulkhead is extended above the freeboard deck, the number of openings on
the bulkhead should be restricted to a minimum in order to ensure sufficient buckling
strength. All the openings should be watertight

The minimum bulkheads fitted on a ship are as (As per Lloyd's Register)
Length of ship (m) Location of machinery
Midship Aft
90-105 5 5
105-115 6 5
115-125 6 6

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125-145 7 6
145-165 8 7
165-190 9 8

You may also know:

 Bulkheads are constructed of plates joined together and stiffened by vertical and horizontal
stiffeners.
 As the water pressure increases with depth, the thickness of the plating in the lower part
needs to be increased accordingly.
 The thickness of the plates used in the construction will also depend on the size of the
stiffeners used to stiffen the bulkhead plating.
 In practice plate thickness could range from7mm at the top to 12 mm at the bottom.
 Plate bulkheads would usually be stiffened vertically with angle bars, channels or offset bulb
plates.
 Scantlings of stiffeners depend on the stiffener spacing and type of connection at the ends.
 Stiffeners are normally connected to the deck and bottom by welding directly or by a bracket.
 Separation between stiffeners is 750 -760 mm which can be increased if horizontal stringers
are inserted between the vertical stiffeners.
 The plating of the bulkheads is connected to the surroundings plating-deck, ship’s side and
tank top by welding after being double Veed at the edges.
 Modern Shipbuilding practice and technology enables more efficient corrugated bulkheads to
be constructed.
 Because the plates are corrugated the bulkheads need not be fitted with stiffeners.
 Normally the corrugation is vertical or horizontal for transverse bulkheads and horizontal for
longitudinal bulkheads.
 In areas where it is difficult to connect the corrugated bulkhead directly to the shell plating a
flat plate with stiffening may be fitted at the sides.
 In order that watertight subdivision is continued below the level of the tank top the double
bottom is fitted with a water tight floor.
 This floor must be as close to the watertight bulkhead above it.
 Bulkheads which form boundaries of oil carrying compartments will be of heavier scantlings,
the reason being that it may be necessary to carry a full tank cargo while the neighboring
tank remains empty.
 Oil tightness must be guaranteed because often cargoes of different density/quality may be
carried sharing the same separating bulkhead.
 Cargo contamination must not occur through leakage across the bulkhead.
 Adjacent tanks may be carrying water ballast.
 This must not get contaminated under any circumstances.
 In such case, precautions have to be taken to ensure water-tightness.

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CHAPTER 8
FORE END ARRANGMENT
1. Types of stresses encountered on fore end arrangement
2. Construction of Fore End Arrangement
3. What’s The Importance of Bulbous Bow of Ships?

Before delving deeper into the structural arrangements prior to the requirement, let’s first go
through some of the common stress problems encountered in these regions.

1. Types of stresses encountered on fore end arrangement

Panting
Panting refers to the contiguous bellowing-in and bellowing-out nature of the ship’s hull plating
due to variable water pressure distribution caused as a result of waves. This effect is accentuated
in the forward region when the ship surges headway through. The ship bow region is the most
affected area where the entire vessel encounters the wave systems for the first time. The dynamic
wave pattern have variable hydrostatic pressure distribution point to point which unfortunately
falls incongruous for a solid hull plate. Although, panting is still said to exist throughout the
entire length of the hull, the effect dies away as the wave system at the bow starts losing its
energy from the bow shoulder onwards (towards the aft).

Green Water or Wave Slap

The waves encountered by a ship on rough sea states are highly unpredictable. These giant waves
can go up to tremendous heights and upon interaction with the ship’s forward, end may lash
itself on to the exposed weather deck in an event marked as the wave slap/green water. However,
more than the inner hull arrangements in the fore end, more concentration needs to be given in
case of the deck strengthening in this case.

Pounding
This forces are induced due to the ‘Slamming’ motion of the ship triggered due to heaving or
high pitching motions. This situation is further aggravated in case of empty or light ballasted
conditions of ships. This intense pounding stresses incident on the plating spread over a large
area extending a considerable amount of length even behind the forward collision bulkhead.
Slamming can be mostly bow-flare slamming, stern slamming or bottom slamming.

Whipping
Whipping loads are a class of low cycle and high frequency stress-inducing loads caused due to
slamming motions of the ship as above. But they are said to be an outcome of impact loads
which are a resultant of the pounding loads.

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What are impact loads?
As the name suggests, impact loads act all of a sudden and are of large intensity in response to
the natural structural response of the entire ship hull. The oncoming waves hitting the fore part of
the hull, generate a large amount of impact pressure creating impact loads which in turn generate
a pattern of rapid vibrations onto the material in what we call as whipping.
Impact loads also depend on the relative motion between the vessel and the water surface. Thus,
pertaining to suitable design, velocity constraints and surge direction are key determinants of the
net effect of impact loads.
In rough sea states, the bow of the ship performs an oscillatory motion, as mentioned in
Pounding. The fore bottom floor emerges from the water and again plunges into the sea. This
incessant emergence and hitting the water may spark off a vibration in the hull girder. These
high-frequency vibrations cause severe loading on the entire structure and may sometimes
exceed the wave-induced stress, and aggravate the situation when both are superimposed.
Whipping thus is a straightforward outcome of slamming which can also induce higher girder
bending moments and fatigue damage to the entire structure of the ship. Hence, it is very much
wise if this is controlled beforehand at the fore region without allowing it to propagate.
Other effects due to vibrations caused by ship’s propeller and machinery aft spark off various
unwanted local stresses in the stern. The fore and aft end constructions thus are needed to be
taken special care of as sometimes these loads can lead to massive structural failure.
But, what are such modifications in the design?

2. Construction of Fore End Arrangement

Now, we are in a position to understand the essence of the sound and immaculate construction of
the fore end. Despite the multitude of stresses localized in this region, most of its structural
arrangements have been kept in line with the chief problems of panting and pounding as these
are the two gravest problems encountered in this case, proving to be the causal factors for most
of the ship structural failures.
But for now, you must know the important segments comprising fore end construction and
strengthening of ship structure:

 Fore Peak Tank

 Stem
 Stiffening in the form of frames, breast hooks, wash plates, deep radius floors, pillars,
panting stringers, panting beams, variety of stringers and girders. Their scantlings, material
allowance and proper positioning of these strengthening arrangements dictate the “structural
resilience” in light to all the localized loadings
 Chain Lockers
 Decks
 Bow (Bulbous, clipper, X-bow etc.)

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Fore peak tank, as the name suggests, forms the foremost watertight tank principally used for
ballasting. But more than that it serves a range of other purposes. Why?
Some of the chief stiffening components include panting beams, panting stringers, angle pillars,
breast hooks, perforated flats, centreline wash bulkhead. Moreover, the floors at the bottom and
stringers running longitudinally along the sides at given intervals are also existent. However, an
essential feature of the fore arrangement are the deviation in scantlings and positions of the net
‘Panel-stiffening’ arrangement in light of its requisite strength to sustain these load-condition
vagaries.
Why? The logic is simple.
As the load parameters are more pronounced in the fore part bearing, a stake of local as well as
global stresses (especially in due regard to the pressing problems of panting and pounding) are
highly unpredictable, the ship designer has to pay more attention to this part to make it more
“ fit”. Furthermore, from the strength point of view, if the loading is hindered at this point, its
effects on the remaining length of the ship becomes less domineering. The Classification
societies for ships around the world have prepared a consensus regarding the dimensional
allowance that may be purported to these plate stiffening arrangements for higher load-sustaining
capacity.

Fig.1: Forward end arrangement (Reference: Ship Construction, D.J Eyres)

What are these specially applied stiffening measures?

 Panting stringers are longitudinal stiffening members formed in a closed rounded-triangular
shape (peak being the fore end) by the side stringers on both sides and the collision bulkhead
at its end.
 A perforated bulkhead often exists at the centreline. Although its main function is dedicated
to cargo storage and reduction of Free Surface Effects, they add to the longitudinal strength

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of the fore peak tank. Most of the time the angle pillars along with the panting beams are
joined to the wash bulkhead. They are also very useful when the unsupported span of panting
beams become large.
 Sometimes for fuller form ships like bulk carriers, the fore part is stiffened by large
perforated non-watertight flats to cater to enhanced transverse strength.
 Breast hooks to stiffen the stem plate and behave as the support tip of the panting and side
stringers. They also play the pivotal role of transverse strengthening of a large number of
plates in the forward and side regions. However, the usability of breast hooks become
pointless when there are tween decks.

Fig.2 : Plan of forward panting arrangement (Reference: Ship Construction, D.J Eyres)

Although most of the above-adopted measures are suffice to sustain high pounding loads, some
extra modification are ought to be made, especially with due respect to the bottom structures.
The forward bottom plating may be subject to buckling loads due to slamming/pounding. This
effect is much more adverse in winter and is the most pronounced in planning vessels that is
having a higher Froude Number. Thus while designing them, the stiffening arrangements are
done in accordance to the Speed-to-length relationships.

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Fig.3: Transverse view of fore end panting arrangements

(Reference: Ship Construction, D.J Eyres)

3. What’s The Importance of Bulbous Bow of Ships?

One thing that often catches the eye of a common man regarding most of the ships, is the bulb-
like projection at the forward end of the ship, often below the waterline.
There is no doubt in the fact that at some point in your life, you have questioned yourself
regarding the reason behind the presence of this structure. Well, since it generally resembles the
shape of the bulb, and is always placed at the bow of the ship, it is known as a Bulbous Bow.
Let’s look back to about a hundred years from now. Remember Titanic? You must have
observed it didn’t have a bulbous bow. But try having a look at the bows of modern cruise ships,
container ships, LNG carriers, research vessels, etc.
All of them are characterized by a bulbous bow. Not only monohull ships, today almost even
catamarans are equipped with a bulbous bow rather than straight bows. Why?

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Fig.4: Kelvin Waves at bow

When a ship surges, it generates its own Kelvin waves (the ones you see around a ship when it
sails in open sea) as shown in Figure 4.
Now visualize it this way- the waves are basically travelling forms of energy in water medium.
Where did this energy come from? In other words, who energized the water particles to form
these waves?
It is the moving mass of the ship that does this job. Note the word “moving”. The ship’s
movement is powered by its propulsion system. A part of the energy delivered by the engine
goes into rotating the propeller, and in turn, a fraction of that thrust generated by the propeller
comes handy in actually propelling the ship. Where does the rest of the energy go? Remember,
water particles were energized to transmit waves? That’s your answer. This is also called Wave
Making Resistance of a ship.
Now, why are we discussing this, and what does this have to do with a bulbous bow? Read on.
Consider a ship with a straight bow (for example, Titanic). As the ship surges forward, the water
particles move towards the stern along the entire length of the ship. But what about that water
particle that is incident right at the centreline of the stem?
Its instantaneous velocity is zero, which in scientific terms, is known as a Stagnation Point. If
you recall Bernoulli’s Equation, the pressure at a stagnation point will be higher. So the pressure
of the water particles at the bow is higher, thus giving rise to the crest of a wave.
This wave is called the bow wave since it is generated due to the movement of the bow through
the water, as shown in Figure 5. So with a straight bow, there is always a wave continuously
formed, with its crest at the bow. Thus, it is evident, that we are wasting a part of the engine
power in generating this wave. What if this effect of wave-making can be reduced? If yes, then
how?
If we introduce another discontinuity (any structure in the ship below the waterline which
disturbs the laminar flow is regarded as a discontinuity) below the waterline at the bow, in front
of the stem of the ship, the discontinuity will itself give rise to another wave at its foremost point.
Since the stem is still at the waterline, it will generate normal bow waves.

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What if we can design the shape and position of the discontinuity in such a way so that the bow
wave and the wave created by the discontinuity result in a destructive interference? (Refer to
Figure 3) Well, that is pretty much the principle behind the design of a bulbous bow. The
destructive interference results in reduced wave-making of the ship, and which further reduces
the wave-making drag of the hull form.

Fig 5. Bow wave and Wave generated by bulb, both out of phase

In the preliminary stages of the development of the bulb, the primary mission of the design was
to reduce the wave-making drag. But as we moved on, we couldn’t stop delving into more
interesting aspects as discussed below:
Wave making is a significant characteristic of finer hull forms. That is why, you notice
prominent Kelvin waveforms in cruise ships, liners, yachts, and naval cruisers. If you notice a
bulk carrier or an oil tanker (fuller hull forms), it is evident that these hull forms do not show
prominent Kelvin wave patterns.

Fig.6:

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Why? Because the waterline width at the stem itself is so large (or in other words, the
discontinuity inflow is higher) that the pressure rises to a level such that the bow wave height
exceeds the threshold up to which a wave holds its properties. In this case, the wave breaks right
at the bow itself even before it travels along the ship length.
So, are fuller hull forms more energy efficient in this respect? No. Do fuller hull forms have high
wave-making resistance? No. Do fuller hull forms have high wave breaking resistance? Yes.
With this application, bulbs were also introduced in bulkers and tankers to reduce their wave
breaking resistance.
The different types of bulbs according to their shapes, positions and orientations are as shown
below:
The position of the bulb significantly affects the phase difference between the bow wave and the
bulb wave. The volume of the bulb is a deciding factor of the amplitude of the resultant wave.

Fig.7

Another advantage of the bulb is that it reduces the dynamic effects of the pitch motion of a ship.
In most ships, the interior of the bulb is used as a fore-peak ballast tank. In the case of high
pitching, the forepeak tank is often ballasted to reduce the effect of pitching.
How? Well, the time period of pitching is directly proportional to the longitudinal distance of
weights from the LCG of the ship. When the fore-peak is ballasted, it increases weight at a larger
distance from the LCG of the ship (which in most ideal cases is abaft the midship).
In other words, the pitch radius of gyration increases, therefore increasing the pitch period of the
ship. Increased period of pitching results in less dynamic effects of pitch motion.
In the case of ice navigation, the bulb allows broken ice to glide along the hull with its wet side
against the hull. The wet side of the ice having less friction coefficient reduces the overall drag
on the ship.
Bulbous bows have also been advantageous in housing bow thrusters, as can be seen in modern
ships with bow thruster units. In naval ships that use high-frequency underwater acoustics like
SONAR, bulbous bows act as protective housing, in addition to its positive effects of drag
reduction.

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Fig.8. Formation of bow waves

After repeated model testing procedures of a wide range of hull forms and bulb shapes, it has
been found that bulbs are not efficient at all service speeds (relate it to Froude numbers) see
below fig. In very low Froude numbers, bulbous bows have been found to increase the drag.
Wonder why? Because a bulb is only effective when it makes its own wave, along with the bow
wave. But at very low Froude numbers, wave-making hardly occurs. But the bulb still being
below the waterline, increases the total wetted surface area of the ship, therefore contributing to
increasing in its skin friction resistance.

Fig.9: Froude number vs Block coefficient

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Types of Bow Designs Used for Ships

Fig.10: Bow wave

Looking at the different Ship Bow Designs in existence today, it seems that most of the shapes
possible and a combination of two or more of them have been tried out.
However, newer designs have emerged and older lesser-used designs have often been tried out
with certain changes after extensive analysis.
Still, broadly speaking, some of the bow design types are:
 The Bulbous Bow
 A Normal Bow without a Bulb
 Other Special Bows

The Plumb, the Clipper and the Spoon

A normal bow, as what we would call it, has developed from its predecessor which was a vertical
bow. The angle at which the ship stem makes with the waterline is called the rake.
A vertical, or unraked bow having a straight edge is known as a plumb bow. These bows have
maximum waterline besides an X-Bow or an Inverted Bow. This length of the waterline allows
for a greater hull speed. Bow rakes are used in conjunction with flares. Flaring has its own
benefits like keeping water off the decks and also eases the pitching motions. Some raking also
sets up what is called ‘Crumple Zones’ allowing safety against collisions before the submerged
portion comes in contact with it. Stability-wise, it raises the Centre of Buoyancy, which in turn
increases the GM – one of the pillars of ship stability. Traditionally these have been called the
Clippers. As the name suggests, a Spoon Bow resembles a spoon by giving a concave
appearance at the stem and deck line. These forms often have chining and curvature at the
waterline creating their characteristic wake pattern, bringing Wave Making Resistance into the
picture.

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Bulbous Bow
A very familiar unit in bow sections of almost all seagoing cargo ships and vessels with fuller
forms is –The Bulbous Bow.
This staple of ship designs today was said to have been discovered rather than being invented.
Military towing tests in the USA showed that for a boat model having a torpedo discharge pipe
extending forward also lowered the resistance. The first civil ships were seen in the 1930s.

Fig.11

Bulbous Bows are studied using their own form characteristics and these might spring up in your
ship resistance and powering calculations so you might want to consider some of them like the
shape of the section, area ratios, length of the projection and the like.
The Bulbous Bow can reduce slamming on your ship and have the same effect as a normal bow
in a ballasted condition if a sharply tapering bulb section is used.
Depending upon your ship form as mentioned above, the Bulb axis is also important as it affects
your wave influence at entry, and if you keep your axis such that it slopes downwards stern, it
will allow better flow characteristics.
Ships with fuller forms have high wave breaking resistance, and this element that eats away your
propulsive efficiency can be greatly reduced by using a Bulbous Bow with a sharply downward
tapering water-plane.These Bows also allow better recovery of energy by the propeller as energy
losses due to vortices at the fore-end is minimised.

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Parabolic and Cylindrical Bows
Sometimes designers consider designing vessels with ‘blunt’ stems as opposed to the sharp
nature of the bow section. Here is the Parabolic Bow, which resembles the mathematical curve,
the Parabola. Now, recall some high school math, the semi-minor axis of the ellipse is what
would be the beam of the ship. Sometimes only designing a parabolic shape for a ship hull is not
enough, you have to see the flow around the hull and for this, give it a typical rounded form like
a normal round bilged hull. Parabolic Bows may be combined with Bulbs to take the Wave
Breaking Resistance into account as these are popular in fuller form designs and are being used
in Bulk Carriers today.

Fig.12: Ship Design for Efficiency and Economy Image Reference

The closest cousin to these is the cylindrical ship bows which are also designed for fuller forms
at design waterlines and are ideal for use in fully loaded conditions.
The Cylindrical Bows can have minimal Wave Making Resistance if designed with proper
attention to the bluntness of form and stem edge at different drafts.

The Axe Bow

While an axe does its job, cutting wood, or maybe something as obvious, the ship bow bearing
resemblance to it has its own characteristic features.This design usually has a vertical stem line
coupled with a long, deep and narrow fore portion of the hull, somewhat like an axe.This shape
allows it to cut through the water, allowing it to pass easily through waves with less pitching as
opposed to a normal bow.The lower portion of the fore-end of the hull, called the forefoot rarely
emerges out of the water and hence the vessel is less susceptible to slamming also.

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On the other side, certain manoeuvring aspects need to be taken to account, a vessel with an Axe
Bow requires more rudder motion as is confirmed by the study of its hydrodynamic parameters.

Fig.13: US Navy Image Credits

X-Bow: The Generation of Inverted Bows

How about a design where your ship’s bow and almost a greater part of the hull appears upside
down in comparison to a normal round bilge hull or any of the hull shapes you generally see on
ships? The inverted bow is a success story among the revival of technologies that became
obsolete in a different era.
These hull forms have the advantage of allowing maximum length waterline for ships of
comparable sizes which means the highest possible hull speeds.
Like the Axe Bow, these bows have less spray of water at entry and also have less pitching
motions and slamming reduction is quite significant. This creates quite a comfortable experience
for the crew.
The fuel consumption is also reduced by a significant factor and this bow can operate quite
efficiently in medium-sized wave ranges mainly because of the larger part of the ship volume
being above and upfront, directly impacted upon by the waves.
These hull forms also double up as decks with accommodation space for the personnel.
However, the applicability of these designs for the same level of improvement in speed losses in
the roughest of seas must be an area of ongoing work.
Keeping that aside, these vessels have been applied to various applications like the AHTS
(Anchor Handling Tug Supply) vessels, Seismic Vessels, Offshore and Pipelay Vessels,
drillships and the likes.
These are the most commonly used ship Bow Designs today. Most probably, any vessel you see
out there will have any one of the designs you just read about.

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CHAPTER 9
AFT END ARRANGMENT
1. Stern frame
1.1 Introduction to Aft End Structure
1.2 Explain with diagram the Aft End arrangement of the ship
1.3 Describe with neat sketch two type of stern construction
1.4 Explain with neat sketch Stern Frames and how these are connected to the ship structure.
2. Rudder
2.1 Explain with sketch what is rudder and how it works?
2.2 Explain with diagrams three different types of rudder designs?
2.3 How a rudder is constructed?
2.4 Rudder Pintles and Bearings
2.5 Rudder stock
2.6 Rudder Carrier Bearing
2.7 Rudder drop & jumping clearance
2.8 Rudder trunk

1. Stern Frame
1.1 Introduction to aft end arrangement

General Arrangement of Aft end Structure

The general arrangement of the aft end structure is shown here. The aft end of a ship terminates
the structure and is designed to provide a smooth water flow into and away from the propeller.
The propeller and rudder are also positioned and supported at the after end and require certain
structural arrangements in order to operate satisfactorily.

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Fig.1: Aft End arrangement

The after end construction involves an amount of overhanging structure to accept the steering
gear below deck and mooring equipment higher up on the weather deck.
This arrangement leads to large slamming forces in this after region, and an adequately stiffened
structure is therefore required.

1.2 Explain with diagram the Aft end arrangement of the ship
Explore the aft end arrangement See fig 2.
1. Aftpeak tank
2. Stern frame
3. Sole piece
4. Rudder trunk
5. Stern tube
6. Rudder
7. Propeller
8. Aft peak bulkhead

Fig.2: Aft end arrangement

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1. Aft Peak Tank
The aft peak tank is the after-most tank on the main hull structure. It is normally used for the
storage of fresh water or ballast. It provides a degree of protection to all spaces forward of the aft
peak bulkhead.

2. Stern frame
The shell plating at the aft end is terminated by the stern frame, which may be a casting or
fabrication. Stern frame has an aperture called Boss, for the propeller shaft and the propeller to
operate in. The lower part of the stern frame supports the rudder post or the rudder pintles. To
prevent serious vibration at the after end there is adequate clearances between the propeller and
stern frame.

3. Sole piece
It is a forging, carried aft to form the lower gudgeon supporting bearing pintle, and carried
forward to scarph to aftermost keel plate which is known as coffin plate

4. Rudder trunk
Rudder trunk is a section which is found in the stern for the entry of the rudder stock into the
steering gear room. The lower part of the rudder trunk is open to the sea, but usually provided
with an inspection manhole for viewing. The trunking above this is then constructed to be
watertight, penetrated only by the rudder stock.

5. Stern tube
The purpose of the stern tube is to support the propeller shaft and to make a watertight joint
where the shaft enters the hull. It houses the propeller shaft and bearings. The plating of the after
peak bulkhead must be thickened or doubled around the tube. The tail-shaft within the stern tube
is either oil lubricated or water lubricated.

6. Rudders
A rudder is a device used to steer ships, through water. Rudders operate by re-directing the flow
of water past the hull thus imparting a turning motion to the craft. Rudder is a steel structure
adequately strengthened and so designed and shaped to withstand the hydrodynamic pressure
exerted on it by the sea water, enable steer the ship for the purpose of safe navigation.

7. Propeller
The marine propeller draws or pulls water in from its front end through an imaginary cylinder a
little larger than the propeller diameter. The front end of the propeller is the end that faces the
ship. As the propeller spins, water accelerates through it, creating a jet stream of higher-velocity
water behind the propeller. This exiting water jet is smaller in diameter than the actual diameter
of the propeller. This water jet action of pulling water in and pushing it out at a higher velocity
adds momentum to the water. This change in momentum or acceleration of the water results in a
force which we can call thrust. The thrust is transmitted along the shafting to the thrust block and

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finally to the ship's structure. The propeller will usually be either of the fixed pitch or
controllable pitch type.

8. Aft Peak Bulkhead

After peak is located well aft so that, if the aft peak tank gets flooded due to damage to hull, it
would not cause excessive trim of the ship by the stern, because the amount of water entering the
damaged compartment would be limited.

1.3 Describe with neat sketch two type of stern construction

Two main types of stern construction have been used to date
 The Cruiser stern.
 The Transom stern.
The Cruiser Stern
The diagram shows a skeleton of Cruiser stern. The main structural components shown below:
 Stern Frame
 Side girder
 Centre girder
 Transom floor
 Floors
 Cant frames

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Fig.3: Cruiser stern

 As the cruiser stern overhang may be subjected to large slamming forces, the construction of
the cruiser stern shown here ensures adequate resistance to any pounding stresses which may
occur.
 Solid floors are fitted at every frame space and a heavy centreline girder is fitted below
Upper deck, second deck and steering flat in the stern.
 A centerline web as a continuation of centerline girder is fitted after end shell plate and runs
down to the centreline girder in the flooring region.
 Special frames are radiused around the after end and are known as cant frames, since they are
set at an angle to the centreline of the ship.
 The Horizontal stringers may also be fitted to stiffen up the structure by connecting it to the
transverse frames further forward.
 The cruiser stern is rarely used in modern construction but it is still to be seen in a large
number of the ships at sea.

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The Transom stern

Cant frames are not required where the transom stern is adopted. A transom is the surface that
forms the stern of a vessel.
Transoms may be
 Flat or curved
 Vertical raked forward
 Raked aft

Fig.4: Transom stern

 The flat plate of the transom stern construction allows use of vertical stiffeners around the
shell plating.
 The vertical stiffeners are bracketed to the Solid floor and to the deck beams which run
transversely across the stern.
 The deep horizontal stringer can provide additional stiffening to the shell plating if required.
A deep shell centre girder runs beneath each of the decks at the stern and is bracketed to the
deep web at the centreline of the after shell plating.
 This web is bracketed to the various floors in the stern and finally to the solid-plate floor
construction below.

1.4. Explain with neat sketch Stern Frames

A. What is stern frame?
 The shell plating at the after end is terminated by the stern frame. The form of the stern frame
is influenced by the stern profile and rudder type.
 In single-screw ships the stern frame has a Boss on the centreline for the tail shaft to pass
through and an adequate aperture is provided for the propeller to operate in.

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 To prevent serious vibration at the after end of the ship, there must be adequate clearances
between the blade tips of the propeller and the stern frame, and this will to a large extent
dictate overall size of stern frame.
 The lower part of the stern frame may provide a support for the rudder post or for the rudder
pintles.

B. What are the functions of a Stern Frame?

 To support the rudder bearing
 To support the propeller and shaft
 To reduce the vibration stresses. This is a major problem at the stern and the stern frame
plays an important role in handling this problem.
 To give streamlining to the stern to prevent eddies that increased hull resistance.
 To enable the shell plating to be closed at the Stern Satisfactory.
 Enable the keel to be connected to the rest of the ship's structure satisfactorily.
 To support the upthrust at the stern when taking the blocks in drydock.

2. Rudder

2.1 Explain with sketch what is rudder and how it works?

Have you ever wondered why all ships have their rudders placed at the aft of their propellers?
Why isn’t a rudder placed at the bow (forward) of the ship? Or for that matter, why is it always
placed behind the propeller? Just imagine a ship with a rudder at its bow. Wouldn’t it look ugly?
Well, we naval architects are least bothered about that, when it comes to ship design practices.
The first priority of any ship design, is the achievement of function-ability of the designed
product, and then comes its aesthetic value. Rudders are placed at aft, instead of at the bow, not
because of aesthetics, but because of its hydrodynamic efficiency when placed at aft. Not quite
versed with that term?

Fig. 5: Rudder placed at aft of ship behind propller

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To understand this, we need to delve into the mystery of the role of a rudder in a ship. Did you
know that a rudder does not turn a ship? Yes, you read it right. So how does a ship turn, then?
And if not the rudder, then what is it that turn’s the ship? Let’s for the entire article henceforth,
assume a starboard turn. Which means, the rudder is moved to the starboard side. When the
helmsman changed the rudder angle from zero to some angle towards the starboard, at that very
moment, a lift force acts on the rudder. The direction of the lift force is towards the port side, as
illustrated in Figure 6.

Fig.6: Rudder force on a ship with rudder to starboard

This rudder force, as you can see, is directed along a transverse direction to the ship. In other
words, this force will cause the ship to attain a sway velocity towards the port side, because the
rudder force is nothing but a sway force towards the port side. It is because of this, a ship will
sway slightly to the port when the rudder is turned over to hard starboard. But this sway is so
negligible in comparison to the turning moment towards starboard, that the sway is hardly felt.
But yes, the sway does occur.
Other than this, the rudder force has another effect on the ship. It creates a moment about the
centre of gravity of the ship, in the direction as shown in Figure 7. (To understand why is the
moment directed in the direction shown, apply simple law of translation of a force into a moment
about a point, or look at it like this- the centre of gravity of the ship is forward of the rudder, and
given the direction of the rudder force, the moment it will create about the C.G will be along the
direction shown).

Fig.7: Rudder moment when rudder is moved to starboard

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Imagine the size of a rudder in comparison to the size of the ship. The rudder is incomparably
smaller to the size of the hull that is to be turned by it. So, how does the rudder turn the ship?
Well, as we saw before, the rudder doesn’t turn a ship. In fact, the rudder moment created by the
rudder, is negligibly small to turn the ship by the required heading angle. If that’s the case, then
what is it that turns the ship?
When the rudder moment acts about the ship’s centre of gravity, it slightly changes the ship’s
orientation by giving it a drift angle (illustrated in Figure 8). This moment is not large enough to
turn the ship to the required heading angle, but all a designer has to do, is make sure that the
rudder moment is enough to introduce a slight drift angle into the ship’s movement. The ship,
with that drift angle, is now moving along the initial direction. But this isn’t pure surge anymore.
Follow Figure 8, and you’ll see you can make components of the ship’s velocity along the surge
(longitudinal) direction and sway (transverse) direction. Thus, it’s evident, that by introducing a
drift angle, the rudder has introduced a small surge velocity to the ship. Notice the direction of
this surge velocity in the figure below. Doesn’t it reinforce the reason behind why there is a
small sway towards the port side during a starboard turn?

Fig.8: Drift angle due to the rudder moment.

What happens after this, is what makes the ship turn. To understand the mystery behind the
turning of a ship, let’s not focus on the surge velocity here. The prime focus should be on the
sway component. Because, that sway velocity component, is what changes the hydrodynamics
around the ship’s hull to cause it to turn. Follow Figure 4 as you read further. This figure focuses
on the effect of the sway velocity and how it turns the ship. With a sway velocity towards the
port side, the hull sways towards port. When it does so, it exerts a force on the water particles
that are in its port side. The water particles in turn, exert an opposite force on the ship’s hull, due
to the inherent inertia of the water particles. The direction of this inertia force is always opposite
to the sway velocity, since inertia force always opposes motion. So, the ship’s hull experiences
an inertia force on its hull in the starboard direction. Now, this force can be categorised into two.
One, the part of it that acts on the stern of the ship (Inertia force at stern) and the other half acting
at the bow (inertia force at bow). Follow the figure below, and you’ll visualize that the inertia
forces at stern will create an anticlockwise (towards port) moment about the centre of gravity,

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whereas the bow inertia forces will create a clockwise (towards starboard) moment about the
centre of gravity. Now, the hull is designed such that the sway inertia forces at the bow is more
than that at the stern, therefore the resultant moment is towards the starboard direction as shown
in Figure 9.

Fig.9 : Hydrodynamic moment due to sway velocity

What’s important to know here is that when the hull exerts force on the water around it, during
its sway velocity to the port, the inertia force exerted by the water on the hull tries to achieve an
equilibrium, which means, the magnitude of the inertia force is in the order of the ship’s
displacement. It is that large, a force. So, when the resultant hydrodynamic moment acts on the
ship, its magnitude is in the order of the ship’s displacement. This moment (unlike the moment
cause by the rudder force alone) is sufficient enough to turn the ship. But as you can see, this
hydrodynamic moment wouldn’t have come to play, had the ship not attained a drift angle or a
sway velocity component, which was mainly due to the action of the rudder. This, is enough to
justify, that the rudder does not turn the ship. It only initiates a drift angle in the ship, which
results in a hydrodynamic moment, which is actually the driving force behind the turning action.
The hydrodynamic moment, is in the same direction of the rudder moment (both trying to turn
the ship to starboard). The rudder angle keeps the rudder moment intact, which in turn, keeps the
hydrodynamic moment intact. Once the rudder is again brought back to midships, first the rudder
force vanishes, which results in the diminishing of the rudder moment. It is only after that, the
drift angle is reduced to zero, and the hydrodynamic moment becomes zero, therefore thwarting
the turning action. It is due to this indirect linking of the rudder to the turning action, that ships
are sluggish when it comes to manoeuvring with rudder action.
The resultant moment diagram for a ship performing a starboard turn is as shown in Figure 10
below.

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Fig 10: Moments acting on a ship during starboard turn.

Coming to what does this entire theory have to do in relation to the positioning of the rudder
behind the ship. Well, if you didn’t know of the above, it was impossible for you to even imagine
like a designer, i.e. why a rudder is placed behind the ship. Now that you are aware of the real
physics behind a ship’s turning, here is,
why a rudder is always placed at the aft:

 The rudder, when turned to starboard, creates a force towards the port (which we named, the
rudder force). Note the direction of rudder moment that was created about the CG by the
rudder force. The direction of the rudder moment was towards the starboard (so as to create a
drift angle towards the starboard). Now imagine placing the rudder at the ship’s bow. Given a
starboard angle to the rudder, the rudder force would still be in the port direction. But what
about the moment about CG? Visualise this – The rudder moment would be towards the port,
causing a drift angle towards the port, and the net hydrodynamic moment would cause the
ship to turn to port. Whereas, you turned the rudder starboard for a starboard turn. See the
problem?

 There’s another reason why rudders are never placed at the bow. It is to protect the rudder
from collision damages. But this however, isn’t a primary reason. The primary one, is what
you just read above.

 Lastly, why is a rudder always placed behind a propeller? Well, the propeller does nothing
but increases the velocity of the water that flows out of its slipstream. And the lift generated
(rudder force) is proportional to the velocity of water falling on it. So if a rudder is placed at
the aft of the propeller, the increased velocity of the propeller outflow results in a greater lift
force. It is only for this reason that a rudder is placed aft of the propeller. However, if a
rudder is placed just forward of the propeller, it will have the same turning effect with respect
to direction, but the magnitude won’t be the same, given the fact that the flow on the rudder
is not as much as it would have been, had it been placed behind the propeller slipstream.

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2.2 Explain with diagrams three different types of rudder designs?
1. Spade or Balanced Rudder
A spade rudder is basically a rudder plate that is fixed to the rudder stock only at the top of the
rudder. In other words, the rudder stock (or the axis of the rudder) doesn’t run down along the
span of the rudder. The position of the rudder stock along the chord of the rudder (width
meaning, from the forward to aft end of the rudder) actually decides whether the rudder is
balanced of semi-balanced one. In balanced rudders, (which spade rudders generally are) the
rudder stock is at such a position such that 40% of the rudder area is forward of the stock and the
remaining is aft of it.
A genuine question that must have come up in your mind is, why is such a position chosen for
the rudder stock? The answer lies in simple physics. The centre of gravity of the rudder will lie
somewhere close to 40% of its chord length from its forward end. If the axis of the rudder is
placed near to this location, the torque required to rotate the rudder will be much lesser than what
is required to move it, had the axis been placed at the forward end of the rudder. So, the energy
requirement of the steering gear equipment is reduced, therefore lowering the fuel consumption
of the ship.

Fig.11: Balanced Rudder

2. Unbalanced Rudders
These rudders have their stocks attached at the forward most point of their span. Unlike balanced
rudders, the rudder stock runs along the chord length of the rudder. The reason is simple. In this
case, the torque required to turn the rudder is way higher than what is required for a
corresponding balanced rudder. So, the topmost part of the rudder has to be fixed to the spindle
so as to prevent it from vertical displacement from its natural position. However, unbalanced
rudders are not widely used now.

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Having discussed the conventional types of rudders, let us shift into something yet more
interesting. Researchers and ship operators had found significant problems with the balanced and
unbalanced rudders. That is, in case there was a failure of the steering gear mechanism while
turning a ship. The rudder would remain still with its angle of attack in that condition. The
solution to this was found in designing an optimized Semi-Balanced Rudder.

Fig.12 : Unbalanced Rudder

3. Semi- Balanced Rudder:
If you have been able to visualize a balanced and unbalanced rudder by now, it should be pretty
easy to visualize a semi-balanced rudder. In fact, the rudder you see on most ships are semi-
balanced in the modern industry. The name semi-balanced itself implies, that the rudder is partly
balanced and partly unbalanced. If you refer to the figure below, you’ll see that a portion of the
chord length from the top is unbalanced, and the remaining chord length is balanced. Why? Read
on. The top part being unbalanced will help in acting as structural support to the rudder from
vertical displacement. And the balanced part will render less torque in swinging the rudder. As a
result, a semi-balanced rudder returns to the centreline orientation on its own if the steering gear
equipment fails during a turn.
Semi-balanced rudders are again of two types depending upon the depth of the horn (which
affects the response and torque characteristics of the rudder). A shallow horn rudder will have a
horn which extends hardly half the chord length of the rudder from the top. Whereas, a deep horn
rudder will feature a horn deeply extending up to more than 50 % of its chord length from the top
of the rudder.

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Fig.13: Semi balanced Rudder

2.3 How a rudder is constructed?

Fig.14:

 Rudders fitted on ships are steel structure adequately strengthened and so designed and
shaped to withstand the hydrodynamic pressure exerted on it by the sea water.
 Rudders may be of cast or forged steel or built of web plates welded together on internal
frames.
 They may be hinged on pintles and gudgeons, or they may turn about an axle with upper and
lower bearings, which passes down through the rudder.
 The upper face of the rudder is formed into a, usually, horizontal flat palm which acts as the
coupling point for the rudder stock.

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 Rudders are hollow and so provide for some buoyancy.
 In order to minimize the risk of corrosion internal surfaces are provided with a protective
coating and some are even filled with foam.
 A drain plug is provided to allow for the drainage of water.
 A means of lifting is provided taking the form of a tube as close to the center of gravity as
possible.
 After manufacture, every rudder is air tested to a pressure equivalent to a head of 2.45 m
above the top of the rudder in order to ensure its watertight integrity.

2.4 Rudder Pintles and Bearings

Fig. 15: Balanced Rudder with bearing

 The rudder, depending on its type and arrangement, will turn on either bearings or pintles.
Rudder Carrier Bearing
 The balanced rudder in shown above has a fixed axle fitted at its turning axis. Upper and
lower bearings are fitted in the rudder, as shown in the figure.
 The upper bearing and lower bearing consist of a bronze or stainless steel cage in the rudder
and a bronze or stainless steel liner on the axle. The stainless steel bush is spirally grooved to
permit lubrication. A tufnol bush is fitted in the cage and act as a low friction bearing
material for rudder.
 Note: Under normal circumstances the weight of the rudder is taken by carrier bearing
located in steering compartment, which is discussed later.
 The lower bearing has bearing rings fitted between the rudder and the stern frame. These are
fitted with a small clearance but may support the weight of the rudder should the carrier
bearing fail.

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Fig.16: Unbalanced Rudder with bearing

 The unbalanced rudder shown here turns on pintles.
 The figure shows locking pintles on top, and bearing pintles at bottom. Pintle consists of a
bearing length of constant diameter and a tapered length which is drawn into a similarly
tapered hole on the rudder.
 Tufnol is the low friction synthetic bearing material
 The pintle is drawn in by a large nut pulling on the threaded portion of the pintle. The pintle
nut is securely locked in place after tightening.
 A locking pintle (upper pintle) has a shoulder of increased diameter at its lower end which
prevents excessive lift of the rudder.
 A bearing pintle (bottom pintle) has a bearing surface at its lower edge which rests on a hard
steel disc. This bearing pintle is only required to support the weight of the rudder in the event
of the rudder carrier failing.

2.5 Rudder stock

A rudder stock may be of cast or forged steel, and its diameter is determined in accordance
with the torque and any bending moment it is to withstand. The stock passes through rudder
trunk and connected to steering gear. At its lower end it is connected to the rudder by a
horizontal or vertical bolted coupling. This coupling enables the rudder to be lifted from the
pintles for inspection and service.

2.6 Rudder carrier bearing

The rudder stock passes through a watertight seal and a rudder carrier bearing before entering
the steering compartment. The rudder carrier bearing comprising of Base cone and Moving
cone, shown here, takes the weight of the rudder on a grease lubricated thrust face. The
rudder stock is located by the journal beneath, also grease lubricated. Support for the rudder
carrier bearing is provided by framing beneath the steering gear deck. There is Doubling

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plate shown in the area beneath the carrier bearing. The base of the carrier bearing is located
by side chocks welded to the deck. Carrier bearing components are split in half and joined by
bolts for removal or replacement. Grease lubricator is provided at the grease point to
lubricate the thrust bearing. The grease used for lubrication is of a water resistant type.

Fig.17: Rudder carrier bearing

2.7 Rudder drop & jumping clearance

Fig.18: Rudder drop

Rudder Bearing weardown measurement (Rudder drop)

Rudder carrier bearing weardown occurs over a period of time, and allowance is made in the
construction of the steering gear for a small vertical drop of the rudder stock. This wear down
allowance is checked periodically with Trammel and restored as necessary. This takes the form
of an 'L' shape bar of suitable construction. When the vessel is built a distinct centre punch mark
is placed onto the rudder stock and onto a suitable location on the vessels structure. The trammel

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is manufactured to suit these marks. As the carrier wears the upper pointer will fall below the
centre punch mark by an amount equal to the wear down.

Jumping stopper & clearance

If the rudder is lifted when the ship is underway due to the wave impact or the contact with
floating objects, and or bottom contact, the steering gear may be damaged. To prevent such
damage, a jumping stopper is provided at the stern frame B. The Clearance between the Stern
frame B and the rudder A is referred as the jumping clearance. It is about 2 mm maximum.
The clearance between the rudder and the flat should be less than the Steering gear cross-head
clearance. Any vertical force on the rudder will hence be transmitted to the stern frame at B
through the jumping stopper and not to the steering gear.

Fig.19: Jumping clearance

2.8 Rudder trunk

Rudder stocks are carried in the rudder trunk, which as a rule is not made watertight at its
lower end, but a watertight gland is fitted at the top of the trunk at rudder carrier bearing,
where the stock enters the intact hull. Combined rudder carrier and stuffing box

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CHAPTER 10
MID SHIP SECTIONS OF SHIP
1. Introduction
2. General Cargo Carrier
3. Dry Bulk Carrier
4. Ore and bulk oil (OBO) carriers
5. Liquide Bulk carrier
6. Container ship
7. Roll On Roll Off (RO-RO Ships)

1. Introduction
The longitudinal strength of hull girder depends on the section modulus of the midship section.
This in turn depends on the scantlings and layout of the structural members in the midship
region. The midship region extends one forth length of the ship forward and aft of midship. Over
this midship region the scantlings of the structural members are kept the same. Maximum
longitudinal bending moment is experienced by a hull girder within this midship zone. Therefore
midship section plays an important role from longitudinal strength point of view, at the same
time it depicts the structural layout depending on the type of cargo the ship is going to carry.
Thus different types of ships have different midship sections. The structural arrangement and
their scantlings are shown in these plans. These are statutory structural plans which are to be
approved by the concerned classification. Thus different types of ships have different midship
sections. The basic features of various types of ships have already been discussed in Chap. 1.
Here in this chapter only structural arrangements of midship region of these ships will be taken
up.

2. General Cargo Carrier

Introduction
These ships are often referred to as go-any-where type of ships. These vessels can carry any type
of packaged cargo of varying dimensions. The cargo can be in drums, bags, bundles, bales or
individual pieces. These ships are always equipped with cargo handling gear of its own generally
in the form of derricks or deck cranes. Thereby these vessels do not depend on the port facility as
far as cargo loading and unloading is concerned. Hence, irrespective of the cargo handling
facility available in a given port, these type of vessels can load/unload cargo in any port provided
the water draft available is adequate for the ship.

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Structural features
These vessels are of single skin type with double bottom and generally have at least one tween
deck. This is provided for facilitating cargo segregation and stowage. Decks and double bottom
are longitudinally stiffened, whereas the side shells are transversely stiffened.

Hatches and Holds

The engine room is generally located in semi aft position, i.e. there is a cargo hold in the aft of
engine room and the other holds are ford of engine room. Each hold is provided with one hatch
opening, having hatch width somewhat less than the half deck width. For improving cargo
loading and unloading, there can be multiple hatch openings in each hold. However, this adds to
the production cost of the ship.

Fig. 1: Midship section of a general cargo carrier, section through deck transverse

Capacity/Speed
Capacity of general cargo ships are always on the lower side, generally not exceeding about
12,000 similarly the speed of such vessels is also on the lower side about 10–12 knots. These
type of ships carry various types of cargo of varying overall dimensions and sizes, the whole
process of cargo loading and unloading becomes quite lengthy. Many a time it is observed that

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the port time of such vessels goes beyond 3 weeks. Hence if the capacity is increased, it will
further increase the port time because of longer duration of cargo handling. The longer a ship
waits in a port, it only spends money, only then it earns, when it sails with cargo. Hence it is
necessary to see how to reduce port time, i.e. reduce loading/unloading time. Ship’s speed is one
of the owners’ important requirement as well as it is one of the important parameter with regard
to ship’s operation. Fuel consumption increases exponentially with increasing speed. This
implies operation cost increases with increase in speed. On the other hand, travel time reduces as
speed increases, i.e. with higher speed, number of trips per annum increases. If the number of
days saved in sailing due to increase in speed is comparable to the port time, then only speed
increase becomes justifiable. In case of general cargo ships, where port time is of the order of
21–30 days or even more, merely saving few days of sailing time by increasing speed and
thereby substantially increasing fuel consumption does not become economically viable. That is
why the cruising speed of general cargo ships is kept on the lower side.

3. Dry Bulk Carrier

Introduction
ships are essentially meant for carrying dry cargo in bulk, like grains, pulses, sugar, etc. are
called as Bulk Carrier. Vessels are those carrying ore, coal or high density bulk cargo are
generally referred to as Ore Carrier, Coal Carrier or Combination Carrier. For cargo loading
these vessels need to depend on port facilities, however these ships are fitted with deck cranes
for cargo unloading. Cargo loading generally takes place in a automated fashion through a
combination of conveyor and hopper. Whereas unloading is done either by pumping in case low
density cargo like grain/pulses or by using grab buckets for coal/iron ore. A typical dry bulk
carrier is shown in Fig. 2.

Structural features
These are single decker vessels with top and bottom wing tanks with sloping bulkheads. These
wing tanks are either kept empty or are used for ballasting. The sloping bulkhead of top wing
tank in some bulk carriers is hinged to the side shell structure. Therefore, when it is in lowered
configuration it behaves like a lower deck and the space can be used for carrying general cargo.
The wing tanks and the double bottom are longitudinally stiffened, however the side shell in the
hold region is transversely stiffened to avoid retention of cargo on the webs of the longitudinal
stiffeners even after unloading of the cargo. Structural failures are observed in the area where the
side shell frames are connected to the sloping bulkhead of the bottom wing tank. The rate of
corrosion in this zone is comparatively higher because of accumulation of dust and dirt from the
bulk cargo along the welded joint. Under the normal service loads and due to gradual wastage of
metal through corrosion, complete detachment of bracket takes place.

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Fig..2: Midship section of a bulk carrier

4. Ore and bulk oil (OBO) carriers

Introduction
The double bottom height of high density bulk cargo (ore/coal) carrier is substantially higher
compared to the normal bulk (grain/pulses/sugar/etc.) carrier. This is done to raise the position of
vertical centre of gravity (VCG) of the vessel in full load condition. The cargo being of high
density (7–8 times compared to that of grain cargo), it will occupy less space in the cargo hold to
attain the full load condition. Thus it will have two basic effects:
Large part of the hold will remain empty. This may cause cargo shifting due to rolling of the ship
leading to damage of the side shell. This may also lead to listing of the vessel because uneven
shifting of cargo to one side of the hold. This permanent heel of the vessel will cause loss of
course keeping stability. This will require continuous rudder angle to correct its course. This will
cause additional fuel consumption because part of the power will get consumed in forcing the
ship back in its path. The VCG position will be very low resulting in substantially high
metacentric height (GM). This will make the ship stiff, i.e. it will have very high righting
moment. In the event of some heeling of the vessel due to some external cause like wave action
or gust of wind, the vessel will heel and will try to restore back to its upright condition very fast.
Thereby it will roll further to the other side and thus it may experience quite severe rolling
motion. This brings in the concept of Combination Carrier (OBO carrier). Here the hold volume

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is made smaller by raising the tank top and providing inner side shells as shown in the Fig. 3. By
doing so, both the above issues are solved. By raising the tank top the VCG position is raised and
thus GM reduces, making the vessel tender. By putting inner side shells, the hold volume reduces
and therefore hold remains full and shifting of cargo does not take place. The additional space
that is created by the inner side shells is used to carry liquid cargo in return voyage. The tank top
plating in way of cargo hold needs additional strengthening in case of ore carriers. Because
during loading this heavy cargo drops from a height over the tank top plating and also at the
same time while unloading, the grab bucket will hit the tank top plating while emptying the hold.
Both these actions will cause sever loading on the tank top structure causing erosion and possible
deformation of the same.

Fig. 3: Midship section of a OBO carrier

Hatches and Holds

The engine room is located fully aft. That means all the cargo holds are forward of the engine
room. Each hold has hatch opening with suitable hatch cover for water tight closing. The width
of the opening is of the order of half the width of the main deck at midship. Deck cranes are
located in between the holds on the main deck supported by transverse subdivision bulkheads.
During loading or unloading extra care needs to be taken so as not to create a situation which

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makes alternate holds empty or full. This situation of alternate hold loading will cause
development of severe shearing force in the structure in the vicinity of full and empty hold.

Capacity/Speed
Bulk carriers are available over a wide range of capacity, starting from about 20,000 t to about
80,000 t. Since both loading and unloading of cargo is well mechanised, the port time of such
vessels are much less in comparison to that of general cargo ships. Hence depending upon the
trade volume quite high capacity vessels are made. To increase the number of trips per annum,
also one can go for somewhat higher speed of operation. The preferred speed for bulk carriers
are in the range of 15–20 knots.

5. Liquide Bulk carrier

In these vessels liquid cargo is carried in bulk either at room temperature and ambient pressure or
at cryogenic temperature and high pressure.

 LNG/LPG
 Crude Oil Tanker
 Product Carrier and Chemical Tanker

Fig. 4: Midship section of a VLCC

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LNG/LPG
Cargo like liquid natural gas or liquid petroleum gas is carried under cryogenic conditions. These
vessels are referred to LNG/LPG carrier. These are essentially extremely sophisticated vessels
with appropriate containment system which can retain the cryogenic temperature of the cargo.
This being extremely low density cargo, much of the hull remains out of water exposed to the
atmosphere. In liquefied gas carriers, the cargo is kept under positive pressure so as to prevent air
entering the cargo tanks. The gas is carried always in liquefied condition and because of their
physical and chemical properties, they are carried either,

 Under pressures greater than atmospheric, or at

 Temperatures below ambient, or a
 Combination of both.

The gas carriers are therefore generally classified as,

 Fully Pressurised
 Semi-pressurised and refrigerated
 Fully refrigerated.
Natural gas mainly comprises of methane and ethane. LNG ships carry their cargo at −161 °C at
ambient pressure. Whereas LPG is mainly propane and butane. LPG ships carry their cargo at
−42 °C. It is often carried under pressure.

Crude Oil Tanker

Very high volume of international global trade is carried out in importing or exporting of crude
oil. This gave rise to what came to be known as VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) and ULCC
(Ultra large Crude Carrier).

Product Carrier and Chemical Tanker

Product Carriers and chemicals, like various acids and alkalis carried in Chemical Tankers. A
typical chemical tanker, Alcedo, 2800 t capacity.

Structural features
The liquid cargo carriers are all single decker vessels. The cargo in bulk is carried in the cargo
hold directly. Irrespective of the type of cargo, all vessels have double bottom and completely
closed main deck excepting in case of LNG/LPG carrier. Longitudinal framing system is adopted
in the entire construction. In addition to the subdivision water tight bulkheads, these vessels
depending on its size have one or more longitudinal bulkheads also. Longitudinal bulkheads are
provided to reduce the free surface effect of the liquids in the cargo holds. Generally the crude
oil carriers are of very high capacity with vessel length exceeding 300–400 m. The product
carriers and chemical tankers are of smaller size compared to crude carriers. The length of
product carriers is in the range of 220 m, and that of chemical tankers is 120 m. the structural
integrity and structural strength of all these vessels is very good as because there is no hatch

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opening, making it a perfect closed-section structure. In addition to this longitudinal framing
system also contributes to the longitudinal strength of the hull girder. The crude carriers are full
form ships having block coefficient 0.8 and above. However the product carriers and chemical
tankers are of fine form. Oil spillage caused by crude oil tanker disaster led to severe
environmental pollution affecting ecosystem and coastal marine life. This eventually led to a
regulation making it mandatory to have double wall construction for all sea going crude carriers.
The idea is to have a second wall of defence in the event of any damage to the outer shell, thus
preventing oil spillage. This double wall construction further contributes to the longitudinal
strength. The same logic also applies to the product carriers as well as chemical tankers. All
these vessels are of double wall construction.

Hatches and Holds

These vessels have cargo holds and each hold is serviced by inlet and outlet manifold for
pumping in and out the liquid cargo. Naturally these vessels do not have any hatch opening. In
LNG/LPG carriers, the cargo is carried in specialised containers with appropriate containment
system and the whole assembly is placed in the holds. About one third of the container remains
outside the deck level. In product carrier, different holds are generally assigned to different
products, e.g. different kinds of edible oils. Therefore, each hold has its separate pumping
system.

Capacity/Speed
The capacity of crude carriers can be as high as 500,000 t or even more Whereas the capacity of
product carriers is generally in the range of 30,000– 50,000 t and that of chemical tankers about
2,000–10,000 t. The capacity of gas carriers ranges from about 75,000–138,000 m3 of gas. All
these vessels have service speed in the range of 16–21 knots. These vessels can be operated in
higher speed range because of the basic fact that cargo loading and unloading of these vessels are
very fast. Therefore, with increase in speed, one can achieve higher number of round trips per
annum.

6. Container ship
 container ship with box girder
 cellular container ship
The whole concept of container ship came into being to reduce the port time, i.e. cargo
loading/unloading time. As one can observe in case of general cargo ship, the cargo
loading/unloading time is very long, because each and every item of cargo needs to be
individually handled. Here individual units of cargo can be packed in standardised containers and
thus can be handled as a standardised unit of cargo. With this concept of containerisation of
cargo, thereby increasing the efficiency of cargo transportation.

Structural features

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The fundamental distinct feature of container ship is that it has extremely wide hatch opening,
making it a typical case of so-called open section structure. As the capacity went on increasing, it
led to substantial increase in length overall, making the vessel more vulnerable to longitudinal
and torsional loading. Adequate torsional strength was achieved by providing box girder
arrangement for smaller vessels, however double wall construction became necessary for
providing the required torsional, longitudinal and transverse strength for the larger, higher
capacity vessels. In case of hull construction with box girder arrangement for smaller container
ships, longitudinal framing system is adopted in the box girder as well as in the double bottom.
However, the side shell is transversely framed. Transversely framed side shell provides for
necessary transverse strength as well as supports the box girder arrangement. As the vessel size
increases, box girder becomes inadequate. To achieve the required strength against torsion and
longitudinal bending, cellular construction is adopted. It can be considered as if the box girder is
extended down to the tank top plating, thus obtaining the cellular nature of the structure. The
hatch covers are necessarily of very long span, because of the wide hatch opening. At the same
time since containers are also stacked over the hatch covers, they need to be accordingly
designed to withstand these loads.

Fig. 5: A typical midship section of a container ship with box girder

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Hatches and Holds
The prime most feature of container ship is its near open-deck construction. That means it has a
very wide hatch opening to facilitate loading and unloading of the containers in the cargo hold.
Putting the containers in the hold, one on top of the other is to be done vertically, same operation
is required while unloading them.

Capacity/Speed
There are certain standard lengths of these containers. The most widely used sizes today, are the
20-foot and 40-foot lengths. The 20-foot container is referred to as a Twenty-foot Equivalent
Unit (TEU). The capacity of a container ship is expressed in terms of TEU. It implies the number
of such 20 foot containers that a ship can carry. Therefore, one 40-foot length container will be
equivalent to 2 TEU. The world’s largest container ships are about 400 m long and about 55 m
wide. In such vessels are powered by engines which weigh around 2,300 tons, the propellers 130
tons, and there are twenty-one storeys between their bridge and their engine room. Typically,
these vessels are 11,000 TEU and are manned by just about 13–14 people. these vessels
generally have higher speed of operation, in the range of about 20–25 knots

Fig. 6 A typical midship section of cellular container ship

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7. Roll On Roll Off (RO-RO Ships)

These vessels are specially designed to carry wheeled cargo, which can be loaded and unloaded
on their own wheels. These wheeled cargos can be passenger cars, trucks, trailers, railroad cars,
heavy earth moving vehicles, etc. The ships are provided with ramps located at the stern or bow
or at the port side of the ship. RO-RO ferry are widely used for passenger transportation between
destinations separated by short stretch of sea, where building a bridge is not feasible. This
provides a seamless movement of the passengers travelling from one point to the other. These car
passenger ferries or RO-RO ferries typically have car decks for keeping the cars and restaurants
and shops for the passenger to spend time while sailing. At the destination one boards the car and
simply drives off. The passengers drive in and drive out of the ship. Thus it has very low port
turnaround time. The ventilation of the cargo space in RO-RO ships is of additional importance
because the cargo, i.e. wheeled vehicles which are loaded and also unloaded using their own
petrol/diesel powered engines. Since hundreds of vehicles are stored in closed space, the exhaust
from each, however small it is, may accumulate to a significant level. Hence the ventilation
system of the cargo spaces is to be appropriately designed and it is kept completely segregated
from other ventilation systems.

Structural features
One of the primary structural feature is, it is multi deck vessel and the decks need to have
unobstructed passage from the ramp end to the other end of the ship till the bulkhead of the last
hold. The earlier versions of RO-RO vessel did not have subdivision water tight bulkheads to
satisfy the requirement of unobstructed passage of the vehicles. Thus any damage/leakage in the
hold region anywhere along the ship’s length will lead to complete flooding of the entire vessel.
[The RO-RO ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized and sank shortly after Leaving Zeebrugge
port in Belgium in March 1987. On 28 September 1994, the RO-RO ship Estonia was lost with
more than 900 lives when the bow door got torn off by heavy seas.] Subsequently rules were
enacted and now subdivision bulkheads are mandatory for RO-RO vessels. The transverse
bulkheads are equipped with power-operated sliding doors. There should always be an inner door
behind the bow door to act as a second line of defence. These vessels do not require any hatch
opening and at the same time there are multiple decks, therefore adequate global structural
strength is easily achieved. The decks and double bottom are longitudinally framed whereas the
side shell is transversely framed to provide for better load distribution from the car decks to the
hull girder. The car decks need to be adequately strengthened to take the local load of the
wheeled vehicles. In case of vessels meant for carrying extra heavy vehicles, accordingly
appropriate strengthening of the decks is to be done.

Hatches and Holds

RO-RO ships do not have any hatch opening for cargo loading. it does have access opening at
the bow or stern or in the side shell in the ford or aft region for vehicle loading/unloading
through ramps. The transverse subdivision bulkheads in between the cargo holds have power
operated sliding doors to provide for unobstructed access for vehicle movement and storage.

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There are multiple car decks depending on the size and capacity of the vessel. The car decks are
connected to each other by internal ramps at either of the end of the decks.

Capacity and Speed

These ships can be classified based on their dedicated usage, like Pure Car Carrier (PCC), Pure
Car/Truck Carrier (PCTC) and Large Car and Truck Carrier (LCTC). The PCTC generally have
dual loading facility through stern ramp as well as side ramp for speeding up loading/unloading
of thousands of vehicles. Often these ships are equipped with height adjustable decks to provide
for required vertical clearance for extra high and heavy wheeled cargo. For example, a 6,500-unit
RO-RO vessel with 12 decks can have three decks which can take cargo up to about 140 t having
adjustable decks to increase deck height from 1.7 to 6.7 m. Since the cargo loading/unloading is
very fast leading to low port time, these vessels generally have high cruising speed in excess of
20 knots

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CHAPTER 11
LOAD LINE MARKING AND TONNAGES
1. Introduction
2. Purpose and Necessity of Load Lines
3. Understanding Load Line Marks and Types
4. Timber Load Line Markings
5. Loadline on Port and Starboard side of ship
6. International Loadline Certification
7. Tonnages

1. Introduction
“Load line is a special marking positioned amidships which depicts the draft of the vessel and
the maximum permitted limit in distinct types of waters to which the ship can be loaded.”
When the load line is drawn over the output characteristic curve in a graph, it makes contact at
a point known as the operating point/ quiescent point or Q-point.
As a result of the numerous maritime accidents that have happened at sea due to the
overloading of vessels, the significance of having a standard maximum limit for ships was
identified long before. However, it took many years to have an International agreement for the
universal application of Load lines.
It was in 1930 when the first International Load Line Convention took place, after which it was
periodically amended until the latest one in 2003.

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Fig. 1: Loadline Marking on starboard side (Image Credits: Marine Insight)

2. Purpose and Necessity of Load Lines

The Load Line concept emerged in Britain in the 1870s to prevent merchant ships from being
overloaded. The fundamental purpose of a Load Line is to allow a maximum legal limit up to
which a ship can be loaded by cargo. By prescribing such limits, the risk of having the vessel
sailing with inadequate freeboard and buoyancy can be limited.
A vessel should have sufficient freeboard at all times. Any exceptions will result in insufficient
stability and excessive stress on the ship’s hull. This is where load-lines play an essential role,
detecting whether the vessel is overloaded and its freeboard tremendously effortless.
Lloyd’s Register has established a minimum freeboard requirement for its classed ships to ensure
their good reserve buoyancy in heavy seas.
However, since the buoyancy and immersion of the vessel largely depend on the type of water
and its density, it is not practical to define a standard freeboard limit for the ship at all times. For
this reason, the load line convention has put regulations that divide the world into different
geographical zones, each having a separate prescribed load line.
For example, A vessel sailing in Winter on North Atlantic Ocean will have a greater freeboard
than on a voyage in Tropical Zones and Freshwaters.

3. Understanding Load Line Marks and Types

As we have already defined above, the Load Line is a special marking positioned amidships. All
vessels of 24 meters and more are required to have this Load line marking at the centre position
of the length of the summer load waterline.

 Standard Load Line marking – This applies to all types of vessels.

 Timber Load Line Markings – This applies to vessels carrying timber cargo.
These marks shall be punched on the hull’s surface, making it visible even if the paint on the side
of the ship fades out. The marks shall again be painted white or yellow on a dark
background/black on a light background. The complete Load line markings consist of 3 vital
parts.

1. Deck Line is a horizontal line measuring 300mm by 25mm. It passes through the upper
surface of the freeboard.

2. Load Line Disc is a 300mm diameter and 25mm thick round-shaped disc. A horizontal
line intersects it. The upper edge of the horizontal line marks the ‘Summer saltwater line’,
also known as the ‘Plimsoll Line.

3. Load Lines – Load lines are horizontal lines are extending forward and aft from a
vertical line placed at a distance of 540mm from the centre of the disc. They measure
230mm by 23mm. The upper surfaces of the load lines indicate the maximum depths to
which the ships may be submerged in different seasons and circumstances.

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S – Summer:

It is the primary freeboard line at the same level as the Plimsoll Line. Other load lines are
marked based on this Summer freeboard line.

T – Tropical

It is 1/48th of the summer draft marked above the Summer load line.

W – Winter

It is 1/48th of the summer draft marked below the Summer load line.

WNA – Winter North Atlantic

It is marked 50mm below the Winter load line. It applies to voyages in North Atlantic (above 36
degrees of latitude) during the winter months.

F – Fresh Water

It is the summer freshwater load line. The distance between S and F is the Fresh Water
Allowance (FWA).

TF – Tropical Fresh Water

It is the freshwater load line in Tropical. It is marked above the T at an amount equal to FWA.

4. Timber Load Line Markings

Ships engaged in the timber deck cargo trade must have a unique set of Load lines known as the
Timber Load Lines. Such vessels shall comply with the Code of Safe Practices for Ships
Carrying Timber Deck Cargo in construction and other requirements obtaining greater reserve
buoyancy and lesser summer freeboard.

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Fig.2: Timber Loadline Marking (Left side) Image Credits: Deck Officer Nachiketh Bhattathiri

Timber cargo vessels will have a second set of Load Lines marked like the standard load lines
positioned 540mm above the centre loading disc.

The timber load line’s letter marking is different and prefixed by ‘L’, meaning ‘Lumber’.

LS – Lumber Summer

Its upper edge marks the summer saltwater timber loading. It is situated at a specified level
above the Plimsol line.

LW – Lumber Winter

It is 1/36th of the lumber summer draft below LS.

LT – Lumber Tropical

It is 1/48th of the lumber summer draft above LS.

LWNA – Lumber Winter North Atlantic

It is at the same level as WNA.

LF – Lumber Freshwater

It is situated above the LS by an amount equal to FWA.

LTF – Lumber Tropical Fresh Water

It is positioned above LT by an amount equal to FWA.

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5. Loadline marking on port side and starboard side

Fig. 3: Loadline on port side

Fig.4: Loadline on starboard side

6. International Loadline Certification

Every ship surveyed and marked in accordance with the present Load line convention is issued
an International Load Line Certificate by the authorised administration. The certificate will have

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a validity of not more than five years and will contain all vital information, including the
assigned freeboard and freshwater allowance.
It is to be noted that, after completion of a load line survey and issuance of the certificate, no
changes shall be made to the superstructure, markings, equipment or arrangements covered under
the survey. If such changes need to be made, the survey’s authorised authority shall be contacted.

7. Tonnages in ship
There are five kinds of tonnage in use in the shipping business.
Displacement
Archimedes principle: Every floating body displaces its own weight of the liquid in which it
floats. For a vessel to float freely in water, the weight of the vessel must be equal to the weight of
the volume of water it displaces. Displacement is the volume of water the vessel displaces.

Light Ship Weight

The light ship weight is the actual weight of a vessel when complete and ready for service but
empty.

Deadweight
Deadweight is the actual amount of weight in tonnes that a vessel can carry when loaded to the
maximum permissible draught (includes fuel, fresh water, gear supplies, catch and crew).

Displacement Mass
Displacement mass is the total weight of the vessel,
i.e.: Lightship weight + deadweight = displacement mass

Gross tonnage (GT)

Gross tonnage (GT or gt) is a measure of a ship’s overall internal volume and is determined by
dividing by 100 the contents, in cubic feet, of the vessel’s enclosed spaces. GT applies
to the vessel, not to cargo. It measures the ship’s volume and has nothing to do with weight. It is
based on two variables: V, the ship’s total volume in cubic metres (m3), and K, a multiplier
based on the ship volume.

Net Tonnage (NT)

GT is often confused with Net Tonnage, which is a ship’s gross tonnage minus the space
occupied by accommodations for crew, by machinery, for navigation, by the engine room and
fuel. This means a vessel’s net tonnage represents the available space for accommodation of
passengers and stowage of cargo.

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CHAPTER 12
OFFSHORE TECHNOLOGY
1. Introduction
2. Types of offshore vessels
Oil Exploration and Drilling Vessels
Offshore Support Vessels
Offshore Production Vessels
Construction/Special Purpose Vessels
3. Dynamic Positioning system
4. Dynamic Positioning vessel

1. Introduction
Offshore vessels are ships that specifically serve operational purposes such as oil exploration and
construction work at the high seas. There are a variety of offshore vessels, which not only help in
exploration and drilling of oil but also for providing necessary supplies to the excavation and
construction units located at the high seas.
Offshore ships also provide the transiting and relieving of crewing personnel to and from the
high seas’ operational arenas, as and when necessitated.
As mentioned, above, the denotation of offshore vessels is a collective reference and as such
includes a wide array of vessels employed in the high seas sector.

2. Types of offshore vessels

They can be mainly classified into the following main groups:

 Oil Exploration and Drilling Vessels

 Offshore Support Vessels
 Offshore Production Vessels
 Construction/Special Purpose Vessels

Each of this category comprise of a variety of vessels.

Oil Exploration and Drilling Vessels

Oil exploration vessels, as the name suggests, help in exploration and drilling of oil at high seas.
The main types of exploration vessels are:

 Drill ship
 Jack Up Vessels
 Semi-submersible Vessels

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 Offshore barge
 Floating Platforms
 Tenders

Offshore Support Vessels

Certain offshore vessels provide the necessary manpower and technical reinforcement required
so that the operational processes in the high seas continue smoothly and without any undesired
interruptions. Such vessels are called as ‘offshore support vessels.’
Offshore supply vessels transport the required structural components to the designated high seas
sector along with providing assistance to supply freight as well. The constructional aspect of
these vessels can be purpose-built to suit the operational demands.
Some of the main types of offshore support vessels are:

 Anchor Handling Tug Vessel (AHTV)

 Seismic Vessel
 Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs)
 Well Intervention Vessel
 Accommodation Ships

Offshore Production Vessels

Offshore production vessels refer to those vessels that help in the production processes in the
drilling units in the high seas. FPSOs (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) can be
enumerated as an example of these types of offshore ships. Main types of these vessels are:

 Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO)

 Single Point Anchor Reservoir (SPAR) platform
 Shuttle Tankers
 Tension Leg Platform (TLP)

Offshore Construction Vessel

Ships that primarily aid in the construction of various high seas structures are known as offshore
construction vessels.
Other offshore vessels of these type also include those that provide anchorage and tugging
assistance and those kinds of ships that help in the positioning of deep sub-water cable and
piping lines.
Main types are:

 Diving Support Vessel

 Crane Vessel
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 Pipe Laying Vessel
In addition to these, those variances of ships that provide aid in case of any emergencies
occurring in the high seas and those types of vessels that undertake researching and analysing
activities in the high seas are also included under the offshore vessels’ classification.

3. Dynamic Positioning System

Dynamic Positioning or DP as it is commonly known is a method of positioning specially
designed marine vessels within predefined limits at sea using a combination of
computers, thrusters, and position reference systems/units.
Dynamic Positioning System works on the principle of using propulsion to work against the
effects of displacing forces such as wind, current and wave action. There are different types of
vessels that make use of this system, which relates to either maintaining a position or following a
pre-determined track for various jobs related to the offshore and the sub-sea culture.
The DP capable vessels, or DP ships as they are commonly known, are highly manoeuvrable,
fully functional, and reliably self- propelled vessels, which do not require any tugs at any phase
of their operations at sea. Vessels fitted with DP systems are capable of working in any depth or
ocean environment.
Dynamic positioning systems are more commonly used in vessels that perform – Diving,
Drilling, ROV, Pipe-laying, Cable-laying, FPSO’s, and Supply or Multi-purpose support
operations. Although these operations are not limited to only the above mentioned ones, if need
be, DP systems could be fitted to any type or shape of a sea-going vessel.
With the rise of increased research and developments in the offshore and sub-sea sectors, DP
systems have evolved for various reasons such as, but are not limited to –

1. Job effectiveness with the means of safe station keeping and manoeuvring. This is turn
allows the system to be in command of very intricate operations in a safe and efficient
manner.
2. Financial flexibility and time saving in order to develop and maintain these systems.
3. Operations wherein conventional systems such as sub-sea and platform moorings are not
practicable in the offshore operations and for various other safety reasons.
4. Where oil explorations require complex operations which cannot be undertaken solely by
conventional vessels.

DP capable vessels can conclude short tasks rapidly, thus their operations evade the hazard of
damaging the infrastructure in the seabed from their mooring lines and anchors. However, they
require a higher capital investment and functioning expenditure. This is due to more
consumption of fuel, costly equipment / systems and requirement of trained manpower to handle
the systems.
A typical scenario wherein dynamic positioning system is used would be a Diving Support
Vessel, which has to work on all four sides of a platform involved with sub-sea operations,
moving around the platform quickly and safely with the help of the DP system. If DP system and

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technically sound systems are not used then the same operation would become extremely time
consuming and practically unsafe. A DP vessel is therefore designed to handle more than what a
conventional moored vessel can.

4. Dynamic Positioning vessel

1. Platform supply vessel (PSV) / Offshore Support Vessel (OSV)

Platform supply vessels are specially designed to supply to offshore platforms and rigs, and are
considered one of the most common types of vessels using the DP system. These ships can range
from 50 to 100 meters in length and are capable of carrying out a diversity of tasks. They
primarily support offshore platforms by means of transporting necessary supplies to and from a
platform and supply base ashore.

2. Diving Support (DSV’s) and ROV Support Vessels

Many DP vessels are specially designed for supporting commercial sub-sea operations such as
diving. Diving Support Vessels are thus used for this purpose. Divers are required to carry out
inspections or survey jobs, installations and configurations of sub-sea equipment, monitoring an
operation, and recovery of lost or abandoned equipment. ROVs or Remotely Operated
Vehicles are gradually substituting the divers in most of the jobs, but there definitely are certain
tasks that cannot be carried out remotely as they require manual involvement.

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3. Drill Ships

For shallow water and deep water drilling operations, it is vital for the vessel to keep station
(maintain her position within 1m) over the oil/gas well, such that the riser connecting the vessel
to the well is nearly upright and vertical. Drill Ships are therefore fitted with dynamic positioning
systems. The lower main riser angle is continuously monitored and maintained up to accurate
levels in order to avoid unwanted disconnections. Presently, the DP rigs and vessels are
configured in a way to operate in water depths of up to 3000 m or more with the help of high
tech DGPS and Long Baseline (LBL) acoustic systems within the DP module.

4. Cable Lay and Repair Vessels

Modern day fibre-optic cables that are used to connect the world through the ‘World wide web’
are more fragile than previously used thicker traditional cables; hence they have more limitations
and restrictions on loading and bending. To avoid heavy losses structurally to these cables it is

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now very common to use DP vessels for the cable laying and repairing jobs. Most of the modern
cable laying ships are installed with DP systems.

5. Pipe Laying Ships

Many pipe-lay operations are carried out by DP capable lay barges or pipe laying ships. On the
barge, the pipe is assembled or sometimes even constructed through a number of phases of
welding which are carried out in a linear pipe manufacturing facility.

6. Dredgers

These days most of the newer generation dredgers now use DP methods to carry out the dredging
operations safely and accurately along analogous tracks.

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As the tracks must be close to each other without substantial overlaps, using DP system a high
level of accuracy is achieved when dredging in restricted and confined waters.

7. Crane Barge or Crane Vessel

Crane barges or crane vessels help in manufacturing and de-assembly operations related to the
oil and gas industries. These kinds of vessels are also utilized in salvage and wreck removal
operations. Many crane barges and construction vessels these days are DP capable.

8. Rock Dumping Vessels

Rock dumping vessels are utilized so as to dump rock on the seabed as precisely in a safe
location as possible to provide protection to pipelines. These vessels are thus fitted with DP
systems, which enable a good track-speed control to facilitate even rock distribution along a
planned track. This type of vessel is also helpful in providing sufficient protection against the
risks of tidal erosion, which occur in high tidal stream areas.

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9. Passenger Vessels

Modern passenger vessels have shallow draught in order to allow safe access to a greater range
of cruising destinations and are so designed that they are now able to carry more passengers than
ever before, even with larger freeboards. This shallow-draught and high-freeboard combination
and configuration may lead to multiple ship handling issues in tighter berthing locations.

DP thus provides the answer to manoeuvring, berthing and even anchoring of these man-made
lavish floating hotels to be much safer for the crew and passengers.

10. Specialist – Semi-submersible Heavy-Lift Vessels

Ships those are capable of carrying heavy equipment or lifts in general to the remotest locations
will often experience difficulty while loading and off-loading their cargoes. Out of these, some

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of the vessels are mono-hulled or semi-submersible and can immerse themselves to loading
draught, thus allowing the cargo to be floated on board.

A typical example of the cargo may be a drilling rig for transportation over a large distance. DP
fitted on these vessels can be used for position maintenance during the loading and offloading
operations.

11. Mobile Offshore Drilling Units / Ships (MODUs)

DP is, with the current scenario, the only option in deepwater offshore fields.

Even in shallower waters, the use of the DP system is increasingly being used for the positioning
of drilling rigs before anchoring. Specially, with the short duration drilling, DP saves a lot of
time.

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12. Shuttle Tanker

A shuttle tanker, as the name suggests, is a ship designed for transportation of oil or gas from an
offshore oil field to wherever it may be required. It is highly sophisticated and well equipped
with loading and offloading equipment compatible with the oil field infrastructures.

The position keeping for longer durations of the ships is generally carried out with the help
of Dynamic Positioning and is done with respect to the arrangement of the installations or
FPSOs. Well backed-up safety systems ensure that the potentially flammable oil and natural gas
are handled safely.

13. Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit or FPSO Ships

Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit is a floating vessel principally used by the
offshore industry for the processing and storage of oil and gas. The FPSO vessels are designed to
receive oil or gas which is produced from the nearby platforms or sub-sea patterns, process it,
and store it until the oil or gas can be offloaded onto a seagoing tanker or transported through a
pipeline.

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FPSO’s are normally converted oil or gas tankers or can be vessels built specially for the usage
and application. A vessel that is only used for oil storage purposes is called a Floating Storage
Unit (FSU).

14. Naval Vessels and Operations

A number of advanced nations are making good use of DP systems within their naval, coast
guard and auxiliary fleets.

Vessels used up for sea – mine countermeasures, amphibious landing, submarine rescue
and pollution control are all good examples of vessels with DP systems fitted and for good use.

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CHAPTER 13
SHIPYARD PRACTICE
1. Introduction - How a ship is constructed
2. Shipbuilding process
3. Typical Shipyard Layout
4. Role of Classification surveyors in ship construction
5. Ship launching
6. Sea trails

1. Introduction - How a ship is constructed.

Before looking at the details of shipyard layouts it is necessary, first of all, to understand the
various stages in ship production process. Conceptually, this is explained by the flow chart
shown here.

Fig.1: Stages in ship construction process

Work done in sequence (series)

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Plate stowage, shot blasting, Primer coating, Marking and Cutting is done in sequence.

Work done concurrently (all together)

Welding of Sub-assemblies, Panel assemblies, Matrix assemblies, Curved unit assemblies and
Pipe bending is done concurrently. With a mix of sequential and concurrent development time
can be reduced.
The work flow is listed below.

I. Ship design using ship design software

II. Steel plate stowage at stockyard
III. Shotblasting and primer coating of steel plates
IV. Marking and cutting of plates
V. Plate bending & Pipe bending
VI. Sub-assemblies & Assemblies
VII. Block assemblies and unit erection
VIII. Painting of hull
IX. Launching & Outfitting
X. Seatrial & Delivery

2. Shipbuilding process

I. Design
After the signing of shipbuilding contract, with detailed specification of vessel speed,
maneuverability, engine power & full consumption principal particulars, tonnage etc, a 3D
design image of the vessel and engineering drawings are made using ship design software.

II. Stowage in Stockyard

Steel plates, sections and pipes used in ship construction are ordered and stowed in
stockyard.

III. Shot blasting and primer application

Distortion in steel plate is removed by passing through rollers. Plates are shot blasted and
primer is applied to prevent rusting during production.

IV. Marking and cutting of plates

Marking is a process to mark on steel plates for cutting. This marking is done manually or by
computer. Most of the cutting operation is done using a computerized technique. In addition,
"Gas cutting" and "Plasma cutting" techniques are applied depending on the thickness of the
steel.

V. Plate bending & Pipe bending

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The steel plate is bent roughly at first by "Press Bending" using a bending mould. Pipes are
also bent according to specification in the engineering drawing, using pipe bending machine.

VI. Sub-assemblies & Assemblies

Plates that have been cut to shape are welded and formed into sub assemblies. These sub
assemblies are then assembled to form large blocks. The blocks are painted and stowed in
block bay. This technique of making large blocks is called prefabrication.

VII. Unit erection (Joining of blocks to build the hull)

The blocks are transported to building dock by flat bed trucks. The blocks are transferred by
high capacity cranes to building berth. Double bottom blocks are laid out first, then aligned
and welded. After that side shell and deck is erected, followed by engine, machinery, stern
tube, rudder, and propeller installation. On deck accommodation and navigation bridge is
installed.

VIII. Painting of hull

After erection hull is painted while the vessel is still in building dock. Paint provides long
term protection to the steel structure against corrosion.

IX. Launching & Outfitting Launching

After all the blocks are joined, the ship is launched. Since the hull is watertight; the vessel is
launched, by flooding the building dock with water to float the ship. The vessel is then towed
to Outfitting berth for finishing operation. Starting with finishing work of Accommodation
and Navigation Bridge and the Engine room, every equipment and instrument is checked and
re-examined in practice. This is now in the final period of shipbuilding.

X. Seatrial & Delivery

The seatrial includes tests of Vessel speed, Vessel maneuverability, engine power and fuel
consumption, and operation of all equipment and instruments. The test results are kept as the
performance record of the vessel. The Delivery of a ship is completed by signing the delivery
contract. After the delivery ceremony, the captain, chief engineer and crew embark for the
ship's maiden voyage.

3. Typical Shipyard Layout

You have studied the ship building process. The hull of a ship is constructed in a series of stages
outlined in shipbuilding process, such that production is continuous. Many different layouts are
possible, but the best layout is that in which the materials travel the shortest possible distance
with minimum handling.

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Fig.2: Shipyard layout

An ideal layout for a modern shipyard is based on a production flow basis, with the yard
extending back from the Waterfront, river or shore at which the Building berths or building dock
are located. The furthest area from the Building berths is reserved for the Stockyard, and
between the two is arranged in sequence the consecutive work and shop processes.

4. Role of Classification surveyors in ship construction What is the purpose of

Classification of Ship?
A cargo shipper and the underwriter requested to insure a maritime risk require some assurance
that any particular vessel is structurally fit to undertake a proposed voyage. To enable the shipper
and underwriter to distinguish the good risk from the bad, a system of classification has been
formulated over a period of some two hundred years. Today, major classification societies
undertake a broad range of activities under strict quality standards to ensure the protection of life,
property and the environment.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires that ships sailing on international routes
must be classified by a society.

List the main classification societies

1. Great Britain-Lloyd's Register of Shipping
2. France-Bureau Veritas
3. Germany-Germanischer Lloyd
4. Norway-Det Norske Veritas
5. Italy-Registro Italiano Navale
6. United States of America-American Bureau of Shipping
7. Russia-Russian Register of Shipping
8. Japan-Nippon Kaiji Kyokai

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Many countries have recognized these societies to oversee vessels flying their flag to ensure that
IMO regulations and other statutory regulations are complied with.

What is the role of classification societies & class surveyors in ship construction?
A ship that is to be classified must first be designed to approved drawings according to a
society's rules.

Rules and regulations

These classification societies publish rules and regulations which are principally concerned with
the strength of the ship, the provision of adequate equipment, and the reliability of the
machinery.

Ship Design Programs

The Principal classification societies have developed software packages for use by shipyards
which incorporate dynamic-based criteria for the scantlings, structural arrangements and details
of ship structures. The computer programs incorporate a realistic representation of the dynamic
loads likely to be experienced by the ship and are used to determine the scantlings and
investigate the structural responses of critical areas of the ship's structure.

What is the role of class surveyors?

The class surveyors are stationed at the shipyard, where ship is being constructed. The
construction is supervised by class surveyors to ensure that the ship is built from certified
materials and components. All the Steel plates and sections used in ship construction and pipes
etc are certified.
Marine surveyors may perform the following tasks:

1. Examine and approve design plans of hulls and equipment such as main propulsion engines,
auxiliary boilers and turbines, electrical power generating plant, refrigeration and air
conditioning plant and pumping systems.
2. Inspect standards of construction and witness tests of materials.
3. Inspect hulls, machinery and equipment during ship construction to ensure standards and
legislative requirements are met.
4. Conduct surveys throughout the ship's life to ensure standards are maintained.
5. Perform inspections required by domestic statutes and international conventions.
6. Witness tests and operation of emergency and safety machinery and equipment
7. Measure ships for tonnage and survey them for load line assignment.

How would you know that ship is designed and built to approved drawings according to a
society's rules?
On completion of required relevant surveys, Class issues a Provisional or Definitive Certificate
of Classification, as well as Statutory Certificates when delegated by the vessel's Flag
Administration. The Certificate of Classification bears the class notations assigned to the vessel

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and it is also provided with annexes supplying information necessary for the management of the
certificate and for carrying out the class surveys.

What is the validity of certificate?

The certificate is valid for five years, during which time annual and intermediate surveys are
conducted to ensure that the vessel is maintained in a safe condition.

5. Ship Launching
Describe the various types of launching methods
The most commonly used method of launching a ship is one that has remained virtually
unchanged for thousands of years.

Fig.3: Ship end launching

It is, perhaps, the simplest solution to the problem of moving a vessel from Point A on dry land
to Point B much lower in the water. Basically, it involves transferring the ship's weight from the
blocks that have supported her during construction to the launchways. The traditional launch,
stern first, is still the most common, even if there are other ways to launch a ship such as
sideways or in the dry-dock. In the traditional launch, the ship is launched stern first for several
reasons. In general, the shape of the stern is rounder than the streamlined bow profile, thus
providing greater resistance when entering the water. Moreover, the stern provides more
buoyancy to lift the ship from the cradle faster than the bow, thus favouring the gradual
detachment from the slipway. Finally, the greater beam astern helps to stabilize the ship
crosswise as she enters the water and to avoid dangerous listings.

Different types of Ship launching methods

Traditionally, ship launching in the water is done using four main types of methods. These
methods are:
1. Gravitational type launching

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2. Floating-out type launching
3. Mechanical Type launching
4. Airbag launching

1. Gravitational type launching

The gravitational type launching system is further divided into three main types, which are:
i. Longitudinal Oiled Slideway Launching
ii. Longitudinal Steel - Roller Slideway Launching
iii. Side Oiled Slideway Launching
iv. Longitudinal Oiled Slideway Launching

Longitudinal oiled slideway launching

It is one of the oldest forms of launching systems. Using this system, the ship slides on a
slideway and under its own weight enters the water. Oil or wax is used to assist in the sliding
process. The main advantage of this method is that it uses simple equipment and can be used for
vessels with different tonnage and types. However, the coating of oil which is used to slide the
ship smoothly can pollute the water. There is also danger of huge pressure on the front part of the
ship during the launch.

Longitudinal Steel - Roller Slideway Launching

In this type of ship launching method steel rollers are used instead of oil to reduce friction during
sliding. This method uses high-intensity steel rollers, security devices, and steel board for the
launching. The steel plate on the wooden slide helps in the sliding process and the slide rails help
them to protect from steel balls.

Side Oiled Slideway Launching

Side launching is often used where the width of water available is considerably restricted. There
are in fact some advantages to this method, for example the absence of keel declivity, and the
relatively simple cradle and short ground ways which do not extend into the water.

a. The ship slides down ways (Ways built well down under the water.)
b. The ship drops off the end of the ways into the water.

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One of the features of side launching is the drop where the ground ways are not extended into the
water; consequently large angles of heel occur when the vessel strikes the water. As a result it is
necessary to carry out careful stability calculations and close any openings before side launching
a vessel.

2. Floating- Out Type Launching

The floating out type launching is carrying out for ships which are built in dry-docks and are
launched by filling the dock with water. The floating-out type launching system is a simple,
effective, and safe procedure. Calculations are needed to check the stability and loads exerted by
the blocks during flooding, the whole problem being similar to that of un-docking a vessel which
has been dry-docked for survey or other reasons.

3. Mechanical Type Launching

The system requires a mechanical feature to launch a ship. The construction and maintenance
expenditure is high, whereas the mobility and controlling factors of the systems are not up-to-
the-mark. All these methods are mainly used for smaller size vessels and cannot be used for
large, high tonnage ships.

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4. Air bags Launching

Launching ships using air bags is an innovative and safe technique to launch ships in water.
These airbags are usually cylindrical in shape with hemispherical heads at both ends. They are
made of reinforced rubber layers and have high load capacity. This method can easily be used in
all types and sizes of vessels.

6. Sea trial.
Sea trials are the final trials in the construction stage of ship where all the machinery equipment
and all fittings on the ship are tried out for the first time in sea conditions, and each system is
tried and tested as far as practicable at its maximum capacity. The Classification society also
confirms that vessel meets its requirements, SOLAS-convention, national & international rules.
All the trials which are included in the sea trial programme are those which are not capable of
being carried out as a part of the dock side trials of machinery and equipment. Sea trials are
conducted to confirm that vessel meets the specification stated in the contract.
The trials can be broadly grouped into:

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 Engine Room Machinery Trials
 Deck Equipment Trials
 Navigational Trials

These tests are very extensive and cover numerous equipments. Few selected tests are described
from each group, to give overview of sea trial.

Engine Room Machinery Trials

A. Main engine
Engine is run at maximum RPM (Revolutions per minute) and its fuel consumption rate is
calculated. It is also run at 103 °/o of full RPM as overload endurance trial. Crash Stop Ahead
and Crash Stop Astern are carried out to check the capability of engine to start and turn the
propeller in reverse direction to stop the ship.

B. Safety Alarms and Trips

Engine alarms, auto slowdown and shutdown are demonstrated.

Deck Equipment Trials

A. Steering gear Trials
Trials are carried out to demonstrate the timing of moving the rudder from 35° on one side to 30°
on the other as per SOLAS rules. Control of rudder from bridge and local control also called
emergency steering is demonstrated.

B. Anchoring Trials
The proper performance of vessel's anchoring equipment is demonstrated. Lowering, braking and
hoisting of anchors are demonstrated.

Navigation Trials
A. Progressive Speed Trials
Speed trials are carried out at power settings of 25%, 50%, 75% and full RPMs, to confirm that
vessel can attain the speed stated in the contract, under calm sea condition. Trials are done in
deep sea to avoid any shallow water effect that reduces the speed of the ship.

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B. Crash Stop Trial
This test demonstrates emergency stopping ability of the vessel. The "crash-stop" or "crash-
astern" manoeuvre is mainly a test of engine functioning and propeller reversal. The stopping
distance of vessel is a recorded. This is called Head Reach. The distance traveled by a ship, in
the direction of the approach path, before coming to rest after having executed a crash stop
maneuver from a steady, straight-line motion ahead; it is also called Headreach.

C. Zig-Zag Test
Zig-Zag test is for checking Change in Head Angle, and course-keeping ability of the vessel
according to IMO guidelines. Two tests are conducted the 10°/10° and 20°/20° tests. Rudder is
turned alternatively, to either side. In response to rudder, ship should then turn to port/starboard.
This is indicated by Changing Head Angle in the following diagram, in response to Rudder
Angle.

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D. Turning Circle Trials

Merchant ships usually turn in a circle having a diameter of about 3-4 times the length between
perpendiculars (LBP).
The larger the rudder, the smaller will be the Turning circle diameter (TCD) also called Tactical
Diameter.
During the TCD manoeuvre, the ship will experience
 Transfer,
 Advance,
 Drift angles

Turning circles test is for initial turning and steady turning ability of the vessel. Turning circle
trials are carried out at full and half full power RPMs with rudder at 35° Port or Starboard angle.
The plotted circle data is framed and exhibited in the wheel house as per the IMO requirements.
There will be two TCD of different diameters. This is due to the direction of the rotation of the
propeller.

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CHAPTER 13
SHIP CLASSIFICATION & PERIODIC SHIP SURVEY

Process of Ship classification

1. Introduction
2. Why a ship is usually classed?
3. What do Classification Societies do?
4. What do Classification Societies ensure?
5. What is a certificate of Classification?
6. Name various Classification Societies
7. Why enrolling the ships into a society is called as 'Classification'?
8. Briefly explain the Process of classification
9. Explain how the Class is maintained? What all factors will affect the class?
10. When the class will be suspended?
11. Explain what (IACS) stands for.
Periodic Ship Survey
12. Explain periodical survey of ship.
13. What are Non-periodical surveys?
14. Harmonized System of Surveyor and Certification. (HSSC)
15. Port State inspection
16. Explain the terms IGC and IBC.

1. Introduction
International law requires that every merchant ship be registered in a country, called its flag
state. Ship registration is similar to a person receiving a passport. A ship is bound to the law
of and sails under the flag of the country of registration. A ship's flag state exercises
regulatory control over the vessel and is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's
equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. To carry out these
inspections and issuance of various documents, most of flags states give the authority to
classification society. A classification society is a non-governmental organization that
establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and
offshore structures.

2. Why a ship is usually classed

In order to be registered, an ocean-going ship must be certified to be of a particular type and
size and be maintained to certain minimum standards. "class" is a requirement of most
insurance companies and shippers using the vessel. Classification is a special type of

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certification particularly applied to confirm that the ships comply with requirements, set by
the Classification society. The classification of a vessel is based on the understanding that the
vessel is loaded, operated and maintained in a proper manner by competent and qualified crew
or operating personnel. Today a vessel either meets the relevant Class Society's Rules or it
does not. As a consequence, it is either 'in' or 'out' of 'class'.

3. What do Classification Societies do?

The purpose of a Classification Society is to provide classification and statutory services and
assistance to the maritime industry and regulatory bodies as regards maritime safety and
pollution prevention, based on the accumulation of maritime knowledge and technology.
The objective of ship classification is to verify the structural strength and integrity of essential
parts of the ship's hull and its appendages, and the reliability and function of the propulsion
and steering systems, power generation and those other features and auxiliary systems which
have been built into the ship in order to maintain essential services on board.
Classification Societies aim to achieve this objective through the development and application
of their own Rules and by verifying compliance with international and/or national statutory
regulations on behalf of flag Administrations.
Fundamentally classification is a very simple concept based on three main elements,
applicable both to the ships under construction and those under operation.
The three main elements:

 Setting standards (Classification Rules)

 Verification of compliance with standards (approval of specifications and drawings,
surveys and testing)
 Documenting compliance with standards (survey reports, Classification certificates)

Classification Societies have developed a series of notations that are granted to a vessel to
indicate that it is in compliance with classification requirements.
Classification notations assigned to a ship are indicated on the certificate of classification as
well as in the Register of Ships published by the Society.

4. What do Classification Societies ensure?

Classification societies ensure that vessel is in compliance with classification standards (or
also called rules) by following means:
 Design is to a recognized standard. (The safety and reliability of the propulsion and
steering systems)
 Construction is to a recognized standard. (The structural strength of all essential parts of
the hull and its appendages.)
 Operation & Maintenance during its life is to a recognized standard.
 Regular Survey of vessel to ensure it is up to the standard.

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5. What is a certificate of Classification?

Classification is a special type of certification particularly applied to confirm that the ship
complies with the standards of classification society. Classification implies that standards are
set by the classification society that issues the certificate of classification. The standards are
specified in the rules of classification society.
A certificate does not imply:
 Warranty of safety,
 Fitness for purpose or
 Seaworthiness of the ship.
It is an attestation only that the vessel is in compliance with the standards (Developed and
published by the society)

6. Name various Classification Societies

International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) consists of 13 member societies,
details of which are listed below:
i. ABS- American Bureau of Shipping(AB) - USA
ii. BV- Bureau Veritas (BV) - France
iii. CCS- China Classification Society- China
iv. CRS- Croatian Register of Shipping- Croatia
v. DNV- Det Norske Veritas(NV)- Norway
vi. GL- Germanischer Lloyd (GL) - Germany
vii. IRS-Indian Register of Shipping- India
viii. KR- Korean Register- Korea
ix. LRS - lloyds Register of Shipping (LR) - UK
x. NK - Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK) - Japan
xi. PRS- Polish Register of Shipping - Poland
xii. RINA - Registro Italiano Navale(RI) - Italy
xiii. RS- Russian Maritime Register of Shipping- Russia

7. Why enrolling the ships into a society is called as 'Classification'?

Why is it called classification?
Earlier in 18th century, an attempt was made to 'classify' the condition of each ship on an
annual basis, followed by formation of classification societies.
Hull condition was classified A, E, L O or U, according to the excellence of its construction
and its perceived continuing soundness (or otherwise).
Equipment was G, M, or B: simply, good, middling or bad. The condition of each ship was
"classified" on an annual basis. Above method of classification is not practiced now.

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Today a vessel either meets the relevant Class Society's Rules or it does not. As a
consequence, it is either 'in' or 'out' of 'class', there is no in between.

8. Briefly explain the Process of classification 7 step Process of classification

 Ship Builder submits design plans of new ship to classification society (class). Class
verifies compliance of design plans with its rules and grants approval.
 A class surveyor is in attendance during construction to verify that the vessel is
constructed in accordance with the approved design plans and classification Rules.
 Attendance by a Classification Society surveyor(s) at the relevant production facrllnes
that provide key components such as the steel, engine, generators and castings to verify
that the component conforms to the applicable Rule requirements;
 Attendance by a Classification Society surveyor(s) at the sea trials and other trials
relating to the vessel and its equipment prior to delivery to verify conformance with the
applicable Rule requirements;
 Upon satisfactory completion of surveys and sea trials, a certificate of class(hull and
machinery), is issued by class, and kept on board the ship.
 Particulars of ship entered in class register and one or more character symbols assigned to
it. e.g: + 100A1
 Once in service, the owner submits the vessel to a clearly specified programme of
periodical class surveys, carried out onboard the vessel, to verify that the ship continues
to meet the relevant Rule requirements for continuation of class.

9. Explain how the Class is maintained? What all factors will affect the class?
How the class is maintained?
Once the ship is in service, the ship owner submits the vessel to a clearly specified
programme of periodical class surveys, carried out onboard the vessel by class surveyor, to
verify that the ship continues to meet the relevant Rule requirements for continuation of
class.
These surveys include:
 the class renewal (also called "special survey"),
 intermediate survey,
 annual survey, and
 bottom/docking surveys of the hull.
They also include tall shaft survey, boiler survey and machinery surveys It is the ship
owner's duty to ensure that the ship's maintenance is kept at a satisfactory level in order to
maintain the condition between surveys.

Factors affecting class

A ship's class may be affected when:

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 Significant defects become apparent in structures,
 Significant defects in Systems and equipment covered under the rules and regulations.
 Damage has been sustained due to adverse weather conditions, malfunctions or human
error.
Ship owner and operator inform the defects or damage, sustained by the vessel to the class
without delay.

10.When the class will be suspended?

Class may be suspended following a decision made by the Society when one or more of the
following occurs:
 When a ship is not operated in compliance with the Rule requirements;
 When a ship proceeds to sea with less freeboard than that assigned;
 When the ship owner fails to request a survey after having detected defects or damages
affecting the class;
 When repairs, alterations or conversions affecting the class are carried out without
requesting the attendance of a surveyor.

When class is automatically suspended?

 When the class renewal/special survey has not been completed by its due date or within
the time granted in special circumstances for the completion of the survey, unless the
ship is under attendance by the Society's surveyor(s) with a view to completion prior to
resuming trading;
 When the annual or intermediate surveys have not been completed by the end of the
corresponding survey time windows.

When is the class restored?

Suspension of class with respect to the above cases remains in effect until such time as the
due surveys and any other survey deemed appropriate by the Society have been completed.

When is class withdrawn?

The society withdraws the class of a ship when:
 requested by the owner,
 the class has been suspended for more than six months,
 the ship is reported as a constructive total loss and the owner does not give his intentions
to repair the ship for re-instatement of class,
 the ship is reported lost
 the ship will not trade further as declared by its owner.

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What is Recommendations/Conditions of Class?
'Recommendation' and 'Condition of Class' are different terms used by IACS societies for the
same thing.
It implies that the requirements have been imposed by the society.
If these requirements are not complied with by the assigned due date, the class status will be
affected.

What is Interim Certificate of Class?

If a ship suffers damage which cannot immediately be permanently repaired, the
Classification Society may permit a temporary repair to be effected and may in this case
issue an interim certificate of Class.
This interim certificate will state any limitation, e.g., retained in Class until next port, or,
retained in Class until next dry-docking.
If the ship does not subsequently have the full recommended repairs as per the Society's
recommendation, she will then be taken out of Class.
Interim certificate of class are also issued following satisfactory completion of survey, till
such time full term certificates are issued.

11.Explain what (IACS) stands for?

IACS stands for International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) You have
earlier studied the list of thirteen main classification societies. IACS is a chartered body or
association representing the interests of these thirteen classification societies. IACS is
Dedicated to safe ships and clean seas (Improvement of standards of safety) IACS Makes a
unique contribution to maritime safety and regulation through Technical support,
Compliance verification Research and development
More than 90 % of the world's cargo carrying tonnage is covered by the classification design,
construction and compliance with Rules and standards set by the thirten Member Societies. A
focal point for IACS is the activities of I.M.O. where the Association has consultative status.

12.Explain periodical survey of ship.

What is a periodical survey?
In the previous lesson you studied the role of Classification society during the Ship
construction. The Classification Society verifies that merchant ships and marine structures
presented to it comply with Rules that the society has established for design, construction and
periodic survey.

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After delivery, to remain in class, a vessel must undergo periodic surveys to verify that it is
maintained to class standards and in conformance with the Rules.

List of periodical surveys for maintenance of class?

Each classed vessel is subject to a specified programme of periodic surveys after delivery.
These are based on a five-year cycle and consist of annual surveys, an intermediate survey
and a class renewal special survey held every 5 years as shown in time line below.

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Given below is the list of 6 periodic surveys that are carried out.
A. Annual Class Survey
B. Intermediate Class Survey
C. Bottom/ Docking Survey
D. Boiler Survey
E. Tailshaft Survey
F. Class renewal/Special survey
These 6 periodic surveys will be discussed next

A. Annual Class Survey

All steel ships are surveyed at intervals of approximately one year. These annual surveys are
where practicable held concurrently with statutory annual or other load line surveys.
At the survey the surveyor examines the condition of all closing appliances covered by the
conditions of assignment of minimum freeboard (Loadline), the freeboard marks, Auxiliary
steering gear. Watertight doors and other penetrations of watertight bulkheads are also
examined and the structural fire protection verified.
The general condition of the vessel is assessed, and anchors and cables are inspected where
possible at these annual surveys. Dry bulk cargo ships are subject to an inspection of a
forward and after cargo hold.

How much is the window period of the annual survey?

Annual surveys are carried out within a window+/- 3 month of the anniversary date of the
Annual survey.

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What is the anniversary date?

The anniversary date is the day and the month given in the certificate of class which
corresponds to the expiry date of the certificate.
Annual survey, Intermediate survey and Class renewal survey certificates will have their
own expiry dates or in other words anniversary dates.

B. Intermediate Class Survey

Instead of the second or third annual survey after building or special survey an intermediate
survey is undertaken.
In addition to the requirements for annual survey particular attention is paid to cargo holds
in vessels over 15 years of age and the operating systems of tankers, chemical carriers and
liquefied gas carriers.

C. Bottom/Docking Survey
A bottom/docking survey is the examination of the outside of the ship's hull and related
items. The outside of the ship's hull and related items are to be examined on two occasions
in the five year period of the certificate of class with a maximum of 36 months between
surveys.

D. Boiler Survey
Boilers and thermal oil heaters are to be surveyed twice in every five-year period.
Steam boilers, superheaters and economisers are examined internally and externally.
The boilers are to be drained and suitably prepared for the examination of the water-steam
side and the fire side.

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E. Tailshaft Survey
Tailshaft survey means survey of propeller shafts and tube shafts as well as survey of other
propulsion systems. On modern ships fitted with keyless propeller and oil lubricated stern
tube, with regular analysis of lubricating oil, the survey is carried out at interval of 5 years.

F. Class renewal survey (Special Survey)

The survey is intended to assess whether the structural integrity remains in conformance
with the standards contained in the relevant Rules.A Class renewal survey is an inspection
of the structure, machinery and/or equipment, as applicable, to ensure that their condition
remains in compliance with the requirements of the regulations. The owners will have to
declare the modifications related to the requirements of the class.

13. What are Non-periodical surveys?

Such surveys are carried out for exam pie:
 to update classification documents (e.g. change of owner, name of the ship, change of
flag);
 to deal with damage or suspected damage, repair or renewal work, alterations or
conversion, postponement of surveys or recommendations/conditions of class.

14. Harmonized System of Survey and Certification (HSSC)?

A harmonized system of survey and certification covering international shipping regulations
adopted by the International Maritime Organization entered into force on 3 February 2000.
The system covers survey and certification requirements of National and International
conventions like MARPOL, SOLAS, Load Line etc.
All these regulations require the issuing of certificates to show that requirements have been
met and this has to be done by means of a survey which can involve the ship being out of
service for several days.
The harmonized system alleviates the problems caused by survey dates and intervals between
surveys which do not coincide, so that a ship should no longer have to go into port or repair
yard for a survey required by one convention shortly after doing the same thing in connection
with another instrument.
The key points for harmonized system are:
 a one-year standard interval between surveys, based on initial, annual, intermediate,
periodical and renewal surveys as appropriate.
 maximum period of validity of five years for all certificates for cargo ships.
 a system for the extension of certificates limited to three months to enable a ship to
complete its voyage (or one month for ships engaged on short voyages).

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15. Port State inspection

What is a PSC inspection?
Port State Control (PSC) is the inspection of foreign ships in other national ports by PSC
officers (inspectors) for the purpose of:
Verifying that the competency of the master and officers on board,
The condition of the ship and its equipment
This is to ensure that above two items comply with the requirements of international
conventions (e.g. SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW, etc.) and that the vessel is manned and
operated in compliance with applicable international law.
Main objective of PSC Inspections are:
 To the eradicate of sub-standard ships
 To identify & detain the ship which is a threat to safety of life at sea.
 To identify & detain the ship which is a threat to the marine environment.

16. Explain the terms IGC and IBC.

International Gas Carrier Code (IGC Code)
International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in
Bulk
The IGC Code, under amendments to International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea(SOLAS), is mandatory for all new ships.
As proof that a ship complies with the Code, an International Certificate of Fitness for the
Carriage of Liquefied Gases in Bulk should be on board.
The purpose of these codes is to provide an international standard for the safe transport by
sea in bulk of liquefied gases and certain other substances.

International Bulk Chemical Code (IBC Code)

International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships carrying Dangerous
Chemicals in Bulk. The IBC Code provides an international standard for the safe carriage by
sea of dangerous and noxious liquid chemicals in bulk.
To minimize the risks to ships, their crews and the environment, the Code prescribes:
 the design and construction standards of ships and the equipment they should carry, with
due regard to the nature of the products involved.
 Standard for three types of ships, Type 1, 2 & 3 for level of hazard of the chemical cargo
to be carried.

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 References and Credits
1. Marine Insight
2. Marine engineering knowledge
3. Marine Engineering Study Materials
4. Ship Construction 7th Edition, D. J. Eyres, G. J. Bruce
5. Reed's Ship Construction For Marine Students, E.A. Stokoe
6. Ship construction and welding, Nisith Mandal
Ship Construction and Stability Academy for Marine Engineers

For Online Classes of Ship Construction and Stability (Class 4)

Contact On +91-9146499284, +91-9094514586