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Written by John B. Woodward , Ernest Albert John Davies , James Joseph Stilwell See All
Fact‐checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: Jul 27, 2023 • Article History
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passenger ship
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Category: Science & Tech
Key People: Sir Marc Isambard

Brunel • Sir John Graham Kerr •
William Froude • David Watson Taylor
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cruise ship • cruiser • warship
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ship, any large floating vessel capable of crossing open waters, as opposed to
a boat, which is generally a smaller craft. The term formerly was applied to
sailing vessels having three or more masts; in modern times it usually denotes
a vessel of more than 500 tons of displacement. Submersible ships are
generally called boats regardless of their size.
Naval architecture
The design of ships employs many technologies and branches of engineering

that also are found ashore, but the imperatives of effective and safe operation
at sea require oversight from a unique discipline. That discipline is properly
called marine engineering, but the term naval architecture is familiarly used
in the same sense. In this section the latter term is used to denote the
hydrostatic and aesthetic aspects of marine engineering.
terms used in ship design
The measurements of ships are given in terms of length, breadth, and depth.
The length between perpendiculars is the distance on the summer
(maximum) load waterline, from the forward side of the stem at the extreme
forward part of the vessel to the after side of the rudder post at the extreme
rear, or to the centre of the rudder stock, if there is no rudder post. The beam
is the greatest breadth of the ship. The depth is measured at the middle of the
length, from the top of the keel to the top of the deck beam at the side of the
uppermost continuous deck. Draft is measured from the keel to the waterline,
while freeboard is measured from the waterline to the deck edge. These
terms, together with several others of importance in ship design, are given in
the figure.
Hydrostatics
The basis of naval architecture is found in Archimedes’ principle, which states

that the weight of a statically floating body must equal the weight of the
volume of water that it displaces. This law of buoyancy determines not only
the draft at which a vessel will float but also the angles that it will assume
when in equilibrium with the water.
Britannica Quiz
Sail Away: Vocabulary at Sea Quiz
A ship may be designed to carry a specified weight of cargo, plus such

necessary supplies as fuel, lubricating oil, crew, and the crew’s life support).
These combine to form a total known as deadweight. To deadweight must be
added the weight of the ship’s structure, propulsion machinery, hull
engineering (nonpropulsive machinery), and outfit (fixed items having to do
with crew life support). These categories of weight are known collectively as
lightship weight. The sum of deadweight and lightship weight is displacement
—that is, the weight that must be equaled by the weight of displaced water if
the ship is to float. Of course, the volume of water displaced by a ship is a
function of the size of that ship, but in turn the weight of water that is to be
matched by displacement is also a function of the ship’s size. The early stages
of ship design, therefore, are a struggle to predict the size of the ship that the
sum of all weights will require. The naval architect’s resources include
experiencebased formulas that provide approximate values for making such
predictions. Subsequent refinements usually produce accurate predictions of
the ship’s draft—that is, the depth of water in which the finished ship will
float.
In some cases a ship may be intended for cargo of such a high stowage factor
(i.e., volume per weight unit) that providing for the required internal volume
is more of a problem than providing for a specific deadweight. Nevertheless,
the problem of designing for a displacement that matches the weight of the
ship is essentially the same.
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Static stability
Accurately predicting a ship’s draft is a necessary result of correctly applied
hydrostatic principles but is far from sufficient. If the many items of weight
on a ship are not distributed with considerable precision, the ship will float at
unwanted angles of heel (sideways inclination) and trim (endwise
inclination). Nonzero trim angles may lift the tips of propeller blades above
the surface, or they may increase the possibility that the bow will slam into
waves during heavy weather. Nonzero heel angles (which tend to be much
greater than trim angles) may make all human activity aboard difficult;
moreover, they are dangerous because they reduce the margin against
capsizing. In general, the avoidance of such inclinations requires an extension
of Archimedes’ principle to the first moments of weights and volumes: the
collective first moment of all weights must equal the first weight moment of
the water displaced.
static stability of a ship
The figure shows the cross section of a ship that is floating at heel angle θ,
caused by the placement of a weight (w) a certain distance (d) from the centre
line. At this angle, the upsetting moment, calculated as w × d × cos θ, is
equaled by the righting moment Δ × GZ, (Δ is the symbol for displacement,
and GZ is the distance from the centre of gravity [G] to the centre of buoyancy
[Z]). Under these conditions, the ship is said to be in static equilibrium. If w
is removed, the upsetting moment will become zero, and the righting moment
will return the ship to its upright position. The ship is therefore judged to be
stable. The moment will act in the stable direction only as long as the point M
(the “metacentre,” the point where the buoyant force intersects the midplane)
is above G (the centre of gravity of the ship and its contents). If M is below G,
the forces of weight and buoyancy will tend to increase the angle of heel, and
the equilibrium will be unstable. The distance from G to M, taken to be
positive if M is above G, is called the transverse metacentric height.
A value for metacentric height is usually found only for the zero heel
condition; hence, it is an accurate measure of stability only for small
disturbances—for example, ones that cause heeling of no more than about
10°. For larger angles, the “righting arm,” GZ, is used to measure stability. In
any stability analysis, the value of GZ is plotted over the entire range of heel
any stability analysis, the value of GZ is plotted over the entire range of heel
angles for which it is positive, or restoring. The resultant curve of statical
stability shows thereby the angle beyond which the ship cannot return to
upright and the angle at which the restoring moment is at a maximum. The
area of the curve between its origin and any specified angle is proportional to
the energy required to heel the ship to that angle.

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Home  Technology  Cars & Other Vehicles

ship Science & Tech  Table of Contents

 Print  Cite  Share  Feedback 

See all media

Category: Science & Tech

Key People: Sir Marc Isambard

Related Topics: warship • submarine •

See all related content →

The design of ships employs many technologies and branches of engineering

terms used in ship design

The basis of naval architecture is found in Archimedes’ principle, which states

Sail Away: Vocabulary at Sea Quiz

A ship may be designed to carry a specified weight of cargo, plus such

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