Maritime English

Unit 7

Shipbuilding

Objectives of Unit 7
7.1 Classification
7.2 Building Ship
7.3 Propellers
7.4 Rudders
7.5 Stability
Self-assessment test
Progress test self-assessment test
Answers to
Bibliography/Webography

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OBJECTIVES OF UNIT 7

The main objectives are:

 understand the role of the classification societies
 differentiate between types of stresses
 use specific vocabulary
 name the types of propellers
 explain the principles of manoeuvrability

7.1 Classification

Before a shipyard will start the building of a ship, the final construction plan must be
approved by a classification society.
The classification will serve as a guide during the whole period of building.
Classification Societies are the authorities with the most profound influence on shipbuilding,
merchant ship design and ship safety.
Among the most important are Lloyd's Register of Shipping, det Norske Veritas, the American
Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, Registro Italiano, Germanischer Lloyd and Nippon Kaiji
Kyokai.
Of all these famous societies Lloyd's of London is the most famous and respected.
Lloyd 's Register of Shipping is concerned with the maintenance of proper technical
standards in ship-construction and the classification of ships, i.e. the record of all relevant
technical details and the assurance that the ship will meet the required standards.
Vessels that are classed with Lloyd 's Register are awarded the classification +100 A1.
The cross (+) indicates that the ship has been built under the supervision of surveyors
from Lloyd's Register, while "100 A" indicates that the vessel has been built in
accordance with the recommended standards. "1" indicates that the safety equipment, anchors
and cabins are as required.
Surveys at regular intervals are carried out by the Society's surveyors to ensure that the vessel is
still complying with the standards. The Society is also empowered to allot leadline certificates to
determine and assess tonnage measurements and to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Surveyors all over the world carry out these required surveys and report to headquarters in London
and other national centres. A ship failing to meet the standards will lose her classification and
become a burden to the owners.

7.2 Building the ship

The designing, construction and fitting out of a vessel are a very complicated matter.
When designing a ship the naval architect must take into consideration not only the purpose
for which the ship will be built, but also the enormous stresses the ship will be exposed to when
sailing in adverse weather and rough seas.

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Deformations of the ship's hull due to hogging and sagging must be avoided by
implementing additional strengthenings that will
also provide support.

These strengthenings are called stiffeners, or stringers. They may consist of beams, girders,
keelsons and stanchions.

The backbone of a ship is her keel. It is a longitudinal beam located at the very bottom of the
ship and extending from stem to stern.

Frames

The ship is given her rounded shape by a series of symmetrically curved frames.
Frames can be compared to the ribs in a human body. They are fastened
to the keel, providing support and giving shape to the hull.
The frames that are in the middle are larger than those at the sides and
are known as floors.
The frames are held in position by longitudinal stringers. Additional
bracing is provided by beams extending across the width of the ship.
Deck-beam brackets serve as joints between deck beams and the transverse frames.
The rows of steel platings in the metal hull are called strakes.
Nowadays ships are built in sections, composed of welded plates and frames.
In the old days rivets were used to put the parts together.
The ship is divided into watertight compartments by decks and longitudinal and
transverse bulkheads. These bulkheads provide strengthening and are fire proof or fire-
retarding.The foremost bulkhead is the forepeak bulkhead, or collision bulkhead.

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The forepeak is a watertight compartment that will ensure that the

vessel will have sufficient buoyancy to remain afloat after a collision.
The aftermost bulkhead is the afterpeak bulkhead, through which the
stern tube runs.
The a.p. bulkhead is constructed in such a way that it will prevent water
from entering the ship through the stern tube in case of leakage.
Engine room and steering engine room must also be separated from
other compartments by watertight bulkheads, so that in case of a disaster her engines will remain
operational. strakes

When all the sections have been put together, the shell plating is sandblasted and then painted with a
primer and an anti-fouling paint.
Now the fitting-out of the ship will commence. This means that the engines, auxiliary engines, steering
engine, navigation means, domestic installations and equipment, cargo handling equipment, life saving
equipment, stores and spares, electrical and hydraulic installations, berthing and anchoring gear, etc.
are installed.
Before the vessel is launched and ready for her maiden trip, engine trials and sea trials must prove that
the vessel is seaworthy, that in fact she is "a Good Ship", as she will be referred to in documents.

7.3 Propellers

The screw-propeller "screws" its way through the water, driving water aft and the ship ahead.
Some propellers have adjustable blades instead of fixed blades.
If a propeller turns clockwise when viewed from aft, it is said to be right-handed; a left-handed
propeller turns anti-clockwise. In a twin-screw ship the starboard propeller is usually right-handed and
the port propeller left-handed. They are outward-turning, which reduces cavitation.
The "face" of the propeller blade is the surface seen from aft. The other surface of the blade is called
the "back". The "leading edge" of the blade is that edge that thrusts through the water when producing
a head thrust. The other edge is called the "trailing edge".
The Controllable Pitch Propeller, or CPP, is fitted with
adjustable blades. By turning (adjusting) the blades, the thrust
that is being developed can be varied whilst maintaining constant
shaft-revolutions. In this way the vessel's pitch can be controlled
by changing the position of the propeller blades.

By pitch is understood the distance that the propeller will travel

after one revolution. The blades can even be put in a position that will produce an astern-thrust while
still rotating in the same direction. The vessel's manoeuvrability is increased considerably. The
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greatest advantage of the CPP, however, is that engine-wear is reduced because a constant RPM can be
maintained while proceeding at any speed.
Limitations of the CPP include the power that can be satisfactorily transmitted (installations for more
than 25,000 bhp are uncommon). Another disadvantage of the CPP is the complicated mechanism
controlling the blade-angle. Furthermore, the boss is enlarged to house bearings for the blades.
This increased boss-size reduces the maximum efficiency that can be obtained.
CPP's are mostly used in vessels that have variable rated capacities.

The Voith Schneider Propeller, or Vertical Axis Propeller, consists

of a horizontal disc rotating around a vertical axis.
Projecting vertically down from this disc are a number of blades
whose positions can be varied. By doing so a thrust can be produced
in any desired direction. An obvious advantage of such a propeller is
that it offers a high manoeuvrability for vessels that require to be
highly manoeuvrable. The horizontal driving shaft, however,
necessitates the introduction of a bevel gear, with consequential
limitations on the maximum power that can be produced.

The Shrouded Propeller, or Ducted Propeller, is integrated into a

"tunnel", or duct. Enlargement of the tail-race and the thrust that can
be produced is achieved by shaping of the duct, as is often done with
heavily loaded propellers (e.g. with tugs).
Other advantages of the duct are: it protects the propeller from fouling
and reduces propeller noise. However, the system is quite costly.

Jet propulsion is achieved by drawing water into the ship and then thrusting it out at by means of a
pump. In this way the vessel is "jet-propelled". It's an attractive means of propulsion where it is
desirable to have no moving parts outside the hull of the ship, where a protected screw is desired, and
for small vessels with high rating capacities.
Therefore it is widely employed in Ultra-Shallow-Draught (USD) Vessels.
Jet propulsion involves higher speeds and outstanding manoeuvrability because the duct is movable.
However, because of the resistance caused by the flow of the water through the duct, its efficiency is
lower than that of the ordinary screw-propeller.

7.4 Rudders

The choice of the type of rudder that is used will largely depend on the shape of the stern, the size of
the vessel and the capacity of the steering gear.

The Balanced Spade rudder (or balanced rudder) is used for vessels with a
long "sharp" stem. Not much strength is applied to the rudder stock and the
steering gear can be made quite compact.
Because of the large rudder area it offers good manoeuvrability.

The Semi-Balanced rudder (or Gnomon Rudder) is used where the size of
the rudder requires that it is supported at an additional point to the rudder
bearing, but where it is still desired to reduce the size of the steering gear.
This type of rudder offers a high manoeuvrability.

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The Unbalanced Rudder is used in vessels whose stern-shape is not fit to carry a balanced rudder.
Furthermore these rudders are usually fitted on smaller ships of relatively deep draught.
The number of pintles fitted will depend on the required strength. There are single-pintle rudders and
multi-pintle rudders.
The rudderstock must be able to endure large stresses.

The Flap Rudder has at its rear end a "flap" that can move at a greater
angle than the main portion of the rudder.
It is used in vessels that require considerable manoeuvrability.
The complicated linkage system between the flap-portion and the main
portion is vulnerable and often the source of malfunction.

7.5 Stability

Most travellers take it for granted that their ship will float the right way up.
This it will only do if it has been correctly designed and constructed.
A ship will experience many forces that will try to turn it over.
The ship must of course be capable to resist these forces by what is commonly known as stability.
Too much stability is undesirable because this may cause unpleasant motions and can be costly due to
a high fuel consumption.
Too little stability will make the ship heel over easily and capsize.
Thus, as with so many other features of design, stability is a compromise.
A body is said to be in a state of equilibrium when the resultant of all the forces that act on it is zero
and
the resultant moment of the forces is also zero.
If a body, subject to a small disturbance, from a state of equilibrium tends to return to that state, it is
said
to possess a positive stability - it is in a state of equilibrium.
If, following the disturbance, the equilibrium is reduced even more, then the body is said to be in a
state
of unstable equilibrium - it has a negative stability.
To reach the state of equilibrium, buoyancy and the gravity (weight) must be equal and the two forces
must act along the same line.
Another term for buoyancy is upthrust, which of course is related to Archimedes' Law (or Archimedes'
Principle), which says that when a body is immersed'in a liquid it will experience an upthrust that is
equal
to the weight of the displaced liquid.
For conventional ships the longitudinal stability is always high. This is not always the case for offshore
drilling barges and other less conventional vessels.
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Unless a ship is stable it will not float upright, because, although in the upright position it is in
equilibrium,
there will always be disturbances - from the sea, air or movement within the ship - which will force it
out
of the upright position.
An "unstable"ship will not return to this position. And even if it does not actually capsize, it would be
unpleasant to be in a ship that lolls to one side constantly.
Circumstances that will cause a ship to heel may be external or internal.
External influences are:
- the action of the wind, which will be most influential with ships with high freeboards and large
superstructures;
- the action of waves, causing the rolling and pitching, heaving, surging, swaying and yawing of
vessels
in rough seas;
- water properties, such as
1) density (or specific gravity). The density of the water in which a vessel floats will affect her draft
and
trim. Density will mainly depend upon the temperature and the salinity of the water;
2) kinematic viscosity. This is particularly relevant to the frictional resistance a ship will experience
when
proceeding through the water.
3) salinity. Values for samples of seawater will vary from area to area and will depend, among other
things, upon the salinity. Many objects will float in the Dead Sea, but would sink in fresh water.
Internal influences mostly relate to the human element, or, as it is often called, the Human Factor (HF).
Examples are:
- the action of the rudder when a ship is being manoeuvred;
- loading and discharging cargoes: if the stowage plan has been drawn up badly the vessel
will soon heel over to port or starboard.

Self-assessment Test
Answer the questions:
1. Who approves the construction plan?
2. What does the +100 A1classification mean?
3. Why are surveys carried out?
4. Which is the backbone of a ship?
5. What is the equivalent of the human ribs?
6. What is the difference between beams and stringers?
7. How are the metal parts put together?

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Progress test
Match the colums:
1. The propeller "screws" its way through the
water.
2.The balanced rudder is a servo-system
used for
3. Too much stability is because this may cause
undesirable unpleasant motions.
4. Some propellers have upthrust.
5. Another term for buoyancy is adjustable blades.
6. The rudder acts as vessels with a long "sharp" stem.

Answers to self-assessment test

1. Who approves the construction plan? (classification society)
2. What does the +100 A1classification mean? (The cross (+) indicates that the ship has been
built under the supervision of surveyors from Lloyd's Register, while "100 A" indicates that
the vessel has been built in accordance with the recommended standards. "1" indicates that the
safety equipment, anchors and cabins are as required.)
3. Why are surveys carried out? (to ensure that the vessel is still complying with the standards)
4. Which is the backbone of a ship? (the hull)
5. What is the equivalent of the human ribs? (the keel)
6. What is the difference between beams and stringers? (stringers are longitudinal while the
beams extend across the width of the ship)
7. How are the metal parts put together? (by welding)

Bibliography / Webography

1.Van Kluijven, P.C., The International Maritime Language

Programme, Alk & Heijnen Publishers, Alkmaar, 2005.
2. Murphy, R. Essential Grammar In Use. 1st ed. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 1990 (ISBN 0 521 35770 5)

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