4.

Ship’s qualities

Course no. 4
 Sea-faring Ship’s Operational
qualities qualities qualities

The ships’ Concerns the flow of

ability specific
to floating on water
due to its linkage to
environmental
factors are called
nautical or sea-
faring qualities.
water around the
ship's hull, bow, and
stern and over
bodies such
as propeller blades
or rudder, or through
thruster tunnels.
 Sea-faring qualities

1. Buoyancy
2. Stability
3. Unsinkability
4. Strongability
 1. Buoyancy

1. Buoyancy is the ship’s ability to remain afloat with a certain draught

determined by the weight of cargo loaded on board.
The center of buoyancy shifts
The center of gravity and the center of buoyancy
 Reserve buoyancy

Every vessel is constructed so that the loaded ship’s weight to be smaller

than their maximum displacement. So, from the waterline to the upper
continuous deck, main deck, the volume of the hull above the waterline is
known as the reserve buoyancy.

Every vessel must have sufficient reserve buoyancy to operate safely: do not
overload your vessel!
 2. Stability

2. Stability is the ability of a vessel to restore itself to an upright

position after being inclined by the wind, sea, or loading
conditions.

It is possible that the ship is to be

balanced in one or another side by
sea, wind or by centrifugal forces
while the ship’s swing. If the
vessel is balanced laterally or
athwartship it has a list. It may be
listing to starboard or listing to
port.

The ship’s ability to restore itself in initial position is athwartships

stability.
 When a ship is properly
balanced fore and aft, it is
in trim. The ship’s ability
to restore itself in initial
position is longitudinal
stability.
The effect of free surfaces to stability
 Ship’s motions

Roll (Around x). The most significant stability criterion – can generate capsize.
The motions can be caused by waves, wind and can be induced by yaw.
Pitch (Around y). A rocking motion between bow and stern. Mostly they are
wave induced.
Yaw (Around z). This is what the rudder is supposed to do. Rudder corrections
for course keeping illustrate that wind and waves can cause yawing motions.
 3.Unsinkability, 4. Strongability

3.Unsinkability is the ability of the vessel to stay stable and floatable

when one or more of its compartments were flooded as a result of
damage.

4. Strongability is the ability to prevent deformation of the vessel and

to maintain tightness when external forces act on it.
 Operational qualities

1. Ship’s speed
2. Inertia
3. Turning
4. Course keeping ability

These qualities allow the ship to proceed in the direction

and speed desired.
 1. Ship’s speed

Ship’s speed as we know, is the distance traveled per time

unit. The ship’s speed is expressed in knots (Kn), which
shows the miles traveled by the ship in one hour.

Full [Ahead]
Half
Slow
Dead Slow
Stop
Dead slow [Back]
Slow
Half
Full [Back]
 Ship’s speed

Depending on the engine rotation and fuel consumption the ships speed of
telegraph may have different steps.

• Maximum ahead service speed is the greatest speed which the ship is
designed to maintain in service at sea at the deepest seagoing draught.

• Maximum astern speed is the speed which it is estimated the ship can
attain at the designed maximum astern power at the deepest seagoing
draught.

• Economic speed is the speed reached by a vessel whose motor was running
with a minimum consumption of fuel.

• Minimum speed is the minimum speed at which steering is possible.

 Acceleration
and Deceleration
Table
 2. Inertia

Inertia of the ship is the ability to continue moving through

water after the ship regime was changed by stopping or
reversing.

The inertia characteristics are:

 the distance, and
 the time while the distance was covered.
Acceleration is the period from the
moment when order of starting the engine
is given to the moment when the speed of
the ship is reached.

Inertia stopping is a manoeuver of

stopping the ship sailing at a certain speed
when the main engine is stopped by
closing down the fuel supply.

Active stopping (crash stopping) is a

manoeuver of stopping the ship using the
main engine working in astern condition.
 INERTIA "a tendency to maintain momentum"

The mass of a body determines the momentum P of the body at

given velocity v; it is a proportionality factor in the formula:

The factor m is referred to as inertial mass.

But mass, as related to the 'inertia' of a body, can also be defined by
the formula:

Here, F is force, m is inertial mass, and a is acceleration.

By this formula, the greater its mass, the less a body accelerates under
given force.
 3. Turning

Turning is the ship’s ability to alter its direction under the action
of the rudder, propeller or under their combined action.

Merchant ships usually turn in a circle having a diameter of about

3–4 times the length between perpendiculars.
 Turning Circle Diameter maneuvers

• Advance at 90° change of heading.

• Tactical diameter is the greatest

diameter described by the vessel from
starting the turn to completing the turn
(the ship’s head through 180°).

• Transfer is defined by the distance to

which the vessel will move perpendicular
to the fore and aft line at the
commencement of the turn.

• The drift angle is the angle between the centerline with the tangent to the
turning circle in the center of gravity of the ship.
 4. Course keeping ability

Course keeping ability is the ability of a ship to maintain

its direction when the rudder is in the centerline of the
vessel.
 This course keeping ability is opposite to the turning ability

Better turning / Worse turning /

Worse course keeping ability Better course keeping ability
Thus, if the ship with the rudder in the centerline of the vessel tends
to come with the bow in the wind, it is said to be ardent, and if
the vessel tends to come with the stern into the wind, the ship is
called soft.

If we have a ship's deviation from its course by sudden jumps, no

matter the position of the rudder, we are dealing with a ship
lurch.
Sea-faring Ship’s Operational
qualities qualities qualities

1. Buoyancy 1. Ship’s speed

2. Stability 2. Inertia

3. Unsinkability 3. Turning

4.Course
4. Strongability
keeping ability