Lesson 3. The Structure of a Ship

THE STRUCTURE OF A SHIP

The main part of a ship is the hull. This is the area between the main deck, the sides - the starboard side and the port side - and the bottom. It is made up of frames covered with plating, the keel joints them altogether. The hull is divided up into a number of watertight compartments by decks and bulkheads.

Bulkheads are vertical steel walls going across the ship and along side. Decks divide the hull horizontally. Those dividing up cargo space are known as "tween decks".

The hull contains the engine room, cargo space and a number of tanks. In dry cargo ships the cargo space is divided into holds, in liquid cargo ships it is divided into tanks. At the fore end of the hull there are the forepeak tanks and at the after end there are the afterpeak tanks. They are used for fresh water and water ballast. The space between the holds and the bottom of the hull contains double bottom tanks. These are used for water ballast and fuel.

All permanent housing above the main deck is known as superstructure. For a traditional dry cargo ship main superstructure consisting navigational bridge and a funnel is placed on the midships, above the main deck. For modern ships the engine room and the main superstructure are situated at the after end of the ship to leave more space to load cargo. In tankers, between the engine room and the cargo hold there is a cofferdam, which protects inflammable cargoes from fire. At the fore end there is a forecastle, where different mooring and anchoring equipment is mounted.

І. Read the text and answer the questions.

1. What is the main part of a ship?

2. What is the hull made of?

3. What are bulkheads?

4. What do we call “tweendecks”?

5. What for are tanks used?

6. What is superstructure?

7. Where is the superstructure situated on modern ships?

8. What for is cofferdam used?

ІІ. Describe the ships using the information given in the table.

1. Ship name: Tundra Princess	2. Flying Spindrift
DWT:  12714 t Displacement: 19720 t GT: 11658 NT: 6290 t LOA: 158.5 m Beam: 23.5 m Draft: 9.12 m Height: 39.25 m Speed: 20 knts	DWT: 125 t Displacement: 130 t GT: 259 t NT: 77 t LOA: 30. 66 m Beam: 9 m Draft: 3.4 m Height: 21 m Speed:  12 knts