Ship Hull and Stability Technology

Ship Hull and Stability Technology groups the structural and hydrodynamic features engineered into a vessel's hull to keep it watertight, stable, and efficient through the water. The class covers watertight subdivision, the watertight compartment and the double hull that contain flooding and limit pollution after damage; stability and ballasting systems, the ballast tank that trims and steadies a vessel, the ballast water treatment system that manages the environmental risk of that ballast, and the fin stabilizer that damps rolling; and hull-form devices, the bulbous bow that reduces wave-making resistance, the centerboard and leeboard that resist leeway on a shallow-draft or flat-bottomed hull, and the bilge keel that damps rolling on a deep hull. Wikipedia's Hull (watercraft) article defines the hull as the watertight body of a ship or boat and covers watertight decks and bulkheads among its structural features, the same structural family this invention class realizes.