MAIN PARTS OF THE SHIP’S HULL

Course no. 7
 MAIN PARTS OF THE SHIP

• Decks
• Compartments
• Openings
 SHIPS DECKS

Usually, ships, depending

on destination and size
may have several decks
or just one.

These bridges may be

continuous or partial
decks, by dividing the
space inside the ship
horizontal and
increasing the hull's
resistance.
 CONTINUOUS DECKS

1. The main deck is the first continuous watertight deck that runs
from the bow to the stern.
2. The deck exposed to the outside is the weather deck. In many
instances, the weather deck and the main deck may be one and
the same.
3. Lower deck located over the hold (different of main deck, if exist
another one).
4. Tween deck is the storage space between the hold and the main
deck, often retractable.
5. Tank top is the lower deck that closes under it the double bottom
space.
Main deck
Tween deck
Tween deck
 PARTIAL DECK
Any partial deck above the main deck is named according to its
location on the ship.
1. The partial deck located at the bow is called a forecastle deck and
on it are located the anchor and mooring devices.
2. The highest deck of the hull amidships is an upper deck.
3. The partial deck located at the stern is called the poop deck.
4. Boat deck is the deck area where life rafts and lifeboats are
stored.
5. Bridge deck is the deck area designed for the navigation station.
6. Compass deck is located above the navigation room on it setting
up the magnetic compass and other antennae for different
navigational equipment.
forecastle deck
forecastle deck
poop deck
 The ship’s superstructures

The superstructures are parts of ships found above the main deck. These
can be located on the ship at the bow, amidships or stern.
The watertight superstructures raising at the extreme forward and after
end of a ship are called the forecastle and the poop respectively.

The topside structure built mostly about amidships is called the

navigating bridge. The wheelhouse and the chart room are located on
the navigating bridge deck.
 Some type of superstructures

The superstructures not extending from side to side are called deckhouses.
The deck house is a superstructure on the upper deck of a ship. The location
of the deck house can vary: usually ships working in the North Sea have
the deck house in the bow region, while others have the deck house near
the stern or on the middle of the ship.
SHIP’S COMPARTMENTS AND THEIR LOCATIONS
 Ship’s compartments

The interior of the ship is divided by the bulkheads and decks

into watertight compartments.

A vessel could be made virtually unsinkable if it were divided

into enough small compartments.
- Engine rooms must be large enough to accommodate bulky
machinery.
- Cargo spaces must be large enough to hold large equipment
and containers.
 Ship’s compartments

The hull contains the engine room, the cargo space, a number of tanks: the
fore peak, the after peak, the fuel tanks, the ballast tanks, the double
bottom tanks and the cofferdams.

At the fore end of the hull are the fore peak tanks and at the aft end are the
after peak tanks.
1. The Fore Peak Tank. Usually in the after portion and at a higher level, the
Chain lockers will be fitted. The anchor chain for both anchors is stowed
in these lockers.

2. The After P eak Tank. They are used for fresh water or ballast water.
Ship’s compartments
 Ship’s compartments

3) The space in a ship for storing cargo is called cargo hold. In dry cargo ships
the cargo space is divided into holds and in liquid cargo ships it is divided
into tanks.
 Ship’s compartments

4) The engine room ER is a separate compartment containing the propulsion

machinery of the vessel. Commonly, the engine room consists of several
levels having machineries such as auxiliary engines or diesel generators,
boiler, inert gas plant, fresh water generator, purifiers, pumps, storage
tanks, engine control room, waste incinerator.

5) A cofferdam is an insulating space

between two watertight bulkheads or
decks within a ship. A cofferdam may
be an empty space or a ballast space.
 Ship’s compartments

6) Every vessel has tanks for fuel called fuel tanks or bunker tanks.

7) A vessel may have a single ballast tank near its center or multiple ballast
tanks typically on either side. A large vessel will have several ballast tanks
including double bottom tanks, wing tanks as well as forepeak and aft
peak tanks.

8) The space between the holds and the bottom of the hull contains double
bottom tanks. A double bottom is a ship hull design and construction
method where the bottom of the ship has two complete layers of
watertight hull surface
The ship’s external parts
The ship’s openings
 Machinery space openings

• Openings for lighting and airing the machinery

spaces are called skylights.
 Openings in decks

• A hatchway is a large covered rectangular opening in a cargo ship's deck

that enables the cargo to be placed or removed from under the deck of
the ship.
 Openings in decks

• Companionway is a raised and windowed

hatchway in the ship's deck, with a ladder
leading below to the hatch or to the main
cabins.
 Openings in decks

• Vent heads are used for cargo hold ventilation or different compartments
located under different decks.

• Air pipes are provided for all tanks to prevent air being trapped under
pressure in the tank when they are filled, or a vacuum being created when
they are emptied.
 Openings in decks

• Manholes are holes, usually with a cover, through which a person may
enter a sewer, boiler, drain, or a similar structure.
 Openings in freeboard

• Scuppers are openings in a ship's hull above the water line that allows water to
drain off the deck.

• Cargo ports are openings in the sides of the ships below the freeboard deck
 Openings in freeboard

• Discharges led through the shell either from the spaces below the
freeboard deck or from within the superstructures and deckhouses on the
freeboard deck fitted with doors shall be fitted with efficient and
accessible means for preventing water from passing inboard.
• Portholes or side light are openings for lighting and airing the
accomodation spaces.
 Openings in freeboard

• Doors. All access openings in enclosed superstructures shall be fitted with

doors of steel or other equivalent material, permanently and strongly
attached to the bulkhead, framed and fitted so that the whole structure is
weathertight when the doors are closed.
 Openings in freeboard

• Chocks are openings in the bulwark for passing the mooring lines
through.
 Openings in the quick works

• Water inlet pipes are used when it is necessary to draw water from the sea, for
filling the ballast tanks, for fire-fighting, deck washing, or for the machinery cooling
system.

• One of the sea cooling water inlets is the sea chest

 Openings in the quick works

• Rudder trunk is a round opening through which the rudder stock pass
and it is provided with a sealing device called rudder bearing.