8/12/2019 2002 Chem N Ship Development Mafaz

1/1

Bored of Studies - www.boredofstudies.org

Mafaz Mahroof

The historical developments in the design and construction

of ocean going vessels-summary

Primitive societies used canoes made with skin for water transport. However, about

3000BC some societies began to construct wooden ships. This became the mostcommon material used in ship building until the nineteenth century. Early vessels, for

example, in Indonesia (around 1500AD) were made of bamboo.

Metals were used in some very early ships for example, the Viking longboats have

been found with fittings made of wrought iron and bronze.

Also, fittings such as anchors, keels, rudders and canons were routinely constructed of

iron and bronze in the middle ages. Rigging also used metal parts. A wreck of the

eighteenth century HMS Pandora, off the coast of Queensland, has found artefacts of

wrought iron, bronze and cast iron as well as lead, tin copper, silver, gold and brass.Copper and brass sheathing was also sometimes also used in wooden ships in order to

protect the wood from attack by marine organisms. This is due to the fact that copper

is poisonous to living organisms.

Around 1500 AD the development of iron nails made it possible to connect the ships

wooden planks frames. This made the hull stronger and less flexible. However, the

nails rusted badly.

As good shipbuilding wood became scarce and iron became more readily available,

ships were increasingly constructed from iron. By early 1800s composite ships werebeing built using wood and iron as part of the ship materials. The first ship to be made

of all iron was the British ship Vulcan, a passenger carrying barge, launched in 1818.After this more than 90% of ships in the United Kingdom were made of iron by 1870.

Although iron needed constant maintenance to prevent rusting, iron ships did have

advantages over wooden ships. Iron could be produced as sheets or beams, shaped

more easily than wood and joined by welding. Iron ships were stronger, safer, more

economical and easier to repair than wooden ships. Iron ships could also carry more

cargo because they could be built longer and with less bulky framework, leaving more

room inside. This led to bigger profits made by merchant ships of the day as they wereable to carry larger loads.

It was also an advantage to build warships out of steel. Once navies started to use

guns that fired shells instead of cannon balls, it would be a disadvantage to use

wooden ships since on impact these shells would set the ships alight.

By late 1800s shipbuilder had already begun to use steel alloys. Steel gave them even

more advantage because of it being lighter than iron. The Titanic was one of the many

ships at this time that was constructed of steel.

During the twentieth-century there has been a progressive improvement in steel

alloys, incorporating aluminium, chromium, titanium and zinc. Modern steels are

lighter, stronger and more corrosion-resistant that earlier steels.