1464. Shipboard Weight: the Crucial Factor in Design

Paper

Abstract

The limited role weight engineers and weight control considerations have played in the shipbuilding industry has continuously hindered past and present designs. Currently, equipment function and vessel mission have been afforded primary attention at the expense of ship design factors such as weight control. Changes must be implemented and new ideas must be channeled in order to reduce the magnitude of existing problems encountered by several classes of ships.
The primary problem experienced by these ships is that their center of gravity have risen to such an extent that
Growth margins have been exceeded. Technological advances in propulsion systems and electronics have exacerbated this condition. An in-depth investigation of the interrelated design factors of weight distribution, vendor weight data, and weight margins should be conducted in order to produce a ship design that does not exceed its design and weight margins despite ship alterations resulting from updated equipment installation
Concurrent to the reassessment of hip design, there must be a reassessment of perspective on the part of weight engineers and related personnel. Perspective should be broad-based at all times to ensure that individual ship system considerations do not take priority over the entire picture. This retention of perspective can be achieved through effective interface management. The shipbuilding community must realize that weight control considerations rightfully deserve as much attention as vessel mission and equipment function considerations. A ship’s weight program should always encourage new ideas and creative, innovative thinking. The weight factor in ship design is a continuum, the significance of which cannot be ignored.