Module 3 – Naval Skills

Unit 1 - Ship Construction and Damage Control

Chapter 1 – Ship Construction
Section 2 – Ship Structure
 What You Will Learn to Do

Demonstrate knowledge of Navy ships,

their construction, characteristics and
damage control
 Objectives

1. Define terms that describe a ship’s structure

2. Describe the decks and spaces of a U.S. Navy
vessel
3. Describe the superstructure of a U.S. Navy
vessel
4. Describe the watertight integrity of a Navy
ship
Key Terms

CPS Key Term

Questions 1 - 22
 Key Terms

Keel - The backbone of the hull located on

the centerline like an I-beam running
the full length of the bottom of the
ship

Gunwale - The upper edge of the side or

bulwark of a vessel

Roll - A ship rolls from side to side

 Key Terms

Pitch - A ship pitches when it goes up and

down fore and aft
Yaw - A ship yaws when the bow swings to
port and starboard because of wave
action
Draft - The distance from the keel to the
waterline; the depth to which a
vessel is immersed when bearing a
given load
 Key Terms

Compartment - Rooms of a ship

Head (ship Bathrooms on a ship

compartment) -
Wardroom - The dining area for commissioned
officers

Stateroom - A private room or compartment on a

ship
 Key Terms

Weather The deck or all parts of a deck

deck - exposed to the weather

Scupper - A drain at the edge of a deck

exposed to the weather, for allowing
accumulated water to drain away
into the sea or into the bilges

Superstructure - Any deck above the main deck,

forecastle deck, or poop deck
 Key Terms

Foremast - The mast nearest the bow in vessels

having two or more masts is the
foremast
Mainmast - The second mast from forward in
ships having two or more masts is
the mainmast

Pigstick - A slender vertical extension above

the mast from which the ship’s
commission pennant is flown
 Key Terms

Jackstaff - A short flagpole at a ship's bow, on

which a jack is flown

Stack - Supplies air to the main propulsion

engines and removes exhausts and
hot gases from them

Watertight The soundness of a ship’s

integrity - construction which prevents leakage
 Key Terms

List - Lean to port or starboard; careening,

or leaning to one side, as of a ship

Trim - Be “down” by the head or stern; the

difference between the forward and
aft drafts

Collision A strong watertight bulkhead at the

bulkhead - after end of the forepeak tank
 Opening Question

Based on your
current
knowledge, can
you name and
describe decks
and
compartments
of a Navy ship?

(Use CPS “Pick a Student“ for this question.)

Warm Up Questions

CPS Lesson
Questions 1 - 2
 Ship Structure

Hull is the main body of a ship.

Hull

Keel is the backbone of the hull

located on the centerline
running the full length of the
Keel
bottom of the ship.
 Ship Structure

Transverse frames are girders

attached to the keel run
athwartship and support the
watertight skin or shell
plating, which forms the
sides and bottom of the ship.

Longitudinal frames are

structural frames that
run fore and aft.
 Ship Structure

Double bottom is a honeycomb structure formed by the

longitudinal and athwartship frames in the bottom of
the ship
 Ship Structure

Tanks or Bridges

These spaces between the inner and outer bottoms are

formed when plating covers the honeycomb, which may
be used for fuel and water stowage.
 Ship Structure

The top of the main hull is

called the main deck.
Main Deck
Gunwale

Gunwale (pronounced gun’el

or deck-edge) is the
intersection of the main deck
with the shell or side plating.
 Ship Structure

Rolls, Pitches, and Yaws

A ship rolls from side to side.

A ship pitches when it goes up and down fore

and aft.

A ship yaws when the bow swings to port and

starboard because of wave action.
 Ship Structure

USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) USS Iowa (BB 61)

Most warships built today have unarmored hulls, while

many ships of the last century had armored hulls.
 Ship Structure

Waterline is the part of

the outside of a ship's hull
that is just at the water
level.

Waterline
 Ship Structure

Draft is the distance from the keel to the waterline.

The red area on the model represents the ship's draft.

Check On Learning Questions

CPS Lesson
Questions
3-4
 Ship Structure

The floors of a ship are

Decks
called decks.

They divide the ship into

layers and provide
additional hull strength and
protection for inner spaces
(rooms).
 Ship Structure

Compartments are the rooms of a ship and are

sometimes called rooms, such as:

• Wardroom - officer’s dining room

• Officers’ staterooms - officer’s bedrooms

• Engine room
 Ship Structure

The wardroom is the

dining area for
commissioned officers.

DDG

SSN
 Ship Structure

Stateroom is a private room or compartment on a ship.

Mess deck is a
dining area for
enlisted
crewmembers.
 Ship Structure

Berthing compartments are the living quarters

for enlisted crew members.

Officers country is the living spaces of officers.

Heads are the bathrooms on the ship.

 Ship Structure

Compartment numbers are assigned according to a

standardized system that identifies all spaces aboard a
ship.
Example: 2 - 175 - 7 - A

Second deck

Frame number

Fourth compartment to
starboard from centerline

Compartment usage (stowage)

 Ship Structure

Cargo ship compartments and the main storage

spaces of all ships are called holds.

Holds are normally larger in merchant ships than

in naval combatants or civilian passenger ships.

Complete decks are decks that extend

throughout the ship from side to side and stern
to stern.
 Ship Structure

Main Deck

The uppermost complete deck that runs continuously

from bow to stern is the main deck.
 Ship Structure

The second, third, and fourth decks are complete decks

below the main deck numbered in sequence from the
main deck down.

On an aircraft carrier, the

uppermost complete deck
is the flight deck.
Ship Structure

The hangar deck

is the main deck
on aircraft carriers
on which aircraft
are stowed and
serviced.
 Ship Structure

Forecastle deck is a partial deck at the bow above the

main deck:
• At midships it becomes the upper deck
• At the stern of a ship it is the poop deck
 Ship Structure

• Well deck is the main deck areas between the

forecastle and poop decks

• Half deck is any partial deck between complete

decks

• Platform decks are the partial decks below the

lowest complete deck
 Ship Structure

Bulwarks is a sort of low solid steel fence along the

gunwale of the main deck.

Bulwarks

Scuppers are rubber or metal

drains fitted in the bulwarks
Scuppers
that allow water to run off the
deck during rain or heavy seas.
 Ship Structure

A superstructure deck is any deck above the main deck,

forecastle deck, or poop deck.
 Ship Structure

Superstructure Decks

These decks are called levels. The first level above the
main deck is the 01 (pronounced oh-one), the second the
02, and so on.
 Ship Structure

The superstructure deck includes all structures above

the main deck.

NOTE: The flight

Main Deck deck on a carrier is
the 04 level, not
the main deck.
 Ship Structure

Included in the superstructure may

be the:
• Wheelhouse
• Bridge
• Signal bridge
• CIC
• Radio shack
• CO’s sea cabin
Superstructure deck levels may be called other names
related to their uses as mentioned above.
Check On Learning Questions

CPS Lesson
Questions
5-6
 Ship Structure

Mast

The mast tops the superstructure and will have at least

one vertical pole fitted with a horizontal yardarm that
extends above the ship and carries flag halyards and
navigational and signal lights.
 Ship Structure

On most ships, the mast will

contain:

• Electronic devices
• Radar antennas
• Radio aerials
• Meteorological instruments
 Ship Structure

Foremast

The mast nearest the bow in vessels having two or more

masts is the foremast.
 Ship Structure

Mainmast

The second mast from forward in ships having two or

more masts is the mainmast.
It is usually taller than the foremast, making it normally
the highest structure above the main deck.
 Ship Structure

Truck is the top of the mast.

Pigstick is a slender vertical extension above the
mast from which the ship’s commission pennant
is flown.
Gaff is a spar extending abaft the mainmast
from which the national ensign is flown when
the ship is Underway.
 Ship Structure

Union Jack

Jackstaff

When a Navy ship is at anchor or moored, it flies the

jack on the jackstaff.
 Ship Structure

When in port or at anchor, a Navy

ship flies the national ensign from
the flagstaff at the stern from 0800
to sunset.

Flagstaff
 Ship Structure

The Navy Jack is now

raised in lieu of the
Union Jack until the war
on terrorism is over.
 Ship Structure

Stack

The stack supplies air to the main propulsion engines

and removes exhausts and hot gases from them.
 Ship Structure

Nuclear-powered ships
do not need stacks
since their reactors
require no air for
combustion, and they
produce no smoke or
gas.
 Watertight Integrity

Watertight Integrity

To prevent the spread

of flooding, watertight
bulkheads are built in
naval ships to divide
the hull into a series
of watertight
compartments.
 Watertight Integrity

Holds are the

compartments of
cargo ships, and
the main storage
spaces of all ships.
Holds
The more
compartments a
ship has, the more
secure it will be
from flooding.
 Watertight Integrity

Flooding can cause a ship to:

• List - lean to port or

starboard

• Lose trim - be “down” by the

head or stern

• Capsize - tip over, or sink

 Watertight Integrity

Hatch

Door

Access through bulkheads is provided by doors and

through decks by hatches.
 Watertight Integrity

Forward (or Forepeak) and After Peak Tanks

After Peak
Forepeak
Tanks
Tanks

These are tanks located at the extreme bow and

stern of the ship and are used for trimming the ship.
 Watertight Integrity

A collision bulkhead is a strong watertight

bulkhead at the after end of the forepeak tank.

If one ship rams another head on, the bow

structure would collapse, hopefully, somewhere
forward of the collision bulkhead, thus
preventing flooding of compartments aft of it.
 Watertight Integrity

Maintenance of
watertight integrity is a
function of damage
control.

A stuffing tube is a cylinder plugged

with watertight filler material to
Stuffing Tube
prevent leakage.
 Watertight Integrity

All watertight doors and

hatches carry markings
that determine when they
may or may not be
opened.

In this case, the “Z”

(condition ZEBRA)
indicates this door is
normally kept closed at all
times.
 Review Question

How is
watertight
integrity
maintained
on a Navy
ship?

(Use CPS “Pick a Student“ for this question.)

Closing Questions

CPS Lesson
Questions
7-8
Questions?