Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of
ships. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a
shipyard.
Shipbuilders, originally called
shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.
Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both commercial and military, are referred to as the "naval sector". The dismantling of ships is called
ship breaking. The construction of
boats is a similar activity called
boat building.
Archaeological evidence indicates that humans arrived on
New Guinea at least 60,000 years ago, probably by sea from
Southeast Asia during an
ice age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter. (See
History of Papua New Guinea.) The ancestors of
Australian Aborigines and
New Guineans went across the
Lombok Strait to
Sahul by boat over 50,000 years ago.
Evidence from
ancient Egypt shows that the early Egyptians already knew how to assemble planks of wood into a watertight
hull, using
treenails to fasten them together, and
pitch for
caulking the
seams. The "
Khufu ship", a 43.6 m long vessel sealed into a pit in the
Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the
Great Pyramid of Giza in the
Fourth Dynasty around 2,500 BC, is a full-size surviving example which may have fulfilled the symbolic function of a
solar barque. The ships of the
Eighteenth Dynasty were typically about 25 meters (80 ft) in length, and had a single
mast, sometimes consisting of two poles lashed together at the top making an "A" shape. They mounted a single square
sail on a
yard, with an additional
spar along the bottom of the sail. These ships could also be
oar propelled.
The ships of
Phoenicia seems to have been of a similar design. The
Greeks and probably others introduced the use of multiple banks of oars for additional speed, and the ships were of a light construction, for speed and so they could be carried ashore.
Viking
longships developed from an alternate tradition of
clinker-built hulls fastened with
leather thongs. Sometime around the
12th century, northern European ships began to be built with a straight
sternpost, enabling the mounting of a
rudder, which was much more durable than a
steering oar held over the side. Development in the
Middle Ages favored "
round ships", with a broad beam and heavily curved at both ends.
The introduction of
cannons onto ships encouraged the development of
tumblehome, the inward slant of the abovewater hull, for additional stability, as well as techniques for strengthening the internal frame.This kind of considerations, as well as the demand for ships capable of operating safely in the open ocean, led to the documentation of design and construction practice in what had previously been a secretive trade, and ultimately the field of
naval architecture. Even so, construction techniques changed only very gradually; the ships of the
Spanish Armada were internally very similarly to those of the
Napoleonic Wars over two centuries later.
Iron was gradually adopted in ship construction, initially in small areas needing greater strength, then throughout, although initially copying wooden construction.
Isambard Brunel's
Great Britain of
1843 was the first radical new design; built entirely of iron, using
stringers for strength, inner and outer hulls, and
bulkheads to form multiple watertight compartments. Despite her success, many yards only went so far to use
composite construction, with wooden timbers laid over an iron frame (the
Cutty Sark is so constructed).
Steel supplanted
wrought iron when it became readily available in the latter half of the
19th century.Wood continued to be favored for the decks, and is still the rule as deckcovering for modern
cruise ships.
Shipwrights in England
During the 16th century Shipwrights in
England were so few in number as to be granted direct employment by the Crown. The first list of ‘Master Shipwrights’ appointed ‘by Patent’ was issued by
Henry VIII and included ‘John Smyth,
Robert Holborn, Richard Bull and James Baker’ (father of
Mathew Baker). Peter Pett the son of John was summoned from his place of residence, then at
Harwich to work on the King’s Ships at
Portsmouth, and in 1543 was granted a wage and fee for life (vadium et feodum). The authority for the letters patent not being by the usual Writ of Privy Seal, but ‘Per Ipsum Regent’, i.e, by ‘direct motion of the King’,
Henry VIII.
On the
23 April 1548 Robert Holborn, Smyth and Bull received similar Patents, the very fact of which should be considered of some significance, and it was added as Shipwrights they should instruct others, by reason of their long and good service.
|
Shipbuilding for the United States effort in WWII (1943) |
Design work, also called
naval architecture, may be conducted using a
ship model basin. Modern shipbuilding makes considerable use of prefabricated sections; entire multi-deck segments of the hull or superstructure will be built elsewhere in the yard, transported to the building dock or slipway, then lifted into place. This is known as Block Construction.
Shipbuilding (which encompasses the shipyards, the marine equipment manufacturers and a large number of service and knowledge providers) is an important and strategic industry in a number of countries around the world. This importance stems from:
* The large number of trade persons required directly by the shipyard and also by the supporting industries such as steel mills, engine manufacturers, etc.
* A nation's need to manufacture and repair its own Navy and vessels that support its primary industries.
Historically, the industry has suffered from the absence of global rules and a tendency of (state-supported) over-investment due to the fact that shipyards offer a wide range of technologies, employ a significant number of workers and generate foreign currency income (as the shipbuilding market is dollar-based and a global one). Shipbuilding is therefore an attractive industry for developing nations. Japan used shipbuilding in the 1950s and 1960s to rebuild its industrial structure, Korea made shipbuilding a strategic industry in the 1970s and China is now in the process to repeat these models with large state-supported investments in this industry. As a result the world shipbuilding market suffers from over-capacities, depressed prices (although the industry experienced a price increase in the period 2003-2005 due to strong demand for new ships which was in excess of actual cost increases), low profit margins, trade distortions and wide-spread subsidisation. All efforts to address the problems in the OECD have so far failed, with the 1994 international shipbuilding agreement never entering into force and the 2003-2005 round of negotiations being suspended in October 2005 after no agreement was possible.
The world shipbuilding market will continue to be imbalanced as long as no international trade regime can be established.
*
Finnish Maritime Cluster*
U.S. Shipbuilding - extensive collection of information about the U.S. shipbuilding industry, including over 500 pages of U.S. shipyard construction records
*
Trading Places - interactive history of European dockyards
*
Shipyards United States - from GlobalSecurity.org
*
Historic Canadian Naval Ships and Shipyards*
Shipbuilding in Canada*
Historic Naval Shipyards of the United States
*
North Vancouver's Wartime Shipbuilding
