A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship, within the fuselage of an airplane, or a car. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship, within the fuselage of an airplane, or a car. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.
The word bulki meant "cargo" in Old Norse. During the 15th century sailors and builders in Europe realized that walls within a vessel would prevent cargo from shifting during passage. In shipbuilding, any vertical panel was called a head. So walls installed abeam (side-to-side) in a vessel's hull were called "bulkheads".[ dubious ] Now, the term bulkhead applies to every vertical panel aboard a ship, except for the hull itself.
Bulkhead partitions are considered to have been a feature of Chinese junks, a type of ship. Song Dynasty author Zhu Yu (fl. 12th century) wrote in his book of 1119 that the hulls of Chinese ships had a bulkhead build. The 5th-century book Garden of Strange Things by Liu Jingshu mentioned that a ship could allow water to enter the bottom without sinking. Archaeological evidence of bulkhead partitions has been found on a 24 m (78 ft) long Song Dynasty ship dredged from the waters off the southern coast of China in 1973, the hull of the ship divided into twelve walled compartmental sections built watertight, dated to about 1277. [1] [2]
Texts written by writers such as Marco Polo (1254–1324), Ibn Battuta (1304–1369), Niccolò Da Conti (1395–1469), and Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) describe the bulkhead partitions of East Asian shipbuilding. [1] [3] An account of the early fifteenth century describes Indian ships as being built in compartments so that even if one part was damaged, the rest remained intact — a forerunner of the modern day watertight compartments using bulkheads. [4]
Bulkhead partitions became widespread in Western shipbuilding during the early 19th century. [1] Benjamin Franklin wrote in a 1787 letter that "as these vessels are not to be laden with goods, their holds may without inconvenience be divided into separate apartments, after the Chinese manner, and each of these apartments caulked tight so as to keep out water." [5] A 19th century book on shipbuilding attributes the introduction of watertight bulkheads to Charles Wye Williams, known for his steamships. [6]
Bulkheads in a ship serve several purposes:
On an aircraft, bulkheads divide the cabin into multiple areas. On passenger aircraft a common application is for physically dividing cabins used for different classes of service (e.g. economy and business.) On combination cargo/ passenger, or "combi" aircraft, bulkhead walls are inserted to divide areas intended for passenger seating and cargo storage.
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Openings in fire-resistance rated bulkheads and decks must be firestopped to restore the fire-resistance ratings that would otherwise be compromised, if the openings were left unsealed. The authority having jurisdiction for such measures varies depending upon the flag of the ship. Merchant vessels are typically subject to the regulations and inspections of the Coast Guards of the flag country. Combat ships are subject to the regulations set out by the navy of the country that owns the ship.
Bulkheads and decks of warships may be fully grounded (electrically) as a countermeasure against damage from electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic pulse due to nearby nuclear or electromagnetic bomb detonations, which could severely damage the vital electronic systems on a ship.
In the case of firestops, cable jacketing is usually removed within the seal and firestop rubber modules are internally fitted with copper shields, which contact the cables' armour in order to ground the seal.
Most passenger vehicles and some freight vehicles will have a bulkhead which separates the engine compartment from the passenger compartment or cab; [7] the automotive use is analogous to the nautical term in that the bulkhead is an internal wall which separates different parts of the vehicle. Some passenger vehicles (particularly sedan/saloon-type vehicles) will also have a rear bulkhead, which separates the passenger compartment from the trunk/boot.
The term was later applied to other vehicles, such as railroad cars, hopper cars, trams, automobiles, aircraft or spacecraft, as well as to containers, intermediate bulk containers and fuel tanks. In some of these cases bulkheads are airtight to prevent air leakage or the spread of a fire. The term may also be used for the "end walls" of bulkhead flatcars.
Mechanically, a partition or panel through which connectors pass, or a connector designed to pass through a partition.
In architecture the term is frequently used to denote any boxed in beam or other downstand from a ceiling and by extension even the vertical downstand face of an area of lower ceiling beyond. This usage presumably derives from experience on boats where to maintain the structural function personnel openings through bulkheads always retain a portion of the bulkhead crossing the head of the opening. Head strikes on these downstand elements are commonplace, hence in architecture any overhead downstand element comes to be referred to as a bulkhead.
Bulkhead also refers to a moveable structure often found in an ((Olympic-size swimming pool)), as a means to set the pool into a “double-ended short course” configuration, or long-course, depending on the type of event being run. Pool bulkheads are usually air-fillable, but power driven solutions do exist.
The term is also used to refer to large retroactively installed pressure barriers for temporary or permanent use, often during maintenance or construction activities. [8]
A hull is the watertight body of a ship, boat, submarine, or flying boat. The hull may open at the top, or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, derrick, or mast. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.
Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation (classification) and calculations during all stages of the life of a marine vehicle. Preliminary design of the vessel, its detailed design, construction, trials, operation and maintenance, launching and dry-docking are the main activities involved. Ship design calculations are also required for ships being modified. Naval architecture also involves formulation of safety regulations and damage-control rules and the approval and certification of ship designs to meet statutory and non-statutory requirements.
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary or upper deck is the horizontal structure that forms the "roof" of the hull, strengthening it and serving as the primary working surface. Vessels often have more than one level both within the hull and in the superstructure above the primary deck, similar to the floors of a multi-storey building, that are also referred to as decks, as are certain compartments and decks built over specific areas of the superstructure. Decks for some purposes have specific names.
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out or drained. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or repair of permanent dams, oil platforms, bridge piers, etc., built within water.
USS Wolverine (IX-64) was a training ship used by the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally named Seeandbee and was built as a Great Lakes luxury side-wheel steamer cruise ship for the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company. Seeandbee was launched on 9 November 1912 and was normally used on the Cleveland, Ohio, to Buffalo, New York, route with special cruises to other ports. After the original owners went bankrupt in 1939 Seeandbee was purchased by Chicago-based C & B Transit Company and continued operating until 1941.
Floodability is the susceptibility of a ship's construction to flooding. It also refers to the ability to intentionally flood certain areas of the hull for damage control purposes, or to increase stability, which is particularly important in combat vessels, which often face the possibility of serious hull breach due to enemy action, and which rely on well-trained damage controlmen to equalize and then stop flooding of the hull.
The Borodino-class battlecruisers were a group of four battlecruisers ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy before World War I. Also referred to as the Izmail class, they were laid down in late 1912 at Saint Petersburg for service with the Baltic Fleet. Construction of the ships was delayed by a lack of capacity among domestic factories and the need to order some components from abroad. The start of World War I slowed their construction still further, as the imported components were often not delivered and domestic production was diverted into areas more immediately useful for the war effort.
The Olympic-class ocean liners were a trio of British ocean liners built by the Harland & Wolff shipyard for the White Star Line during the early 20th century. They were Olympic (1911), Titanic (1912) and Britannic (1914). All three were designed to be the largest and most luxurious passenger ships at that time, designed to give White Star an advantage in the transatlantic passenger trade.
In traditional nautical use, well decks were decks lower than decks fore and aft, usually at the main deck level, so that breaks appear in the main deck profile, as opposed to a flush deck profile. The term goes back to the days of sail. Late-20th-century commercial and military amphibious ships have applied the term to an entirely different type of hangar-like structure, evolving from exaggerated deep "well decks" of World War II amphibious vessels, that can be flooded for lighters or landing craft.
The sinking of the Titanic resulted in the following changes in maritime policy:
SS John P. Gaines was a Liberty ship built during World War II by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, and named for politician John P. Gaines. Northland Transportation Company was chartering the ship from the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration that owned the ship as part of the Merchant navy.
MS American Leader was a merchant cargo ship which entered service for the United States Lines in 1941. It was most noted for falling victim to the German auxiliary cruiser Michel during the Second World War. Her surviving crew members were taken as prisoners of war and collectively they endured three ship sinkings.
SS John Burke was an American Liberty Ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 type 'EC2-S-C1' ships that carried all kinds and types of dry cargo during the war. The ship was named for John Burke, the 10th Governor of North Dakota. Burke was built at Kaiser Shipbuilding Company's Oregon Shipbuilding yard in Portland, Oregon. Burke's keel was laid November 20, 1942 and the hull was launched on December 13. After fitting-out, Burke was delivered to the US Maritime Commission on December 23, just 33 days after construction began. The War Shipping Administration then placed Burke under management of the Northland Transportation Company.
SS William S. Ladd was an American Liberty ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 type 'EC2-S-C1' ships that carried all kinds and types of dry cargo during the war. She was named for William S. Ladd, an American politician and businessman in Oregon, who twice served as Portland's mayor in the 1850s. The ship's keel was laid on August 29, 1943, and 15 days later, on September 13, the hull was launched. William S. Ladd was fitted out in seven days, and was delivered to the U.S. Navy on September 20. The Navy placed Ladd under charter to Weyerhaeuser Steamship Co.
SS Antigua was a United Fruit Company passenger and refrigerated cargo liner completed as one of six nearly identical vessels, three built by Newport News Shipbuilding and three by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, for operation by the company's subsidiary the United Mail Steamship Company. The ship was the first of the ships built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts.
A compartment is a portion of the space within a ship defined vertically between decks and horizontally between bulkheads. It is analogous to a room within a building, and may provide watertight subdivision of the ship's hull important in retaining buoyancy if the hull is damaged. Subdivision of a ship's hull into watertight compartments is called compartmentation.
The Design 1095 ship was an Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) design for a troop transport to be built at New York Shipbuilding Corporation and delivered to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) that, at the end of World War I hostilities, was modified to a combined passenger and cargo vessel. The contract was for thirteen ships, EFC hulls 2579 though 2591, but later adjusted to seven ships with the remainder being changed during construction to the slightly larger ships of EFC Design 1029 built from the start as passenger and cargo ships rather than being modified from the troop ship plan.
SS Demosthenes was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1911 in Ireland for Aberdeen Line and scrapped in 1931 in England. In the First World War she was an Allied troop ship.
SS John Cadwalader was a coastal passenger and cargo steamer launched in March 1926 by Pusey & Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware for the Baltimore-Philadelphia Steamship Company for operation on overnight service between Baltimore and Philadelphia. The intended route used the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal for an inland passage using Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and the Delaware River.
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