Talk:Bulbous bow
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While 'bulbous bow' is the tern commonly used for this feature, it is strictly a bulbous forefoot. The forefoot being the junction between the keel and the stem. As structural features, both stem and keel as narrowly defined, have been superseded by plate structures but their positions in the structure of the ship are recalled when naming these parts of the hull. The flow characteristics around sharp and bulbous forefoots are analagous to those investigated in the early years of the development of modern (motorised) torpedoes. The earliest ones were pointed but it was soon found that a hemispherical fore end permitted more efficient passage through the water.
[edit] "Large seas"?
- However, neither of these explanations accounts for the fact that vessels with bulbous bows handle better in large seas.
What does "large seas" mean here? Deep? High waves? --P3d0 16:21, Apr 1, 2005 (UTC)
- Heavy seas? Rmhermen 16:25, Apr 1, 2005 (UTC)
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- Ok, what is that? I think we should strive to use minimal jargon, and failing that, we should define our terms. --P3d0 18:23, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Yamato?
Wasn't the design of Japanese battleship Yamato one of the earliest successful examples of bulbous bow? I remember they tried several wax models to reach the final 3 meter long design. -- Toytoy 08:13, Apr 17, 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Andrea Doria
The image caption has been changed from bulbous bow to sonar dome. If this is true (and it looks like it to me), I think that the image should be removed from the article. What do other people think? --Apyule 08:19, 10 November 2005 (UTC)
- I think it still qualifies as a bulbous bow, especially given that the "additional benifits" section of the article explicitly addresses this point. I've clarified the caption to reflect my interpretation... how's that? -Lommer | talk 18:40, 10 November 2005 (UTC)
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- Yeah, looking at it that way I think I've changed my mind. It should stay now. --Apyule 01:07, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
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- I'm not so sure, bulbous bows are generally only used for hydrodynamic purposes, a sonar dome is a completely different object, it's not really relevant to the topic. I've taken it out for now, and edited the "Additional Benefits" section to make the distinction clearer. Kupos 19:30, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] History of bulbous bow
I will try to be more complete in future and add to the page, but a few key points: 1. the bulbous forefoot was developed by the US naval constructor David Taylor and used on several battleships in the 1920s 2. The US passenger ship Malolo was the first commercial vessel to use a bulbous forefoot (it was designed by Gibbs and Cox, who had close ties to the US Navy and Admiral Taylor) 3. The German ships Bremen and Europa followed suite. It is not clear whether German naval architects developed the concpet independently or they learned of the American research 4. The Russian naval constructor Vladimir Yourkevitch used the bulbous forefoot on his battleship designs in the 1920s, but they were never built. He emigarted to France where, famously, he designed the hull of the passenger liner Normandie with a bulbous forefoot. 5. The bulbous bow we know and love today was developed in the late 1950s in Japan by Takao Inui, now an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo. He developed it after carefully studying the wave theories of Havelock in Britain (Havelock and Wigely had come up with the concept of a wave-cancelling bulb in the 1920s and 30s, but never built one). It took some time for the concept to come to be accepted in the maritime community.
Ferreiro 01:45, 17 February 2007 (UTC)Dr. Larrie D. Ferreiro
