Naval Architecture - A Treasure Awaiting Exploration
launched by USA that are sailing in the open
Introduction
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing
and staring at water.” Rabindranath Tagore
Above line depicts that seas cannot be ruled
only by standing at the shore one must go deep
into the water and break the arrogance of the
waves. For this purpose it is necessary to be
equipped with a tool that can help you in
moving forward into deep seas. Naval
Architects are on the mission to invade the
seas through the most advanced vessels that
are safe and well equipped to cope with the
ever growing needs of the world. The
advancement can be clearly seen in the history
when bunch of men used to row the boats and
now mega structures are rowed by a fan
known as propeller. This change needed
centuries to take place and credit goes to the
scientists and engineers who worked nonstop
to make history. There is still a lot of space for
new engineers to showcase their abilities in
this emerging field which is degraded in the
under developed countries.
What is Naval Architecture?
Naval Architecture is based on the designing of
conventional displacement type ships along
with the designing of new innovative vessels
that are based on hydrostatic buoyancy or the
advanced concept of hydrodynamic lift or
aerodynamic lift. In addition to the merchant
ships Naval Architects are also responsible for
the designing of warships and even submarines
which is one of the deadly weapons against the
enemy defence and can ruin the enemy lines in
a glimpse of an eye. Naval Architecture is a
blend of different fields that include marine
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and
Structural Engineering. Additionally basic
knowledge of economic feasibility and safety
of the vessel is also needed.
Technological Developments
In the field of Naval architecture Britain and
USA are leading the world they have developed
Catmarans and now Trimarans are also
seas. These multihull boats have greater
advantage over the displacement ships as they
have lesser fuel requirements and can achieve
high speeds. High speed planning craft that is a
desire of each and every sea lover can now
reach upto a speed of 45 knots. Moreover now
a days a lot of work is also done on the sea
keeping of the ships. Now the sea sickness can
be overcome by installing efficient type of
gyroscopes that keeps the ship calm even in
worst seas even in 6 DOF. Small Waterplane
Area Twinhull (SWATH) have excellent
characteristics of sea keeping. Hover crafts can
also fly in air and can land in waters as well.
These type of special vessels are used for
specific purposes. In addition to the
advancement in design and hull form of the
ship, now efforts are being made to replace the
steel with carbon fibre which are equivalent in
strength to the steel but exceptionally lighter
in weight.
Economic Stability
The growing population of world creates
immense pressure on the economy of the
country, therefore the most efficient trade in
terms of cost is through sea. 90% of world’s
trade is done through the sea route. This adds
an additional burden on the Naval Architect to
design such merchant ships that are fast and
can carry the heavy loads from one country to
another. There are 50,000 merchant ships that
are trading across the seas and taking the
cargo. The world fleet is registered in 150
nations and manned over by millions of sea
farers. Trade expansion on this scale would not
have been possible without a major reform of
the transport system. During the next 35 years
many new ship types will be developed,
including bulk carriers, supertankers, liquefied
gas tankers, chemical tankers, vehicle carriers,
lumber carriers and, of course, container-
ships. Further the oil exploration going in
Arabian sea near Pakistan coast can change the
feat of our nation. If it becomes successful then
Pakistan can export refined as well as crude oil
 Naval Architecture - A Treasure Awaiting Exploration

to international market getting millions of

dollars profit.

Step Towards Self Reliance

On the other hand Pakistan has to show self
reliance in terms of its maritime security.
Pakistan has to secure its waterlines by
adopting to the changes in modern war
strategies. It has to confront on many grounds
with its opponents in the region. Now ships are
equipped with high stealth radars, sonar
systems and navigation devices. Moreover
surface to surface and surface to air missiles
with immense ranges are developed and
launched through the ship’s deck. For this
reason a more robust design with high speed
and good manoeuvring ships are to be
designed to face the enemy fleets. The regions
strategic importance and its foreign relations
needs Pakistan to stay on toes in the
challenging environment. Further the China-
Pakistan Economic corridor will boost up our
economy tremendously if we safeguard our
route by designing latest technology ships
locally, but for this purpose Naval Architecture
program must be initiated on the large scale
and young talent must be motivated to join
this field and portray their abilities.

Conclusion
Living in a country that is facing enormous
issues and challenges so it is necessary to take
a step towards self dependence in the field of
maritime development and designing of
vessels on large scale within the country.
Shipyards must be developed on immediate
basis to fulfil the needs of production as the
future of Pakistan would be far brighter than
our expectation if we properly give time to
initialize Naval Architecture Program in our
country.