monohull and catamaran hullforms. A notable exception is the LCAC amphibious hovercraſt landing craſt. Te USA has built 91 of these large hovercraſt capable of travelling at 40 knots and carrying a fully loaded battle tank. Today, as we celebrate 150 years of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, high-speed vessel design has matured to the point where very large and fast prototype Littoral Combat Ships using monohull, catamaran, and trimaran technologies are all undergoing trials in the USA.
personal view from this author, is that we shall see further innovative developments in the naval architecture of fast vessels over the next 50 years. Sponson-assisted monohulls, be they trimaran or pentamaran, will undoubtedly see wider application for larger fast vessels. With rapidly rising fuel prices and increasing awareness of the effects of emissions on the environment there will certainly be a search for lower drag, lower power designs. Current catamaran and trimaran designs have successfully minimised wave-making drag but viscous drag remains a seemingly irreducible hurdle to further power reductions. It may be that further hybridisation of current successful hullforms with emerging technologies for viscous drag reduction will lead to the naval architect’s Holy Grail; - the fast vessel with both low viscous and wavemaking drag.
Nigel Gee retired from BMT Nigel Gee Ltd, the international design company specialising in high speed vessels, which he founded in 1986.
Benchijugua Express The Future
150 years ago cars existed as a number of steam prototypes, aircraft were only dreamed about, and ships were the only viable means of mass transport. The steam engine had freed marine transport from the variability of the winds that previously drove them and gave naval architects the opportunity to concentrate on designing hullforms for speed and efficiency. This has been achieved firstly through classical naval architecture utilising ships with high length/ displacement ratios and later through innovation with the invention of hydrofoils and hovercraft and the the adaption of multihulls using modern materials and powerplants. A
240m 40kt Pentamarin RoRo - a concept by BMT Nigel Gee Ltd.
RINA Headquarters 1938 -
In 1938, the Institution moved to its present headquarters at 10 Upper Belgrave Street. The wood paneled Denny Library on the first floor was furbished by Margaret Lady Denny in 1939, in memory of her husband, Sir Archibald Denny (an Honorary Vice-President of the Institution). In 1955, the premises were extended to include
a Lecture Hall, the building of which was greatly facilitated by the generosity of the late Viscount Weir of Eastwood (an Honorary Vice-President of the Institution) after which the hall is named.
10 Upper Belgrave Street, circa 1930
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