Introduction

If your goal is to achieve a quiet vessel, be it a ship, a small boat or anything in between, this generates the questions of ‘how quiet’ and for ‘whom’? Are crew and/or marine life to be considered? Are noise and vibration both to be studied? What is the operating profile of the vessel, and how much time, effort and money will be invested to accomplish a quiet vessel? In the long run, designing, building and operating a quiet vessel will have significant impacts. These include weight, scheduling, space and cost. Other considerations are the impacts on the level and complexity of the design effort. The only way to minimize these sometimes ‘adverse’ impacts is to ensure that valid and implementable controls are utilized. These controls will need to be optimized with respect to the acoustic goals, vessel operation, and environment being protected. This means that this control process needs to be integrated into the overall ship design.