General Introduction

This chapter defines the scope of Ship Manoeuvrability and introduces terms such as turning abilityTurning ability, course stabilityCourse stability and controllabilityControllability. Speed changingSpeed changing ability is also included. A conventional direction control system of a ship is described briefly and the various factors that affect ship manoeuvrability are mentioned. A ship must have certain qualities for it to be regarded as having good manoeuvrability. It is noted that underwater vehicles, multihull vessels and high speed marine craft are not covered in this book.