Shipbuilding Marine Engineering International

This textbook covers ship construction techniques and methods for all classes of Merchant Navy marine deck and engineering Certificates of Competency (CoC) as well as Undergraduate students studying Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. It is complementary to Volume 4 (Naval Architecture) and Volume 8 (General Engineering Knowledge). Importantly, this new edition contains up-to-date information on modern shipyards, dry-docking procedures and methods of construction. Extensively illustrated, the book also includes sample examination questions with worked examples answers to aid students in their learning.

The U.S. shipbuilding industry now confronts grave challenges in providing essential support of national objectives. With recent emphasis on renewal of the U.S. naval fleet, followed by the defense builddown, U.S. shipbuilders have fallen far behind in commercial ship construction, and face powerful new competition from abroad. This book examines ways to reestablish the U.S. industry, to provide a technology base and R&D infrastructure sustaining both commercial and military goals. Comparing U.S. and foreign shipbuilders in four technological areas, the authors find that U.S. builders lag most severely in business process technologies, and in technologies of new products and materials. New advances in system technologies, such as simulation, are also needed, as are continuing developments in shipyard production technologies. The report identifies roles that various government agencies, academia, and, especially, industry itself must play for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to attempt a turnaround.