Rolls-Royce Announces Overhauled Vessel Design Philosophy

Rolls-Royce has overhauled its vessel design philosophy. Image: Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce plc (Rolls-Royce) today announced that it has overhauled its vessel design philosophy in order to optimise construction and operations without reducing the use of space on board.

The new design brings together four key features in each design, including a knuckle line that slopes down towards the bow to link the new designs with older UT and NVC designs, a vertical side area and vertical upper stem said to simplify the design and decouple the hull form from the superstructure, and a topside sheer line with a small convex curvature.

Rolls-Royce says these features will be present in all the designs in some form but can be modified depending on the ship type.

"Less is often more in ship design and while the new elements have been devised to ensure every Rolls-Royce ship is built for optimum performance and functionality, they will be distinguished by their clear angles, clean shapes and faces," said Martijn de Jongh, Rolls-Royce Chief Designer - Marine.

"We have evaluated the profile of the vessels to omit any unnecessary aspects, like excessive large windage areas, for instance. They will be easier to build as well."

Rolls-Royce says a number of vessels designed under the new guidelines have already been ordered and are now under construction, including a UT 540 windfarm vessel due for delivery from Spain's Astilleros Gondán, S.A. (Gondán) in October.

Earlier this month, Rolls-Royce announced that it had signed a "groundbreaking" service agreement with Nor Lines, which will use "Big Data" to monitor, plan, and perform maintenance and repairs on Nor Lines' liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered cargo vessels, Kvitbjørn and Kvitnos.