Matthew Collette

I proposed a capstone project for a patrol boat for short-of-shots conflicts - higher maneuverability, heavier structure/fendering for collisions, reinforced stem. But no student groups took it up (I let the students have final choice- it is their capstone after all), but I still like the idea....

Maneuverability, bridge visibility - often an afterthought on requirements docs or "just like the last one" but 3184 really wishes it could have turned faster...

Not sure that was an ad for the championship...but entertaining off the ball #BIRIPS

And happy Friday to you too -- the Moby Dick bot certainly picks some dark passages, I don't remember the book being so dark at the sentence level (the obsession story is plenty dark overall, but my memory was the prose was more neutral)

Hmmm guess I’m rewriting the intro to the lpv report again….

I read it as an accident report that was simultaneously pointing out a long list of regulatory failures before Titan was ever built (that continued after too...) to hopefully prevent similar antics in the future. But it does make slow going. When 46 CFR is vague, too much can fall on the OCMIs...

washing its hands of a difficult issue through a band-aid fix that causes problems elsewhere. Or a typical Monday in the global maritime industry 🙄

past 15 years, even with cut-down maintenance for the last 5 years. So now you have poorly-maintained but tempting vessels flowing into potentially poorer-performing flags. Not to mention the environmental impact of building ships for 25-year lives but scrapping them at 15. This is Panama

So now we have a situation where owners are over-paying for ships if they are only able to operate them for 15 years. This is likely to lead to them reducing maintenance from years 10-15 as 15 is the new scrapping target. However, a ship built for 25 years is still going to be tempting to operate

I have significant reservations about this approach. Nothing magic happens to a ship at 15 years old, in fact, this undercuts all the work at IMO on goal-based standards, which specifically requires a 25-year design life for tankers and bulk carriers (MSC.287(87))

The 16th International Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and other Floating Structures Practical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures

We've accepted over 130 papers from Asia, Europe, & the Americas for PRADS! Early bird registration is open until September 1st, & a few sponsorship slots remain. See the leading edge of research & meet the Ph.D. graduates who will take the industry into the future in Ann Arbor!

www.prads.org

HTMS Chakri Naruebet may be the last of the 1980s-1990s cycle of "aspirational" carriers left...

You should collect these into a book with the history of the concept…

Trying to solve the technical challenges in this field is immensely rewarding, but these challenges never overshadow the human aspect of the maritime world...the people and stories are beyond belief, from heartbreakingly painful to comic and everything in between.

Whatever this is, fast seems like a most unlikely adjective...normally anything to do with locks and fast normally also involves bad...

It will be interesting to see if the commercial world can push this technology faster than the DoD. Though a Russian WIG demonstration I saw in 2005 remains the loudest noise for the least useful cargo movement I've ever seen afloat...

We are multiple decades on from Prestige, Castor, and more, and the criminalization of seafarers and the lack of consistent ports of refuge still plague the industry...

Consider it just an item on the checklist for solving the problem...

Many other inter-war carriers tried out one or two of these ideas, but nothing comes close to doing this in one hull.

Interesting ideas tried out on one ship:
1) 2x 18" guns for Baltic cruiser adventure.
2) Half carrier, half Baltic cruiser.
3) Two flight decks joined via ramps.
4) Entirely flush flight deck
5) Exaust gas routing via hangar for #4
5) Two decks, stacked, each capable of launching aircraft

Well, the gun and mast were there first...

New York Tugboat Race - Wikipedia

Pushing is generally safer....but happens in NYC frequently!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yor...

Stealthy ship hull cuts through waves like butter Borrowing from drug-smuggling subs, Michigan engineers are helping the Navy design autonomous ships that blend in with the ocean surface.

Not sure that is the headline I'd have chosen, but a good follow-up on the LPV video.

news.engin.umich.edu/2025/06/stea...

I was unaware I was supposed to stop at one… weight based costing, groups busily designing hull forms without knowing the Froude number…

YouTube video by Michigan Engineering Vessels, smuggler style

Low-profile vessels! They are indeed wet, but better behaved than you might expect with that little freeboard. @covertshores.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmh...

India Files Criminal Charges Over Deadly Containership Explosion Indian authorities have launched criminal case against the owner, master, and crew of the Singapore-flagged container vessel Wan Hai 503 following a major fire and explosion incident that left four...

We continue to criminalize crews in a way no other industry would tolerate.

gcaptain.com/india-files-...

My guess is 1,500 tons would probably have been as effective as the 14,000 litres. Now, if we do move to Methanol as lower-carbon fuel in the future, I'll revise my views on the effectiveness of explosives for burning things off before they spill...

Oh there is a long history of thinking you can "burn off" crude or heavy fuel oil via explosives. The actual evidence of effectiveness is pretty minimal...

How did I not know this picture existed?

Bow thruster is an interesting addition that doesn’t track with rest of the mission. Robotic docking not fully at human skill yet and want more authority?