3 ms·

Is there some kind of standard sizing that makes this kind of thing possible?

ceejayoz 6y ago
They'll have the blueprints and the actual ship to measure and confirm against. I'd imagine most of these are heavily custom jobs.
rtkwe 6y ago
Depends on the project; for the cruise ship it's a newly built section built specifically for that ship and the submarines they were both the same design so as long as you cut in the same place on both ships they should fit together plus or minus 2x the tolerances it was originally built with.
- ansible 6y ago
  Note that ships in the same class are rarely actually identical. There was also quite a bit of time since they were both built, and the later vessel no doubt incorporated changes / improvements on the design. And then you get into the really fun stuff, where what's on the plans, and what actually got built are usually at least a little different... and maybe the as-built documentation was not finished correctly either.
  - sandworm101 6y ago
    They also sag. A half of a ship isn't as rigid as an entire ship. It changes shape in all sorts of unpredictable ways. There is lots of lifting and pulling before the two hulls line up well enough to start welding them together.
    - rtkwe 6y ago
      In a dry dock though they’ll be better supported so the differential sagging will be much smaller. It’s how they were originally built as well.
  - rtkwe 6y ago
    The overall structure should be basically the same though and any changes should be documented on a government contract like this so future maintenance and upgrades can be planned and built by any contractors.
NortySpock 6y ago
Steel ships are often built in prefabricated sections, either from front to back or bottom to top, which are then welded and bolted together. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#/media/File:HMS_Dauntless_D33.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#/media/File:HMS_D... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#Modern_shipbuilding_manufacturing_techniques https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#Modern_shipbuildi...

They'll have the blueprints and the actual ship to measure and confirm against. I'd imagine most of these are heavily custom jobs.

rtkwe 6y ago

Depends on the project; for the cruise ship it's a newly built section built specifically for that ship and the submarines they were both the same design so as long as you cut in the same place on both ships they should fit together plus or minus 2x the tolerances it was originally built with.

ansible 6y ago
Note that ships in the same class are rarely actually identical. There was also quite a bit of time since they were both built, and the later vessel no doubt incorporated changes / improvements on the design. And then you get into the really fun stuff, where what's on the plans, and what actually got built are usually at least a little different... and maybe the as-built documentation was not finished correctly either.
- sandworm101 6y ago
  They also sag. A half of a ship isn't as rigid as an entire ship. It changes shape in all sorts of unpredictable ways. There is lots of lifting and pulling before the two hulls line up well enough to start welding them together.
  - rtkwe 6y ago
    In a dry dock though they’ll be better supported so the differential sagging will be much smaller. It’s how they were originally built as well.
- rtkwe 6y ago
  The overall structure should be basically the same though and any changes should be documented on a government contract like this so future maintenance and upgrades can be planned and built by any contractors.

NortySpock 6y ago

Steel ships are often built in prefabricated sections, either from front to back or bottom to top, which are then welded and bolted together. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#/media/File:HMS_Dauntless_D33.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#/media/File:HMS_D... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#Modern_shipbuilding_manufacturing_techniques https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding#Modern_shipbuildi...