Calming Stormy Seas With New Kinds of Ship Hulls
FROM the ancient Egyptians onward, ship makers have been relatively quick to change the means of powering their vessels to increase speed and range, going from muscle to wind, steam, oil and eventually the atom. But hulls during those propulsion revolutions remained essentially the same. The great arc known as the monohull prevailed by virtue of its simplicity, buoyancy and dynamic lift. For millenniums it ruled the waves. Now, however, a number of upstarts are racing to challenge the leader, perhaps bringing changes as fundamental as those that have marked the history of maritime propulsion. The aim is greater speed and stability than is feasible with monohulls.
