COMPARISON OF SEAKEEPING PERFORMANCE OF A MONOHULL AND A SWATH DESIGN FOR A NEW NAVAL RESEARCH VESSEL

For the replacement of the naval research vessel PLANET, which has been in service for the German Navy for more than 25 years, different craft concepts have been considered during the feasibility phase. Preliminary payload-optimised designs for both concepts, monohull and SWATH, were developed and corresponding life cycle costs were estimated. In order to decide which concept would best meet the technical and operational requirements and on what concept the next design phase should be based, comparisons of performance versus cost were performed. This comparison is the subject of this paper which includes a brief description of the requirements and the preliminary designs of both craft. The performance assessment is based on the operability index and seakeeping performance index as a result of calculated ship motions and selected criteria for voluntary and involuntary speed reduction as well as for crew comfort.