Lighter transporter ship with multi-deck hold - dividing bulkheads on upper deck allow separate flooding of deck sections

摘要

The transporter ship has several layers of holds with side doors through which lighters can be floated when the ballast tanks of the ship are flooded, and when the side doors of the hold are opened. In order to accommodate even more lighters some can be stacked on the deck. This would entail flooding the ship too low in the water. Bulkhead walls are provided around the top deck so that these can be selectively flooded to ensure that only part of the top deck is under water, while obtaining buoyancy from the other, unflooded sections. An even wider top deck storage space is obtained by joining two hulls into a catamaran with the joining deck sectioned off by bulkheads.