What (if anything) is the difference between the displacement of a ship and the weight of a ship? If they are the same why are there two different terms?
In: Engineering
The ship will displace water equal to its weight so a floaty box of metal that weighs 10,000 tons will displace 10,000 tons of water
But “displacement” of a ship isn’t just about the ship. The displacement is the amount of water the ship pushes away *when loaded to a specific level*. This actually turns into several different numbers depending on the era and method of measuring but things like Net Tonnage aren’t actually about the mass of the ship, it’s an administrative measure that goes into port duties. Deadweight tonnage is about the total mass of cargo the ship can carry
Regardless, basically never will you see something that actually measures the mass of the metal of the ship. It almost always includes at least drinking water, fuel, provisions, and minimum ballast. And yeah, it’s confusing
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