Apple bows

[Don Case]

My wife asked me why these ships have such blunt bows. I tried searching this in Google but I can't get by modern bulbous bows. So why did they have such ugly bows? (Her words but I kind of agree )

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

i am going to take a wild guess and say "cargo space"

the sharper the bow the finer the or narrower the hull thus less cargo space

 

[Hubac’s Historian]

On warships a more bluff bow, above the waterline allows for a broader deck, further forward, which translates to greater working area for the guns. Underwater, though, the junction where the stem and keel meet is usually pretty sharply hewn.

 

[Don Case]

So, the bluff bow doesn't affect the speed as much as it would look?

 

[Steef66]

Just evolution of ships. The first schips where mostly used by fisher men and have these dull form. Like a botter. From there they evolved to galleons and later on they learned to make ships like a clipper with a small bow.

 

[Hubac’s Historian]

The bluff bow definitely sacrifices speed for stability. Eventually, navies came around to creating moderately well-armed cutters that were sharp in the bow for speed and maneuverability.

 

[tomazona]

Drachinifel has a nice discussion of naval architecture on his YouTube channel. Here is the link:

, If you don’t trust the link just search Drachinifel on youtube and look for lHull Form Design”. lDrach“ is a naval historian and does deep dives on all things nautical.