Ship Names - Methods of Launch

Methods of Launch

There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely used is the end-on launch, in which the vessel slides, usually stern first, down an inclined slipway. The side launch, whereby the ship enters the water broadside, came into 19th-century use on inland waters, rivers, and lakes, and was more widely adopted during World War II. The third method is float-out, used for ships that are built in basins or dry docks and then floated by admitting water into the dock.

  • Launch of the Friedland on 4 March 1840, sliding stern first

  • The side-launch of the USCGC Mackinaw (WLBB-30)

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Famous quotes containing the words methods and/or launch:

    “The greatest part of our faults are more excusable than the methods that are commonly taken to conceal them.”
    —François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

    “I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, watching the lapse of the current, an emblem of all progress, following the same law with the system, with time, and all that is made ... and at last I resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)