🔍 Key Concepts

• Cross flooding: what happens when you deliberately flood a compartment on the opposite side to balance a list • Relationship between list, trim, and stability (GM) when weight/floodwater shifts laterally • Difference between free surface effect and overall buoyancy/stress in the hull

💭 Think About

• When you open cross-flooding arrangements, what is the purpose – to change the ship’s weight, its distribution, or the waterplane? Think through what actually changes. • Does cross flooding usually add water high or low in the ship, and on one side or both sides? How would that affect transverse stability (GM)? • How could deliberate flooding on the opposite side affect internal stresses in the hull girder or the total volume of water the ship displaces?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be clear whether cross flooding is primarily intended to reduce list or to change total displacement/buoyancy. • Think about how additional flooded water on both sides affects free surfaces and therefore stability. • Ask yourself: does cross flooding normally make the hull carry more load overall, or just rearrange how the existing loads are balanced?