Bulbous Bows

[Sleepwalker]

Some posts above is an info that Fletchers bows were without bulb. I'm building fletcher model right now and accodring to my research on the topic there was small bulb below waterline. OK it is subtle and not big, but it is.

[Foeth]

Any blob below the waterline is not a bulb, but the result of some structural demand, reason to place equiment, or whatever. All those minor changes to the hull doesn't really count as a bulb in my opinion.

[gerinc]

Surface tension waves only play a part in really really really small waves (Say 8/12 inch or 1.71 cm) and that wave lengths contributes absolutely nothing to a ships wave resistance. This wiki page doesn't seem to be half-bad. Surface energy is depending on the curvature of the liquid-gaseous interface. This curvature is high for drops and beads of water, but quickly goes to very small values for larger surfaces. In a glass of water, you can see the edges going up slightly, but not a huge curvate in your glass.

Thanks for clarifying about surface tension, I stand corrected.

[bb-56]

The main rational of the bulbous bow is to reduce the vessels resistance to motion but under certain conditions .
CVN77

Picture Northrop Grumman

Now thats a bulbous bow