Deadliest Catch!

[Walter]

Since the Aleuteans belong to Japan, I just had to sim a crab fishing boat. So I looked at Keith Colburn's Wizard and simmed her for 1916. :)


The sim was made using information from:
http://www.crabwizard.com/
http://www.deadliest-catch-wiki.discovery.com/
http://www.navsource.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/


F/V Wizard, Japan Fishing Boat laid down 1916

Displacement:
   882 t light; 902 t standard; 1,009 t normal; 1,095 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
   (155.94 ft / 150.70 ft) x 30.00 ft x (13.10 / 14.03 ft)
   (47.53 m / 45.93 m) x 9.14 m  x (3.99 / 4.28 m)

Machinery:
   Diesel Internal combustion motors,
   Geared drive, 1 shaft, 1,125 shp / 839 Kw = 13.14 kts
   Range 6,050nm at 10.00 kts
   Bunker at max displacement = 193 tons

Complement:
   9 - 12

Cost:
   £0.060 million / $0.240 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
   Armament: 0 tons, 0.0%
   Machinery: 42 tons, 4.2%
   Hull, fittings & equipment: 180 tons, 17.8%
   Fuel, ammunition & stores: 127 tons, 12.6%
   Miscellaneous weights: 660 tons, 65.4%
      - Hull below water: 430 tons
      - Hull above water: 120 tons
      - On freeboard deck: 83 tons
      - Above deck: 27 tons

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
   Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
     1,125 lbs / 510 Kg = 10.4 x 6 " / 152 mm shells or 0.7 torpedoes
   Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.21
   Metacentric height 1.2 ft / 0.4 m
   Roll period: 11.7 seconds
   Steadiness   - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
         - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.00
   Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.20

Hull form characteristics:
   Hull has raised forecastle, raised quarterdeck ,
     a normal bow and a round stern
   Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.597 / 0.604
   Length to Beam Ratio: 5.02 : 1
   'Natural speed' for length: 12.28 kts
   Power going to wave formation at top speed: 57 %
   Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 59
   Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 24.00 degrees
   Stern overhang: -2.00 ft / -0.61 m
   Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
            Fore end,    Aft end
      - Forecastle:   17.40%,  11.78 ft / 3.59 m,  9.87 ft / 3.01 m
      - Forward deck:   25.00%,  7.00 ft / 2.13 m,  5.25 ft / 1.60 m
      - Aft deck:   29.81%,  5.25 ft / 1.60 m,  4.46 ft / 1.36 m
      - Quarter deck:   27.79%,  7.96 ft / 2.43 m,  7.96 ft / 2.43 m
      - Average freeboard:      7.04 ft / 2.15 m
   Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
   Space   - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 73.3%
      - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 37.5%
   Waterplane Area: 3,222 Square feet or 299 Square metres
   Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 136%
   Structure weight / hull surface area: 35 lbs/sq ft or 173 Kg/sq metre
   Hull strength (Relative):
      - Cross-sectional: 0.89
      - Longitudinal: 2.71
      - Overall: 1.00
   Excellent machinery, storage, compartmentation space
   Extremely poor accommodation and workspace room
   Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
   Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

72 tons = 230 6.5'x6.5' pots (at 700lbs per pot).
11 tons = deck gear
27 tons = handling cranes
550 tons = storage hold.

[Borys]

wouldn't a VTE be more appropriate for the period?
Borys

[Walter]

Maybe, but it is easier and looks better this way. :)

[Korpen]

wouldn't a VTE be more appropriate for the period?
Borys

Well a disel engine is a "complex reciprocating engine" after all. :)

[The Rock Doctor]

If I were up crabbing in the Aleutians, I think I'd want more freeboard than that...

Neat idea, though. 

[Walter]

I used the Wizard's blueprint, drew a line where the waterline is and measured the freeboard exactly. Yes, it is low, but that is how it is.

[Walter]

From the keel to the yellow line is 13.1 feet, so as you can see, there is not much freeboard on the vessel.

Original: http://www.crabwizard.com/blueprint/

Since the original picture was slightly tilted, I slightly rotated the picture so that it was straight before drawing the yellow line. Since I did not do this originally, I recalculated the freeboard so that it matches the picture above. I also changed the below/above waterline Miscellaneous weights figures as the vast majority of the hold is below the waterline (as you can see on the picture).


Wizard, Japan Fishing Boat laid down 1916

Displacement:
   882 t light; 902 t standard; 1,009 t normal; 1,095 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
   (155.86 ft / 150.70 ft) x 30.00 ft x (13.10 / 14.03 ft)
   (47.50 m / 45.93 m) x 9.14 m  x (3.99 / 4.28 m)

Machinery:
   Diesel Internal combustion motors,
   Geared drive, 1 shaft, 1,125 shp / 839 Kw = 13.14 kts
   Range 6,050nm at 10.00 kts
   Bunker at max displacement = 193 tons

Complement:
   9 - 12

Cost:
   £0.060 million / $0.240 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
   Armament: 0 tons, 0.0%
   Machinery: 42 tons, 4.2%
   Hull, fittings & equipment: 181 tons, 17.9%
   Fuel, ammunition & stores: 127 tons, 12.6%
   Miscellaneous weights: 659 tons, 65.3%
      - Hull below water: 510 tons
      - Hull above water: 40 tons
      - On freeboard deck: 91 tons
      - Above deck: 18 tons

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
   Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
     1,185 lbs / 537 Kg = 11.0 x 6 " / 152 mm shells or 0.7 torpedoes
   Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.33
   Metacentric height 1.4 ft / 0.4 m
   Roll period: 10.8 seconds
   Steadiness   - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
         - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.00
   Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.25

Hull form characteristics:
   Hull has raised forecastle, raised quarterdeck ,
     a normal bow and a round stern
   Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.597 / 0.604
   Length to Beam Ratio: 5.02 : 1
   'Natural speed' for length: 12.28 kts
   Power going to wave formation at top speed: 57 %
   Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 57
   Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 24.22 degrees
   Stern overhang: -2.00 ft / -0.61 m
   Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
            Fore end,    Aft end
      - Forecastle:   17.40%,  11.46 ft / 3.49 m,  9.87 ft / 3.01 m
      - Forward deck:   25.00%,  6.69 ft / 2.04 m,  5.09 ft / 1.55 m
      - Aft deck:   29.81%,  5.09 ft / 1.55 m,  5.09 ft / 1.55 m
      - Quarter deck:   27.79%,  8.60 ft / 2.62 m,  8.60 ft / 2.62 m
      - Average freeboard:      7.21 ft / 2.20 m
   Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
   Space   - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 73.3%
      - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 37.6%
   Waterplane Area: 3,222 Square feet or 299 Square metres
   Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 136%
   Structure weight / hull surface area: 35 lbs/sq ft or 173 Kg/sq metre
   Hull strength (Relative):
      - Cross-sectional: 0.89
      - Longitudinal: 2.77
      - Overall: 1.00
   Excellent machinery, storage, compartmentation space
   Extremely poor accommodation and workspace room
   Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
   Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

72 tons = 230 6.5' x 6.5' pots (at 700lbs per pot).
19 tons = deck gear.
18 tons = handling cranes.
550 tons = storage hold.

[Walter]

Now the original sim gives a complement of 89 - 116. Since it is a civilian vessel, that figure must be divided by 10, so you end up with a crew of 9-12. With 90% less crew, is the 'Extremely poor accommodation and workspace room' remark still valid for the design?

[Borys]

Is 12 men enough to work the engine, sail the boat AND catch crabs?
What would a RL complement be? 30 blokes?

And I agree on laxity concerning the "accommodation" remark.

Borys

[Walter]

Season 3, Wizard's crew was 6. Season 4, it was 8.
http://www.deadliest-catch-wiki.discovery.com/page/The+Wizard
.. so it is actually lower than what SS gives divided by 10.

[Guinness]

Of course, it's a different era now. In 1915, you'd need a larger deck crew to catch crab because they wouldn't have the extensive hydraulic machinery to move the crab pots around, coil lines, etc. that they have now.

Today's modern maritime diesels require a lot less tending to then whatever the engines would have been in 1915 as well.

And finally, given that they had no modern navigational aids like they do now, I suspect that the bridge of a crab boat like this in 1915 would require at least one or two more people on watch most of the time than today, when often only the captain is up there.

There was a great exhibit at the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco on Alaskan fishing last time I was there, and one of the ships there today was a cannery in the 20's (if I remember correctly). Too bad I'm 3000 miles away.

[Borys]

My suspicions run along similar lines as Guinesses' - much less automation at that time and place.
Not to mention I still support the idea of shoveling coal ....
Still, the 25-30 blokes I envision are far cry from the c.100 men a military vessel would need.
Borys

[Walter]

Spring Style notes clearly indicate that of a civvie vesssel, you need to divide the crew by 10... and that is what I did.

So you have the captain, a navigator and a helmsman on the bridge. You got an engineer and 2-3 other guys who can help him out if something happens (but most of whom are on deck helping out under normal conditions). You got one guy operating the crane to hoist the goods out of the water, one guy to coil the lines. Maybe a few extra guys on deck to help out. Any of the other duties (medic, cook, mechanic, etc) can be done by one of the crewmembers already aboard.

Why not to go for coal? You need extra men for shoveling coal and to keep an eye on the boilers (probably 2 or 3 boilers needed), all of whom would be permanenty needed below deck.