![Ship transom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Ship_transom.JPG)
The stern is the back or
aft-most part of a
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
or
boat
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on inl ...
, technically defined as the area built up over the
sternpost
A sternpost is the upright structural member or post at the stern of a (generally wooden) ship or a boat, to which are attached the transoms and the rearmost left corner part of the stern.
The sternpost may either be completely vertical or may ...
, extending upwards from the counter rail to the
taffrail
In naval architecture, a taffrail is the handrail around the open deck area toward the stern of a ship or boat. The rear deck of a ship is often called the afterdeck or poop deck. Not all ships have an afterdeck or poop deck. Sometimes taffrail r ...
. The stern lies opposite the
bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section of the ship, but eventually came to refer to the entire back of a vessel. The stern end of a ship is indicated with a white
navigation light
A navigation light, also known as a running or position light, is a source of illumination on a watercraft, aircraft or spacecraft, meant to give information on the craft's position, heading, or status. Some navigation lights are colour-coded ...
at night.
Sterns on European and American wooden sailing ships began with two principal forms: the ''square'' or ''transom'' stern and the ''elliptical'', ''fantail'', or ''merchant'' stern,
[ and were developed in that order. The hull sections of a sailing ship located before the stern were composed of a series of U-shaped rib-like frames set in a sloped or "cant" arrangement, with the last frame before the stern being called the ''fashion timber(s)'' or ''fashion piece(s)'', so called for "fashioning" the after part of the ship.] This frame is designed to support the various beams that make up the stern.
In 1817 the British naval architect Sir Robert Seppings introduced the concept of the round or ''circular'' stern. The square stern had been an easy target for enemy cannon, and could not support the weight of heavy stern chase guns. But Seppings' design left the rudder head exposed, and was regarded by many as simply ugly—no American warships were designed with such sterns, and the round stern was quickly superseded by the elliptical stern. The United States began building the first elliptical stern warship in 1820, a decade before the British.[ became the first sailing ship to sport such a stern. Though a great improvement over the transom stern in terms of its vulnerability to attack when under fire, elliptical sterns still had obvious weaknesses which the next major stern development — the iron-hulled cruiser stern — addressed far better and with significantly different materials.
]
Types
Transom
In naval architecture, the term transom has two meanings. First, it can be any of the individual beams that run side-to-side or "athwart" the hull at any point abaft
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
the fashion timber; second, it can refer specifically to the flat or slightly curved surface that is the very back panel of a transom stern. In this sense, a transom stern is the product of the use of a series of transoms, and hence the two terms have blended.
The stern of a classical sailing ship housed the captain's quarters and became increasingly large and elaborate between the 15th and 18th centuries, especially in the baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
era, when such wedding-cake-like structures became so heavy that crews sometimes threw the decoration overboard rather than be burdened with its useless weight. Until a new form of stern appeared in the 19th century, the transom stern was a floating house—and required just as many timbers, walls, windows, and frames. The stern frame provided the foundational structure of the transom stern, and was composed of the sternpost, wing transom, and fashion piece.
Abaft the fashion timber, the transom stern was composed of two different kinds of timbers:
*Transoms – These timbers extend across the low parts of the hull near the rudder, and are secured (notched and/or bolted) to the sternpost. The transom located at the base of the stern, and the uppermost of the main transoms, was typically called the ''wing'' transom; the principal transom below this and level with the lower deck was called the ''deck'' transom; between these two were a series of ''filling'' transoms. If the stern had transoms above the wing transom, they would no longer be affixed to the sternpost. The first of these might be called a ''counter'' transom; next up was the ''window sill'' transom; above that, the ''spar deck'' transom. The larger the vessel, the more numerous and wider the transoms required to support its stern.
*Stern timbers (also called ''stern frames'') – These timbers are mounted vertically in a series; each timber typically rests or "steps" on the wing transom and then stretches out (aft) and upward. Those not reaching all the way to the taffrail
In naval architecture, a taffrail is the handrail around the open deck area toward the stern of a ship or boat. The rear deck of a ship is often called the afterdeck or poop deck. Not all ships have an afterdeck or poop deck. Sometimes taffrail r ...
are called ''short stern timbers'', while those that do are called ''long stern timbers''. The two outermost of these timbers, located at the corners of the stern, are called the ''side-counter timbers'' or ''outer stern timbers''. It is the stern timbers collectively which determine the backward slope of the square stern, called its rake – that is, if the stern timbers end up producing a final transom that falls vertically to the water, this is considered a transom with no rake; if the stern timbers produce a stern with some degree of slope; such a stern is considered a raked stern.
The flat surface of any transom stern may begin either at or above the waterline
The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indi ...
of the vessel. The geometric line which stretches from the wing transom to the archboard
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
is called the ''counter''; a large vessel may have two such counters, called a ''lower'' counter and a ''second'' or ''upper'' counter.[ The lower counter stretches from directly above the wing transom to the lower counter rail, and the upper counter from the lower counter rail to the upper counter rail, immediately under the stern's lowest set of windows (which in naval parlance were called "lights").
]
Elliptical
The visual unpopularity of Seppings's circular stern was soon rectified by Sir William Symonds. In this revised stern, a set of straight post timbers (also called "whiskers", "horn timbers", or "fan tail timbers") stretches from the keel diagonally aft and upward. It rests on the top of the sternpost and runs on either side of the rudder post (thus creating the "helm port" through which the rudder passes) to a point well above the vessel's waterline. Whereas the timbers of the transom stern all heeled on the wing transom, the timbers of the elliptical stern all heel on the whiskers, to which they are affixed at a 45° angle (i.e., "canted") when viewed from overhead and decrease in length as they are installed aft until the curvature is complete. The finished stern has a continuous curved edge around the outside and is raked aft.
Other names for the elliptical stern include a "counter stern", in reference to its very long counter, and a "cutaway stern". The elliptical stern began use during the age of sail
The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval ...
, but remained very popular for both merchant and warships well into the nautical age of steam and through the first eight decades of steamship construction (roughly 1840–1920). Despite the design's leaving the rudder exposed and vulnerable in combat situations, many counter-sterned warships survived both World Wars, and stylish high-end vessels sporting them were coming off the ways into the 1950s, including the US-flagged sisters SS ''Constitution'' and SS ''Independence''.
Cruiser
As ships of wooden construction gave way to iron and steel, the cruiser stern—another design without transoms and known variously as the ''canoe'' stern, ''parabolic'' stern, and the ''double-ended'' stern—became the next prominent development in ship stern design, particularly in warships of the earlier half of the 20th century. The intent of this re-design was to protect the steering gear by bringing it below the armor deck. The stern now came to a point rather than a flat panel or a gentle curve, and the counter reached from the sternpost all the way to the taffrail in a continuous arch. It was soon discovered that vessels with cruiser sterns experienced less water resistance when under way than those with elliptical sterns, and between World War I and World War II most merchant ship designs soon followed suit.
Others
None of these three main types of stern has vanished from the modern naval architectural repertoire, and all three continue to be utilized in one form or another by different sets of designers and for a broad spectrum of uses. Variations on these basic designs have resulted in an outflow of "new" stern types and names, only some of which are itemized here.
The reverse stern, reverse transom stern, sugar-scoop, or ''retroussé'' stern is a kind of transom stern that is raked backwards (common on modern yachts, rare on vessels before the 20th century); the vertical transom stern or plumb stern is raked neither forward nor back, but falls directly from the taffrail down to the wing transom. The rocket ship stern is a term for an extremely angled ''retroussé'' stern. A double ended ship with a very narrow square counter formed from the bulwarks or upper deck above the head of the rudder is said to have a pink stern or pinky stern.[ The torpedo stern or torpedo-boat stern describes a kind of stern with a low rounded shape that is nearly flat at the waterline, but which then slopes upward in a conical fashion towards the deck (practical for small high-speed power boats with very shallow drafts).]
A Costanzi stern is a type of stern designed for use on ocean-going vessels. Its hard-chine
A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...
d design is a compromise between the 'spoon-shaped' stern usually found on ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
s, and the flat transom, often required for fitting azimuth thruster
An azimuth thruster is a configuration of marine propellers placed in pods that can be rotated to any horizontal angle (azimuth), making a rudder unnecessary. These give ships better maneuverability than a fixed propeller and rudder system.
Ty ...
s. The design allows for improved seagoing characteristics. It is the stern design on ''Queen Mary 2'', and was originally proposed for SS ''Oceanic'' and ''Eugenio C
The SS ''Eugenio C'' was a 1966 Italian built ocean liner/cruise ship originally owned by the Costa Line. She was scrapped as the ''Big Red'' at Alang, India in June 2005.
History
''Eugenio C'' was ordered for the South American service by Cost ...
'', both constructed in the 1960s.
A lute stern is to be found on inshore craft on the Sussex, England, shore. It comprises a watertight transom with the topside planking extended aft to form a non-watertight counter which is boarded across the fashion timbers curving outward aft from the transom.
Some working boats and modern replicas have a similar form of counter, built to be water tight as described in the "transom stern" section above. These are being confused with lute sterns but as a lute is not watertight, a better term is needed. Chappelle in ''American Small Sailing Craft'' refers to a Bermudan boat with this form of counter, using the term "square tuck stern" to describe it. The term "tuck" is used in the northwest of England for this area of the hull at the sternpost, and for the bulkhead across the counter if one is fitted.
The fantail stern describes a stern that starts at the water and widens as you go upwards. This is famous on many 19th century tea clippers and the ill-fated RMS ''Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
''.
A bustle stern refers to any kind of stern (transom, elliptical, etc.) that has a large "bustle" or blister at the waterline below the stern to prevent the stern from "squatting" when getting underway. It only appears in sailboats, never in power-driven craft.
Image gallery
Image:Poupe-soleil-royal-berain.jpg, The transom of , by Jean Bérain the Elder
Jean Berain the Elder (1640 – 24 January 1711) was a draughtsman and designer, painter and engraver of ornament, the artistic force in the Royal office of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi where all the designs originated for court spectacle, from fà ...
Image:VOC Amsterdam.jpg, The stern of the Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
ship (transom stern)
Image:Spiegel Tirion28.JPG, The stern of a modern sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
Types
Although sailboat terminology ...
(Tirion28)
Image:lifeboat.stern.17-31.arp.jpg, The stern of a UK
Image:Christian Radich2.jpg, The tall ship , showing her elliptical stern
Image:EmpireSandy4.JPG, The elliptical stern of the metal-hulled
References
{{Authority control
Nautical terminology
Shipbuilding
Watercraft components