Scale model of a Ship’s bulbous bow.

A scale model of a Taylor bulbous bow used at the Hamburg testing basin, circa 2000 – 2010.

Height: 65 cm. Width: 136 cm. Length: 199 cm.

Mounted on a display stand. Height: 198 cm.

This model was tested in a basin, wave tank, to carry out hydrodynamic tests, for the purpose of designing a new ship, or refining the design of a ship to improve the ship’s performance at sea. The bulbous bow is a protruding bulb at the bow of a ship just below the waterline. The bulb modifies the way the water flows around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency, and stability. Large ships with bulbous bows generally have twelve to fifteen percent better fuel efficiency than similar vessels without them.

The bulbous bow concept is credited to David W. Taylor, a naval architect who served as Chief Constructor of the United States Navy during the First World War and who used the concept (known as a bulbous forefoot) in his design of the USS Delaware, which entered service in 1910.