Hull

The Hull is the main body of a ship, boat, or other vessel type.

• It contains the superstructure, frame, skeleton, and internal structure among other terms.
• It is often called a fuselage, airframe, or chassis on smallcraft or vehicles.
• Hulls have several primary characteristics (specifications) of hull shape, structure, streamlining as well as several other minor ones.
• Some hulls are built as Tail-sitters. A tail-sitter or tailsitter is a type of VTOL craft that takes off and lands on its tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight.
• It is the major location of Ship Equipment.
• Hulls are commonly divided into two major sections, the Main Compartment and Engineering Compartment.

Description (Specifications)

Hulls or fuselages are the skeletons, internal structures, and other core structural features of a craft capable of atmospheric flight, spaceflight, or starflight.

Hulls are identified by their mass displacement, expressed in tons of displaced liquid hydrogen. When hulls are constructed, they are divided into an engineering section for the drives and the main compartment for everything else. Standard hulls are available at reduced prices and construction times. Any other hull must be produced on a custom basis. Hulls vary in their requirements for drives and power plants based on tonnage.

The CBPUSAL-7 Hull Series are considered the seven basic known hull types. All other hull variations are considered subtype variations. Certain streamlining configurations are associated with each of the seven hull types, but variations are possible among un-streamlined, partially streamlined, and fully streamlined orientations among other possibilities.

Hull Primary Characteristics

1. Hull Shape (Hull Configuration)
   1. Cluster Hull (consisting of linked subhulls and pods)
      1. Close Structure Hull
      2. Dispersed Structure Hull
      3. Distributed Structure Hull
      4. Irregular Structure Hull
      5. Open Frame Hull
   2. Braced Cluster Hull (consisting of linked subhulls and pods, able to withstand acceleration and gravity wells)
      1. Braced Hull
      2. Oreo Pattern Hull
   3. Planetoid Hull
      1. Buffered Planetoid Hull
   4. Unstreamlined Hull
      1. Box Hull
      2. Cube Hull
      3. Slab Hull
   5. Streamlined Hull
      1. Cone Hull
      2. Cylinder Hull
      3. Needle Hull
      4. Ring Hull
      5. Sphere Hull
   6. Wedge Hull
      1. Cylinder Hull
      2. Needle Hull
      3. Slab Hull
   7. Lifting Body Hull
      1. Disk Hull
      2. Dome Hull
      3. Flattened Sphere Hull
      4. Saucer Hull
2. Hull Structure
3. Hull Streamlining
   1. Partially Streamlined Hull
   2. Streamlined Hull
   3. Unstreamlined Hull

Hull Explication

The Hull: Hulls are identified by their mass displacement, expressed in tons. As a rough guide, one ton equals fourteen cubic meters (the volume of one ton of liquid hydrogen and its tank structure). When hulls are constructed, they are divided into an engineering section for the drives and the main compartment for everything else. All drives and power plants must be located in the engineering section, and only drives and power plants may be placed in that section. All other ship components, including fuel, cargo hold, living space, and computer must be located in the main compartment.

There are seven standard hulls which are available at reduced prices and construction times. Any other hull must be produced on a custom basis at a cost of MCr0.1 per ton with a minimum price MCr20. Construction (or build) times for custom hulls can often be much longer than standard hull construction. Hulls vary in their requirements for drives and power plants based on tonnage.

Any specific drive will be less efficient as the tonnage it must drive increases. There are twenty-four standard drive types, identified by the letters A through Z (omitting I and O to avoid confusion). Also listed are various tonnage levels for hulls; any tonnage which exceeds a listed level should be read at the next higher level. Correlating hull size with drive letter indicates drive potential. For maneuver drives, this potential is the G’s of acceleration available. For jump drives, the potential is the jump number (Jn), or jump range in parsecs. For power plants, it is power plant rating (Pn). For example, a 200-ton hull equipped with maneuver drive-A can produce 1-G acceleration; an 800-ton hull equipped with jump drive-K can produce jump-2.

A ship’s hull is broadly composed of two sections:

1. Engineering Compartment / Section
2. Main Compartment / Section

Image Repository

CBPUSAL-7 Function Designation
C	B	P	U	S	A	L

CBPUSAL-7 Function Designation
Image	Code	Hull	Primary Environment	Streamlining	Subtypes	Remarks (Synopsis)
	C	Cluster Hull	Spacecraft / Vacuum	Unstreamlined Hull or Partially Streamlined Hull	Cluster Hull Close Structure Hull Dispersed Structure Hull Distributed Structure Hull Irregular Structure Hull Open Frame Hull	Simple spacecraft hull suited to cargo transport. Often used by Battle Tenders and Battle Riders Often used by craft with External Cradles. Some terrans call them tinker toys.
	B	Braced Cluster Hull	Spacecraft / Vacuum	Unstreamlined Hull or Partially Streamlined Hull	Braced Cluster Hull Braced Hull Oreo Pattern Hull	Intermediate complexity spacecraft hull suited to cargo transport at increased acceleration rates. Often used by Battle Tenders and Battle Riders Often used by craft with External Cradles.
	P	Planetoid Hull	Spacecraft / Vacuum	Unstreamlined Hull or Partially Streamlined Hull	Planetoid Hull Buffered Planetoid Hull	Simple complexity hull with advantages in durability and readily available.
	U	Unstreamlined Hull	Spacecraft / Vacuum	Unstreamlined Hull or Partially Streamlined Hull	Box Hull Cube Hull Slab Hull	Simplest spacecraft hull. Very basic, simple, and enduring.
	S	Streamlined Hull	Interface Craft / Atmosphere	Streamlined Hull	Cone Hull Cylinder Hull Needle Hull Ring Hull Sphere Hull	Complex hull. Minimizes atmospheric drag. Also available as a Partially Streamlined Hull.
	A	Airframe Hull	Interface Craft / Atmosphere	Streamlined Hull	Wedge Hull Cylinder Hull Needle Hull Slab Hull	Intermediate complexity hull. Increased atmospheric maneuverability. Also available as a Partially Streamlined Hull.
	L	Lifting Body Hull	Interface Craft / Atmosphere	Streamlined Hull	Flattened Sphere Hull Disk Hull Dome Hull Saucer Hull Wedge Hull	Very complex hull. Best lift capabilities. Also available as a Partially Streamlined Hull.

NOTES: Hulls are not limited in application. It is possible to build hulls across a variety of applications and characteristics. Hull terminology is often duplicative with semantic overlap.

Physical Structure (Surface)

Secondary Hull Characteristic:

• Access points
  • Airlocks
  • Cargo Ramps
• Bay
• Bulkhead Walls
• Docking point
  • External_Cradle
  • Hangar
  • Vehicle Bay
• Equipment Attachment points
  • Drop Tank mount
  • Hardpoints (Weapon mount)
• Internal compartments
• Landing Gear
  • Fixed Landing Gear
  • Recessible Landing Gear
• Stealth Hull
• Tonnage (Tons of displacement, equivalent to 1 Ton of liquid hydrogen).
  • Dimensions and Volume.
  • Pods (less than 100 Tons displacement)
  • Subhulls (100 Tons displacement or more)

Configuration (Shape)

Primary Hull Shape Characteristic:

1. Hull Shape
   1. Cluster Hull (consisting of linked subhulls and pods)
      1. Close Structure Hull
      2. Dispersed Structure Hull
      3. Distributed Structure Hull
      4. Irregular Structure Hull
      5. Open Frame Hull
   2. Braced Cluster Hull (consisting of linked subhulls and pods, able to withstand acceleration and gravity wells)
      1. Braced Hull
      2. Oreo Pattern Hull
   3. Planetoid Hull
      1. Buffered Planetoid Hull
   4. Unstreamlined Hull
      1. Box Hull
      2. Cube Hull
      3. Slab Hull
   5. Streamlined Hull
      1. Cone Hull
      2. Cylinder Hull
      3. Needle Hull
      4. Ring Hull
      5. Sphere Hull
   6. Wedge Hull
      1. Cylinder Hull
      2. Needle Hull
      3. Slab Hull
   7. Lifting Body Hull
      1. Disk Hull
      2. Dome Hull
      3. Flattened Sphere Hull
      4. Saucer Hull

Streamlining (Aerodynamics)

Primary Hull Characteristic: Streamlining may be inherent to the configuration, or it may be an applied design feature:

• Airframe Hull
  • Wings and Fins
• Lifting Body Hull
• Partially Streamlined Hull
• Streamlined Hull
• Unstreamlined Hull

Fuels Scoops

A hull may be additionally equipped for wilderness refuelling with:

• Fuel Scoops
  • These are sometimes referred to as Onboard Fuel Scoops

Aircraft hulls may be equipped with intakes for various engine types for atmospheric flight.

Hull Materials / Hull Armor (Defensive Frame)

Secondary Hull Characteristic:

Primary structural material: Hull Armor & Materials
Type	TL	Remarks
Iron	TL-3	Iron is a common and relatively hard metal armor used by many TL:1-3 and some later vehicles.
Steel	TL-4	Steel armor is the next step of hardened metal armor used by TL:4-6 vehicles.
Hard Steel	TL-5	ALLOYS. Hardened steels are a marked improvement over previous armors and give military and engineering advantages.
Light Alloys	TL-6	ALLOYS.
Aluminum	TL-6	ALLOYS.
Titanium Alloy	TL-7	ALLOYS.
Light Composite	TL-7	NON-POLYMER COMPOSITES. Includes Boron Carbide, Graphite, et al.
Enhanced Alloys	TL-8	ALLOYS. Also known as Modified Light Alloys. GENERIC / BASIC ARMOR PLATE.
Composite Laminate	TL-8	NON-POLYMER COMPOSITES. Composed of composite matrices of metal/ceramic armors.
Polymer Laminate	TL-8	POLYMER TECHNOLOGY. Self-Repairing/Healing.
Light Ceramic Composite	TL-9	NON-POLYMER COMPOSITES. Light-weight matrices of composite metal/ceramic armors.
Generic Polymer	TL-10	POLYMER TECHNOLOGY. Self-Repairing/Healing. Also called Enhanced Polymer Laminate.
TRANSPEX	TL-10	NON-POLYMER COMPOSITES. Transparent high strength material used in hull sections.
Dense	TL-10	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: Reinforced-Bond Crystaliron.
Crystaliron	TL-11	CRYSTALIRON COMPOSITE ALLOY TECHNOLOGY: Crystaliron Composite. Formed of perfectly grown metallic crystal-lattices with controlled evenly-spaced impurities in zero-g environment.
Advanced Polymer Composite	TL-12	POLYMER TECHNOLOGY. Self-Repairing/Healing. Also known as Advanced Composite.
Kinetic	TL-12	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: Also known as Alternate Modified Dense. Reactive armor that actively deflects projectiles.
Early Superdense	TL-12	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: Also called Enhanced Dense. Armor that has had its Molecular bonds partially collapsed.
Basic Superdense	TL-13	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: Also called Advanced Dense.
LiteMetal	TL-13	CRYSTALIRON COMPOSITE ALLOY TECHNOLOGY: Also known as Enhanced Crystaliron Composite.
Bonded Polymer	TL-14	POLYMER TECHNOLOGY. Self-Repairing/Healing.
Generic Superdense	TL-14	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: Also called Ultimate Dense or Early Bonded Superdense.
Bonded Superdense	TL-15	DENSE TECHNOLOGY. Also known as Improved Superdense. Armor that has had its molecular bonds partially collapsed and reinforced via electroweak micro-dampers.
VLiteMetal	TL-15	CRYSTALIRON COMPOSITE ALLOY TECHNOLOGY: Also known as Ultimate Crystaliron Composite.
HullMetal	TL-16	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: "Advanced Superdense". Also known as "Molecular Bonded Armor" or Enhanced Bonded Superdense or Ultimate Kinetic Armor.
Coherent Superdense	TL-17	DENSE TECHNOLOGY: "Ultimate Superdense". Also known as Advanced Bonded Superdense or "Enhanced Molecular Bonded Armor". Reactively-polarized Bonded Superdense.
Matrix	TL-17	CRYSTALIRON COMPOSITE ALLOY TECHNOLOGY: Collapsed Crystalline Matrix.
OPTIONS:
Charged Armor	various	Option for metallic armors at armor base-TL "+6". Polarization/charging of armor via external power input doubles armor protection.
ALTERNATE:
Organic Armor	Various	Organic armor is difficult to categorize by TL and comes in a vast variety of forms and effective levels of sophistication. It includes Chitin (TL-8), Keratin (TL-10), and Geneered (TL-17) among others. "Standard" Organic Armor is typically about TL-12. Organic Armor is typically Self-Regenerating.
Future Armor	TL:19-21+	No one knows what may come, but futurologists are guessing... Speculative: Hydrogen Armor; Strange Armor

Armor:

• Compartmentalization
• Electrostatic armor
• Hull plating
• Inherent armor (Planetoid Hulls)
• Reactive armor
• Reflec coating
• Structural bracing

Additional Features (Accoutrements)

Secondary Hull Characteristic:

• Exterior Windows
• Heat Shielding
• Non-electronic masking methods
• Radiation Shielding
• Stealth coatings
• Surface finish (color scheme), markings, and logos

History & Background (Dossier)

Hulls are a vital part of any large, complex technological transportation conveyance. they range from the earliest found materials to massively processed materials such as smelted metals, alloys, polymers, composites, ceramics, nano-materials, and more. And despite the many different materials, the basic engineering principles and vehicles and vessel construction have changed very little over thousands of years.

Technological Overview of Hull Development

Unpowered aircraft using floaters or harnessed flying creatures typically become available to sophonts in the TL:1-3 epoch.

• By the TL:4-6 tech epoch, powered aircraft become first possible to the average sophont civilization. Some even use rockets or other technology to reach space.
• By the TL:7-9 tech epoch, regular spaceflight becomes possible.
• By the TL:10-12 tech epoch, routine starflight using FTL jump drives becomes routine.

At higher technological epochs, more advanced forms of starflight become theoretically possible including trans-universal or trans-brane transportation to multiverses. Some believe that chronotaxis or time travel may become routinely available in the far future.

Expected Tech Epoch Transitions

Airflight:

• Partially Streamlined Hull → Streamlined Hull → Airframe Hull → Lifting Body Hull

Transatmospheric Flight:

• Rocket Ship → Spaceplane → Gravitic Interface Craft

Spaceflight & Starflight:

• Unstreamlined Hull → Planetoid Hull → Cluster Hull → Braced Cluster Hull

CBPUSAL Function Designation Streamlining Spectrum

The Imperial Ship Builders Association (ISBA) qualifies modern naval hulls across this spectrum:

1. C. Cluster. An accumulation of compartments.
2. B. Braced Cluster. Structured for higher acceleration.
3. P. Planetoid. A hollowed nickel-iron asteroid.
4. U. Unstreamlined. Protrusions increase drag.
5. S. Streamlined. Cowlings and fairings decrease drag.
6. A. Airframe. Winged for performance in atmosphere.
7. L. Lifting Body. Radically streamlined lifting-surfaces.

See also

Library Data Referral Tree

Please see the following AAB Library Data articles for more information:
Ship Design:

Naval ship construction

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

• Services
  • Imperial Ship Builders Association (ISBA)
  • Naval Architect
  • Starport Authority (SPA)
  • Trader's Guild
  • Travellers' Naval Architecture Society (TNAS)
• Design description
  • Imperial Standard Catalog Number (ISCN)
  • Quick Ship Profile (QSP)
  • Standard Equipment Identification (SEI)
  • Universal Ship Profile (USP)
• Design process
  • Quick Ship Design System (QSDS)
  • Standard Ship Design System (SSDS)
• Design Elements
  • CBPUSAL (Hull)
  • Deck Plan
  • Naval Architecture
  • Ship Equipment
  • Ship's Papers
  • Ship Registry
  • Shipyard
  • Starship Engineering Package (SEP)
  • Universal Manufacturing Template (UMT)

References

This article has metadata.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Starships (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), 13.
• Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), TBD.
• Marc Miller. Referee's Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), TBD.
• Frank Chadwick, Dave Nilsen. Fire, Fusion, & Steel (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), TBD.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Adrian Tymes, Sabrina Tymes, Gabriel G. A. B. Fonseca, Robert Eaglestone. Starship Operator's Manual (Mongoose Publishing, 2024), 8.
• Ship Structure and Hull Size Limitations at Freelance Traveller by Christopher Thrash
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS