HISTORY AS A DESIGN TOOL

A study of history, using all available facts, properly analysed, can be of great value to the designers of future ships. Study of the way i n which decisions were made in the past related to the success or fail ure of those decisions in service should be a guide to the future. New methods of analysis may be tested against the records of past events, particularly the records of disasters. Naval architects are well accu stomed to use trend curves but do not recognise them as codified histo ry failing, in consequence, to realise both their potential and their limits. Finally, there are the simple but valuable benefits of not rep eating past errors or of re-inventing the wheel.