Naval landing craft stability

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defence, Australia. Landing craft have been operated by various navies around the world, including the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), for many decades to transport vehicles and personnel, often from ship to shore. The RAN assesses the stability of landing craft using contemporary naval stability criteria, perhaps unnecessarily penalising their design and operation. Over the years, multiple landing craft stability issues have arisen, with varying degrees of comfort felt for the solutions developed. The stability criteria that need to be applied to this type of craft are currently being investigated through various research programs sponsored by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the Directorate of Navy Platform Systems. One of these research programs involves extensive captive model tests in beam waves together with a parallel ship motions and stability simulation analysis. Other factors, such as wind heeling and water ingress over the bulwark, are also being examined. The ultimate aim of this research program is to derive intact stability criteria that are based on physical principles while being suitable for application by the mainstream naval architectural community.