ABSTRACT
Ship stability is an area of naval architecture and ship operation that is concerned with how a ship behaves at sea under different conditions. Ships are generally designed to slightly exceed the required stability requirements set by class. Ship motions are defined by the six degrees of freedom that ships experience. Understanding the principles of hydrostatics, and its impact on ship stability is critical as it has a direct bearing on the safety of the ship. The longitudinal position of the centre of buoyancy with respect to any reference point on the ship is called the longitudinal centre of buoyancy. The metacentric radius of a ship is the vertical distance between its centre of buoyancy and the metacentre. A state of neutral equilibrium is by far the most dangerous condition possible for any ship in terms of stability, and all precautions must be taken to avoid it. The metacentre has a direct relationship with a ship's rolling period.
