How on earth do they WEIGH battleships?!

[Nathan_Jensen_Smith]

You know, I never knew the answer to this question: How do they weigh battleships? Looked it up on google, nothing. 

[Soshi_Sone]

Ship "weight" is measured by how much water they displace.  Hence, you will often see the term "displacement" as the measured value and the unit in metric tones or the like.

 

I don't now exactly how they do it, but one way would be to measure how deep a ship sits in the water.  That value, along with the ship geometry (a known value) would then identify the volume of water displaced.  As we also know the weight of water, then knowing the volume displaced would provide the weight of the displaced water...and hence...the ship's displacement.  

[Nathan_Jensen_Smith]

Ship "weight" is measured by how much water they displace.  Hence, you will often see the term "displacement" as the measured value and the unit in metric tones or the like.

 

I don't now exactly how they do it, but one way would be to measure how deep a ship sits in the water.  That value, along with the ship geometry (a known value) would then identify the volume of water displaced.  As we also know the weight of water, then knowing the volume displaced would provide the weight of the displaced water...and hence...the ship's displacement.  

 

Ohhhh,,,,, thanks!

[Axonn]

Ship "weight" is measured by how much water they displace.  Hence, you will often see the term "displacement" as the measured value and the unit in metric tones or the like.

 

I don't now exactly how they do it, but one way would be to measure how deep a ship sits in the water.  That value, along with the ship geometry (a known value) would then identify the volume of water displaced.  As we also know the weight of water, then knowing the volume displaced would provide the weight of the displaced water...and hence...the ship's displacement.  

 

I think they weigh the BB/any ship in docks like these and add water around it for weight testing. I think that's how they get all there weighing measurements. 

 

 

 

[donaldEpott]

Behind that is the ship weighs less then the water it displaces, If it weighs more then what it displaces it no longer floats but sinks

 

[TheOssifrage]

If you know the amount of water in a container, and you add an object of a known volume into the water, it is possible to determine the weight of the object by measuring how much the water level rose. This was what the famous Ancient Greek scientist Archimedes discovered, and that was when he said 'Eureka!'.

[dechion]

Behind that is the ship weighs less then the water it displaces, If it weighs more then what it displaces it no longer floats but sinks

 

The ship weighs exactly as much as the water it displaces, the reason it stays afloat is that it is less dense. 

 

Same reason that's the same reason a one pound block of concrete will sink like a stone, while a one pound block of Styrofoam will float.

[dechion]

Ship "weight" is measured by how much water they displace.  Hence, you will often see the term "displacement" as the measured value and the unit in metric tones or the like.

 

I don't now exactly how they do it, but one way would be to measure how deep a ship sits in the water.  That value, along with the ship geometry (a known value) would then identify the volume of water displaced.  As we also know the weight of water, then knowing the volume displaced would provide the weight of the displaced water...and hence...the ship's displacement.  

That's exactly how they do it.

 

Volume of water displaced by the amount of ship that's submerged X weight of water to fill that void = ships displacement.

 

Not sure how it's calculated for submarines as I did not serve on them. (If anything my ship hunted them, as I was on a DD)

[Phoenix_jz]

I would imagine they use the exact same method for submarines, measured as it weighs when surfaced? I'm not sure, though.