Folding ship

A folding ship is a special type of ship and consists either of foldable ship parts that can be moved apart in the longitudinal direction or of ship hulls provided with flaps on the sides or on the bottom.

In the past, folding ships consisted mostly of booms and were used to deposit the sludge excavated by excavators in other places. For example, on the Kiel Canal , part of the dredged material was sunk into the Baltic Sea with the help of clap steam ships .

Today, collapsible ships serve to protect the seas : the ships, which can be folded lengthways, can be used to combat an oil spill on the sea and prevent further contamination of the seawater.

Types

Well-known folding ships are:

• the oil spill ship THOR
• the Bottsand class folding ships