kids encyclopedia robot

Bow (ship) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
This page is about the ship part. For other meanings, see Bow (disambiguation).
Bow
Bow of the Cruise ship Spirit of Endeavour
Lifeboat.bows.17-31.arp
The bows of lifeboat 17-31 (Severn class) in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England

The bow is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. The bow is designed to reduce the resistance of the hull cutting through water and should be tall enough to prevent water from easily washing over the top of it. The bow is helpful for letting the ship smoothly pass through the ocean.

Images for kids

  • USS salem closeup

    The prow of USS Salem

  • HMS Dreadnought 1906 H61017

    HMS Dreadnought, with an inverted bow.

  • PénicheRecyclageFerrailles2008Deûle2

    A heavily laden barge in France. Note the bluff bow and the limited freeboard.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Proa para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Bow (ship) Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.