Dry Cargo Ship VIKINGBANK

Just like the saying 'What goes around, comes around', so is true with ship designs. Back around the turn of the 20th Century, most warships including the Dreadnought-class battleships sported a reversed bow or as some called it then, a 'ram bow' which basically meant that when all other offensive measures have failed or aren't available, the order is simply, 'full speed ahead and prepare to ram' the enemy submarine or whatever in half. You do what you have to do to survive just like the ancient Athenians did in 535 BC, when the 'naval' ram bow was first recorded. Today, the inverted bow concept is making a comeback, not so much as a weapon but rather as a 'wave-piercing' bow design that allows the ship to slice through waves instead of rising over them in rough seas, and in doing so, it reduces fuel consumption and wave resisting drag.  

Earlier this month, I snapped the 468' Dutch dry cargo ship VIKINGBANK which is the first ship that I have ever seen with an inverted bow, which basically means that the longest point of the ship is below instead of above the waterline which one might generally see on current ocean going vessels like the IRMA (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/07/bulk-carrier-irma.html). Built in 2012, the VIKINGBANK is owned by Pot Scheepvart of Delfzijl, NL and proudly motored by us at Loyalist Park near Morrisborg on her way to Trois Rivieres, Quebec like a true 'trend-setter'.