LR celebrates twenty years of leadership in naval classification
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the first Naval Ship Technical Committee meeting, where a group from Lloyd’s Register (LR), different navies from around the world and the defence industry set out to develop a unique set of Rules for navies and the naval shipbuilding industry, LR said in its release. Following this first meeting in May 1999, there was a period of intense collaboration which resulted in the release of a provisional set of Naval Ship Rules later that year, which are now applied to a variety of different ships in the fleets of several navies. This includes the latest addition to the UK Navy, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, a project LR has been involved in since its inception in 2006.
The Rules were created to provide an industry-recognised standard for the design, construction and maintenance of warships throughout their service life, addressing the incredibly unique operational and service conditions placed on them by navies. LR’s Naval Ship Rules cover ship structures, machinery and engineering systems, and additional optional requirements, helping to ensure the integrity, reliability and success of Naval operations.
This was a first for both the naval industry and a classification society. Since then, LR has continued to develop the Naval Ship Rules and evolve the concept of naval ship safety assurance in partnership with client navies and the wider industry, responding to new technology and utilising two decades of experience with naval projects and ships under survey.
LR’s Naval Ship Rules have been a game-changer for the industry and are now used by shipyards around the world and classification Rules are now required in nearly all naval ship specifications.
This October, LR’s Naval Ship Technical Committee will meet at the Global Technology Centre in Southampton to discuss Rule updates and how future technology will impact them.
