Technically any structure above Upper deck is a superstructure. Ships do have many superstructures for various commercial and operational reasons. However most of the cargo ships have one superstructure.
Traditionally Bulk carriers, Tankers, Product carriers and Multi purpose carriers have Superstructures placed aft above machinery space.
Container ships have flexibility of placing Superstructure aft, Mid-ship or Forward based on their sizes. Normally placement is affected by Stability/Trim issues.
RO-RO ships have small superstructure placed on top of cargo deck and navigation bridge is placed forward. It is like single floor arrangement.
Most important factor for placing Superstructure is visibility for Navigation. This will supercede all other considerations.
Purpose of Superstructure is to house living areas, offices, cooking areas and essential stores. On this page we are generalizing accommodation. There is no hard and fast rule as to where to place cabins, offices etc. It is just a big building and all essential things are inside protected from weather. I have added pictures below from a ship’s plan to give you general idea.
Superstructure consists of
Navigation bridge: It has all equipment needed for safe navigation. It is also known as Wheel house as it houses steering wheel. Bridge is enclosed and protected from weather and placed forward for good unobstructed visibility. Ideally bridge should have 3600 view. Most of the equipment’s like Fire pumps, main engine and power generators can be operated from here. It will have sitting arrangements for duty officers, coffee making arrangements and a toilet. Portholes have Wipers to counter rain and snow. It is the topmost enclosed deck.
Decks: Decks may be named in different fashions as there is no hard and fast rule.
Cabins: These are comfortable living spaces with air conditioning and heating. A bed, Sofa, working table etc are provided. Bathroom and toilet is attached. All furniture is attached(anchored) to the deck to prevent ill effects(Movement) of rolling and pitching. Every cabin has portholes and curtains. Cabins are designed for ease of cleaning. Normally senior officers cabins are large and have separate bed rooms. Captain’s cabin may have his office and conference room attached. Normally Captain’s deck has accommodation for Captain, Owners/Pilots and Chief engineer. Deck underneath will have remaining officers.
Galley: Food is cooked here. It is attached to various provision stores like dry provision stores, Cold rooms like huge refrigerators maintained at different temperatures and handling rooms. Galley has all equipment required for cooking and baking. It has exhaust fans and trunking to remove smoke and cooking odours. Hot plates are electric. Securing arrangements are provided for pots and pans to counter rolling and pitching of the ship.
Pantry: Pantry is adjoining compartment of the galley. Cooked food is given finishing touches here before being served on the table. No cooking equipment is allowed here. There is hot water arrangement for making coffee or noodles. Bread, butter, fruit juices, cold meats, milk, cheese etc are stored in a refrigerator. Serving and eating plates, glasses, cutlery etc are stored here.
Dinning saloons: These are the places where people eat food. Sometimes they are referred as Mess rooms. There is place for everyone. As expected, all chairs and other furniture is anchored to the deck to prevent movement in the sea.
Recreation rooms: They are meant for recreation. They have Bar, games, Music system, TV etc. On modern ships you can expect X-box and movie library. Most of the ships have internet connection. This is a cozy place.
Games room and Gymnasium: Most of the ship’s have them with modern equipment.
Hospital: It is an isolated compartment for a sick person. It has independent ventilation system.
Ship’s need lots of small stores. Most of them find some place in accommodation, however no hazardous material is kept inside accommodation. Typically you will see Mates locker, 2/0’s locker, LSA & FFA locker, Engineers store, ETO’s locker, Medical chest and so on. Stores are required to store spare parts and consumable commodities.
Bonded stores: Duty free goods like Wines, liquor and chocolates are kept here. Beer lockers may be separate stores with temperature control.
Meat and Fish rooms: These are maintained at -180C to -240C temperatures.
Vegetable rooms: here temperatures are 30C to 60C.
Dry provisions store: Even though it is for dry provisions, most of the ships maintain about 60C temperature to avoid insects.
Laundry: There will be few automatic laundry machines with dryers. You also will find a drying rooms attached to the laundry. Drying room has heaters heating it to 450C.
As expected, you will find electric irons for pressing garments.
Garbage locker: You are not allowed to dump garbage over board. Garbage is kept in safe place till it is discharged (Landed) ashore for proper disposal.
Offices: In addition to Captain’s office, there will be more offices. Cargo office is generally on main deck easily accessible from deck. It is used by shore personnel and often known as TALLEY ROOM. It comes with a toilet. Ship’s office is a large office shared by all Officers. It may have a special section for cargo related activities. Most of the officers have their drawers to keep documents. You will find computers, printers and scanners here. You also will find all important plans, manuals and wall charts in ship’s office.
Cargo control room: This will be part of accommodation on tankers and special goods carriers. All cargo related equipment is monitored and operated from here.
Ship may have more things in accommodation.
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