Deck Area - Yard Patrol Craft

The U.S. Naval Academy has 18 Yard Patrol (YP) craft to give all midshipmen practical training afloat. They are used in several professional courses and in two week summer cruises and are maintained by Naval Station Annapolis. (See USNA instruction on YP craft.) Below is a schematic of the port half of the deck of a YP. Half the width of the boat has been measured from stern to bow, for the full 108 foot length. We are interested in approximating the area of the deck by cutting the region into rectangles, adding those areas, and doubling.

The units on the axes are feet. Try approximating the area with several different collections of rectangles. Note the nearly triangular error regions and decide whether they contribute to over or under estimates. Keep in mind that you are estimating half the total area of the deck. When you think you have a good feel for these, try filling in the "lab report" for the Tower.

The code for the applet above is online.

Here is a schematic top view of a YP (also known as a "Greyhound of the Severn"), provided by Operations Department Head LT McGuinness of Naval Station Annapolis.

Another picture of some current YPs:

and one from about 1940:

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Comments to: Professor Carol G. Crawford, at cgc@nadn.navy.mil or Professor Mark D. Meyerson, at mdm@nadn.navy.mil