Proper name for doors within a ship?

[Brian G Turner]

We've all seen them in films with ships in - doors below deck with a wheel on them to ensure they close water-tight.

However, I'm struggling a little with the terminology - is "hatch" the right word, rather than door?

I ran a search and apparently the wheel might be called a "hand wheel" and to close a door with one is to "dog the hatch".

However, I remain unclear on the proper terminology - do ships have doors or hatches below deck? It's one of those basic details that I don't seem to have picked up from my reading.

 

[HareBrain]

Aren't they called "bulkhead doors"? (I assume you wouldn't put a wheel on it if it wasn't for a bulkhead.)

 

[Foxbat]

Bulkhead is a vertical partition.

This is from US Navy Sea Cadets
Door: Oddly enough, the nautical term for a door–an opening in a bulkhead (wall)--is “door.” It is not a hatch. A hatch is an opening in a deck.

http://www.seacadets.org/nautical-terms/

 

[The Judge]

I was thinking bulkhead, but checking I see that's actually the internal wall, but "bulkhead door" sounds fine to me. A hatch is the thing opening onto the deck, I think.


Grr. Foxbat beat me to it. Must type faster...

 

[reiver33]

From various naval/disaster movies "Close all bulkhead doors!"

 

[GCJ]

I worked offshore for a time but not too long, and I'm sure those types of doors on semi-submersibles and jack-ups were called 'bulkhead doors'.

 

[HareBrain]

Just remembered: I used "bulkhead doors" in my book, so I hope it's right!

 

[Phyrebrat]

My ex was as submariner (CPO) who worked extensively on the <redacted> project.

He called them hatches.

pH

 

[GCJ]

Just remembered: I used "bulkhead doors" in my book, so I hope it's right!

If it helps you descriptively in your work, the doors were heavy. Often, I'd have to give them a decent shove with my shoulder to get them moving, but once they were moving they tended to swing freely until they hit the actual bulkhead. There's a fair bit of momentum in them, and I'd guess they'd weigh over 200Kg. They tended to be heavily painted on a regular basis by the Deck Hands, displaying a meatiness about the paint.

And, crucially, they sit around 8 to 10 inches above the level on the deck as a minimum (to cope with deck flooding) so one has to step through them carefully. I know this, because I've tripped through them ungracefully on several occasions.

They also don't bang shut, as they have rubber seals around the inside for obvious reasons.

 

[goldhawk]

FYI, bulkheads are a structural part of the ship; they separated compartments. That's why their doors can be dogged shut. This prevents water in one compartment from flooding others.

 

[Pyan]

Surely they're "doors ". "Open the bulkhead hatches, Hal" just doesn't sound right...

 

[Phyrebrat]

My ex was as submariner (CPO) who worked extensively on the <redacted> project.

He called them hatches.

pH

I'll just leave this here

 

[Ursa major]

I'd suggest that someone might have just laid an egg, but the timing is wrong (and comedy is all about timing)....

 

[The Judge]

My ex was as submariner (CPO) who worked extensively on the <redacted> project.

He called them hatches.

pH

Might that be because he was a submariner and that's what the doors are called in submarines, as opposed to surface ships?

 

[Theophania Elliott]

If you are a US Navy Sea Cadet, then it's a 'door' if it's in a bulkhead, and it's a 'hatch' if it's in a deck. Nautical Terms

Presumably the same applies to the US Navy.

The Canadian Navy does the same: Words or terminology used in the Canadian Navy - doors between compartments on the same deck, hatches between compartments on different decks.

And these guys make them: Naval Hatches

 

[TheDustyZebra]

My husband was in the Coast Guard, so I figured they had some technical term he might remember from doing accident investigations. He says "water-tight doors".

 

[Foxbat]

Considering the bulkhead is actually the partition wall of a ship calling them bulkhead doors seems a bit odd. In your own home, do you say 'close the wall door'?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Considering the bulkhead is actually the partition wall of a ship calling them bulkhead doors seems a bit odd. In your own home, do you say 'close the wall door'?

No, but "close the door" doesn't have much drama about it, in a ship.

 

[Foxbat]

No, but "close the door" doesn't have much drama about it, in a ship.

Very true and probably the reason why 'bulkhead doors' is used in movies.

Same thing with 'over and out' on the radio. No trained operator actually says that. You're either over (meaning your waiting for a reply) or out (end of transmission).

 

[HareBrain]

Considering the bulkhead is actually the partition wall of a ship calling them bulkhead doors seems a bit odd. In your own home, do you say 'close the wall door'?

Not every wall in a ship is a bulkhead (separating a water-tight compartment), so it would make sense (to me) to distinguish them, like fire doors in a building.

(Of course someone would probably say in real life "close that door" rather than "close that bulkhead door". But they might say "close all bulkhead doors" to avoid having to shut the door to the wardroom.)