Question 154Safety & Environmental - Assistant Engineer

The correct answer is A) longitudinal stability. Longitudinal stability refers to the tendency of a ship to resist a change in its trim, or the difference in draft between the forward and aft ends of the vessel. This is an important characteristic that affects a ship's handling and seaworthiness. The greater the longitudinal stability, the more the ship will resist changes in trim, which is a desirable quality for safe and efficient operation. The other answer choices are incorrect because they refer to different aspects of ship stability: B) metacentric height is a measure of transverse stability, C) the righting arm couple is related to the restoring moment that acts to return the ship to an upright position, and D) transverse inclination refers to the ship's list or heel to one side.