Stern

This is an accepted version of this page The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail.

First, it can be any of the individual beams that run side-to-side or "athwart" the hull at any point abaft the fashion timber;[clarify] second, it can refer specifically to the flat or slightly curved surface that is the very back panel of a transom stern.

The stern of a traditional sailing ship housed the captain's quarters and became increasingly large and elaborate between the 15th and 18th centuries, especially in the baroque era, when wedding-cake-like structures became so heavy that crews sometimes threw the decoration overboard rather than be burdened with its useless weight.

Despite the design's leaving the rudder exposed and vulnerable in combat situations, many counter-sterned warships survived both World Wars, and stylish high-end vessels sporting them were coming off the ways into the 1950s, including the US-flagged sisters SS Constitution and SS Independence.

The stern now came to a point rather than a flat panel or a gentle curve, and the counter reached from the sternpost all the way to the taffrail in a continuous arch.

None of these three main types of stern has vanished from the modern naval architectural repertoire, and all three continue to be used in one form or another by designers for many uses.

Its hard-chined design is a compromise between the 'spoon-shaped' stern usually found on ocean liners, and the flat transom, often required for fitting azimuth thrusters.

Some working boats and modern replicas have a similar form of counter, built to be water tight as described in the "transom stern" section above.

Chappelle in American Small Sailing Craft[14] refers to a Bermudan boat with this form of counter, using the term "square tuck stern" to describe it.

The term "tuck" is used in the northwest of England for this area of the hull at the sternpost, and for the bulkhead across the counter if one is fitted.

An ice horn is a triangular stern component that protects a ship's rudder and prop while traveling in reverse.