How fast does the average ship go?

Question

Does the wind have any effect? I don't know why it would, but does the season matter at all? Oh, and pretend it's an old kind of ship: no engine, just big sails and a rudder.

Answer 1

20 knots per hour = 22 miles an hour

the wind has an influence on sailboats but not on rudders .

season does not influence it too

Answer 2

Your first question and last statement don't go together--if it has no engine-then the wind definitely has an effect :)

Old sailing ships averaged around 8 -10 mph (9 kts or so).  That's flat out speed, not Velocity Made Good (speed toward where you want to be).  

As one of the other answerer's stated, the ships can only go as fast as 1.33 times the square root of their waterline length (100 foot ship goes 13 kts at the top end).  Physical laws associated with the waves made at the front of the boat and at the stern causes this limit.

Answer 3

What do you consider a ship, some people think of a canoe as a ship.

Answer 4

Approximately the sqare root of the ship's waterline length would be it's optimum speed under power.  So a ship that is 600' on the waterline would travel approx. 24knots.

Answer 5

The last ship I was on went about 11-13knots.  It was a 1000ft. coal carrier.  Some 1000ft. cruise ships can get up to 30knots.  Which is really moving.  On old sailing ships top speed was 4-8 knots.  Wind had a great effect on the sailing ships.  A sailing ship need wind to move, the wind is the engine.  There are all kinds of factors that effect sailing ships.  Wind, ocean currents, tidal movement, and weather.  Sailing is the art of going nowhere fast.

Answer 6

I THINK ABOUT 11.3 KPH

Answer 7

I regularly listen to Vessel Traffic Service here on San Francisco Bay. Container Ships at sea often report their speed to be as high as 22 - 24 kts.

The Clipper ships which were all sail no motor square riggers, regularly logged 14 - 18 knots and some reached 20 knots at times.