carènes

Carènes, in nautical usage, designate the hull of a vessel—the underwater body that interacts with water and supports buoyancy and hydrodynamics. The carène's shape influences stability, resistance, and speed. Navies and shipyards categorize hull forms by their balance between displacement and planing: traditional full-displacement hulls, slender fast-displacement hulls, planing or hydroplaning hulls, and multi-hull configurations such as catamarans. Key parameters include length-to-beam ratio, deadrise angle, keel type, and ballast. The term derives from the French carène meaning the hull; in naval architecture, the carène is the primary element determining a ship's performance.

Hull construction has evolved from wooden frames with planking to iron, steel, and composite materials. Maintenance includes corrosion protection, hull plating, and anti-fouling coatings; periodic careening or dry-docking to inspect and repair submerged sections. Hydrodynamic optimization seeks to reduce drag, improve fuel efficiency, and enhance stability, often using computer-aided design and model testing.

In marine culture, the carène is also an area of historical study, with changes in hull shape reflecting propulsion technology and voyage requirements. The term appears in technical descriptions of ships, naval records, and underwater archaeology.

In contexts outside maritime usage, carène may appear in other disciplines with meanings unrelated to ships; however, in encyclopedia-style references, the primary sense of carène remains tied to the hull of a vessel.