The next part of the ship working up from the keel is the decks. These of course are horizontal sections that make up the main structure of the ship. In a sailing ship the deck would be joined to the ribs which are in turn connected to the keel. This is also true on a steel ship. The decks also help spread the load of the ship evenly out to the ribs and then down to the keel.

As I had mentioned before any deck below the main deck is called a deck. Those above the main deck are called levels. The different decks also have names which tell you where you are and what happens on those decks. Gun deck, berthing deck, flight deck, boiler deck, and poop deck. No the poop deck is not for that either. It is the deck directly above the poop cabin. The cabin is at the stern of the ship and in some cases over hangs the fantail. The term is derived from the French word for stern, la poupe.

The orlop deck is a section on a sailing ship that is normally the lowest deck on the ship. This is where the cables, ropes, are stowed. The term comes from the old English term for overlapping. A well deck is the section of an amphibious assault ships that can be flooded to allow LCACs and assault boats access.

Decking can be made of different materials, wood, steel, and fiberglass. Decking on a ship is actually not an easy process. Calculations regarding thickness and weight bearing must be done. The more loads a deck must carry have to be taken into account. Decking material thickness is directly related to the thickness of the hull. Wooden ships are affected by this rule than a steel ship is.