One of the most important criteria in ship design is strength. When a ship is under external loads such as waves, buoyancy or pressure, its internal reaction must resists those external loads. In this regard, external loads are retained by the hull girder, whose cross section is composed of plates and stiffeners, which have a significant influence on ultimate strength, especially in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, this strength must be assessed and evaluated for the ship structure and functional requirements. In this study, local elements of the ship cross section, such as plates and stiffeners, are analyzed, including their progressive collapse behavior. The example used for the calculation is a Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) ship. The analysis is performed by assuming that the cross section remains plane and a one-frame space is considered. To calculate the ultimate strength of the Ro-Ro ship under hogging and sagging conditions, Smith's method is used and applied to an in-house program. The applied moment is given on the Multi Point Constraint (MPC) as the reference point of the neutral axis position. In this MPC position, a simple support is attached. The calculation of ultimate strength is made under hogging and sagging conditions, and the intact condition is focused on for the simple calculation. Welding residual stress, cracks, corrosion and initial deflection are not taken into account. Application of the FE method is also made to investigate the characteristics of the collapse mode for local elements and global structure, including ultimate strength.

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