An extensive update of Ship Structural Design (SSD), for 25 years the leading text on the preliminary design of ship structures, is underway. The update is expected to take several years to complete so the publisher, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), is making the first two new chapters available on a companion CD. Originally written by Dr. Owen Hughes and published in 1983, the new version of SSD has a second principal author - Dr. Jeom Kee Paik, who is well-known for his books on steel-plated structures and ship-shaped offshore structures.