Dead weight is defined as the difference between which two displacements?

• A. Light displacement and max loaded displacement
• B. Light displacement and loaded displacement
• C. Gross ton and net ton
• D. Stability and draft

Answer: (A)

Dead weight is the amount of cargo, fuel, stores, and crew a vessel can carry beyond its own hull weight. It is found by taking the ship’s displacement when fully loaded and subtracting its light displacement. Light displacement is the ship’s weight with no cargo, fuel, or stores on board, while loaded displacement is the weight of the ship in its loaded condition (often at or near full load). The difference between those two displacements directly equals the deadweight.

So the pair involved is light displacement and loaded displacement, since those are the two displacements used to compute deadweight. The other options refer to different quantities entirely, such as cargo tonnage measures or other ship characteristics.