DECK. The flooring or platform formed by covering the deck beams with steel or planking. The term is sometimes used to express the space above a deck to the under side of the next higher deck. In old type rigged men-of-war the upper deck was called the spar deck: the next leek, the gun deek—if guns were carried on it—if not. it was called the berth deck ; the next deck below the berth (leek was the orlon (lee•. In old three deckers (i.e. wooden line-of-battle ships carrying gnus on three corered decks) these were called the main, middle, and to err decks. The half (leek, in vessels having one or more covered gull decks, was that portion of the next deck below the spar (leek extending from the mainmast to the cabin bulkheads. The quarter-deck was the part of the upper deck which was abaft the mainmast. These terms. quarter and half, wore derived from the character of the decks in the days of high •astle-like poops and forecastles.
The half-deck then extended half the length of the ship or less, the quarter-deck being still shorter. The after partial decks were connected with similar partial ones forward by gangways or narrow walks inside the ship's rail. As time went on, the forecastle became reduced in height and the partial deck: became 'ewer in nunilwr. but the quarter-deek was only a partial one until after the beginning of the nineteenth century. For a long time the only partial deck, above the upper, or spar, deck were those of the poop and topgallant forecastle. but the advent of the mod ern ship with its high central superstructure changed this together with the entire deck nomenclature. In ships of the United States Navy the highest deck which extends the full length of the ship is called the main deck; a partial deck above this is called the upper (leek; above this are the bridge decks, bridges. etc. The
first deck below the main is called the gun deck if any of the main guns are mounted on it the next deck below the gun deck is the berth deck if there is no gun deck it is the next one below the main deck; the or/op deck is the next below the berth deck: and then the platform decks. The topgallant forecastle deck is the deck over a raised, or topgallant, forecastle: the poop duck is the deck over the poop. The deck over superstructures is called the superstructure deck. hurricane (trek, boat deck, texas• etc., ac cording to the character of the vessel. A flush deck is one that extends from bow to stern with out. a break. A protretire deck (fitted in men of-war only) is one designed to protect the vitals of a ship from being struck by a shell or injured by fragments of one which bursts on hoard. If flat and laid over the upper edges of an armor belt, it is frequently called the armor deck. The ordinary type of protective decks consists of a flat portion amidships and sloping parts at the sides. The side slope may he a curve, a straight slope, or two short straight slopes: the inclina tion downward is at an angle of 30' to 45' and the lower edge of the deck where it meets the ship's side is several feet under water, in order that a projectile shall not get underneath it when the ship is rolling. Both the fiat and slop ing parts of protective decks are armored. the latter much more heavily, reaching a thickness of six inches in large protected and armored cruisers.