The first International Symposium on Ship Maneuverability was held in 1960 in Washington in the U.S.A. There, among others, Norrbin gave his view on the ”state of the art” of scienti…c work carried out on maneuverability of ships. Since then, an increasing attention has been paid on research in this particular hydrodynamic …eld. Especially, (inter)national organizations - such as the IMO (International Maritime Organization), the ITTC (International Towing Tank Conference) and the SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers) - became more active in the stimulation of research on those aspects of ship maneuverability which are vital for safer shipping and cleaner oceans.