With the increases in oil and gas prices, and energy consumption, drillship construction has increased during the last decade. A drillship using a dynamic positioning (DP) system to maintain its position and heading angle during drilling operations. In addition, a drillship is equipped with a moonpool structure to allow its drilling systems to be operated in the midship section. A drillship for the North Sea is specially designed to endure harsh environmental loads. For safe operation in the

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... th Sea, the drillship should have good motion response and robust hull strength. A break water should be considered on the bow and side deck to prevent the green water on deck phenomenon from incoming waves. In addition, the moonpool should be designed to reduce the speed loss and resonance motion. In this study, the hydrodynamic characteristics of a drillship for the North Sea were examined in relation to the motion, wave loads, green water, and moonpool resonance in the initial design stage.