A ship model basin is a basin or tank used to carry out hydrodynamic tests with ship models, for the purpose of designing a new ship, or refining the design of a ship to improve the ship's performance at sea. It can also refer to the organization that owns and operates such a facility.
Model of Emma Mærsk undergoing testing in a ship model basin
12 foot model hulls used by William Froude in scale model testing of stability, on display in the Science museum
US Experimental Model Basin, circa 1900
The Denny Tank, the world's first commercial testing tank.
Ship models or model ships are scale models of ships. They can range in size from 1/6000 scale wargaming miniatures to large vessels capable of holding people.
Model of a 19th-century vessel in the Bishop Museum, Hawaii
Model ship cross sections on display in a shop in Mauritius
model ship from a tomb, Ancient Egypt, c. 2000 BCE
Church votive hanging in a church; the workmanship is somewhat crude, but sufficient to identify it as mid-19th-century