When making key decisions at the concept and preliminary design phases of a naval ship project, the designer is often obliged to work with limited data on the major structural design drivers for the vessel. This can lead to a largely subjective design approach which can result in inefficiency and even structural problems being locked-in from the start. To solve any issues, increased material use, weight and unnecessary complexity, as well as high design and manufacture costs can be introduced to the end product. To evaluate the potential of simulation-driven design under the unique requirements of naval ship design, the ACA partnered with Altair ProductDesign.