Abstract This paper traces the history of ship design since Roman times, when ship designers began to use curves for drawing frames, through the Venetian techniques (XIII-XVI centuries) reusing templates, to the most modern methods for ship design with FORAN. The FORAN software offers a comprehensive process for the design and construction of ships, offshore platforms and submarines, with the help of computers. It was conceived as an advanced engineering technique for improving the design and reducing the construction period of a vessel. This paper traces the history of this CAD system, since its organization was differentiated into two stages: design (modules from F.1 to F.7) and production (F.8 to F.22); until the recent advances in integration with Product Lifecycle Managements, Virtual Reality and the near future where all the ship product information will be accessible in electronic devices, allowing paper-less design.weiterlesen