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Jump to: navigation, search  Float-out is the process in modern
shipbuilding that follows the keel laying and precedes the
fitting-out process. It is analogous to launching a ship, a
specific process that has largely been discontinued in modern
shipbuilding. Both floating-out and launching are the times when
the ship leaves dry land and becomes waterborne for the first
time, and often take place during ceremonies celebrating and
commemorating that event.   Prior to the large-scale use of
drydocks (building or graving docks) for constructing ships,
most vessels were constructed on a slipway, i.e. an inclined
building platform sloping toward a body of water into which the
ship would be launched.  Contemporary shipbuilding[edit]  The
launching of ships has been largely replaced by the “floating”
process. After a ship is ordered for construction, its keel is
laid in a drydock. Construction of the ship continues in the
dock, usually in the form of pref