Objectives  In order to study the nonlinear strip method for prediction of ship motions in waves, this paper develops a linear time-domain strip method to make a preliminary exploration.

  Methods  Under the assumptions of strip theory, the boundary conditions for 2D section are established, and after the calculation of hydrodynamic force coefficient of 2D section, the force and motion response of the whole ship are solved. The numerical differentiation algorithm is used to solve the partial derivative of velocity potential along the ship length direction. The calculated hydrodynamic force coefficient of Wigley I ship and the calculated motion response of KVLCC2 and a 8 000 TEU container ship are compared with the calculated and test values of other related methods.

  Results  It is found that the results are generally consistent with the model test results, and can be applied in practice.

  Conclusions  This study, to some extent, lays a basis for the future research on the nonlinear time-domain strip method for ship motion prediction.