Initial imperfections occur during the ship production process as a result, primarily, of welding and forming. In some cases these imperfections can change significantly the compressive strength of the ship hull plates. To determine whether this will occur or not requires knowledge of the hull plate load-deflection behavior as well as the plate yield conditions. This paper presents a linear analysis of the load-deflection response for plates with different aspect and slenderness ratios. It is shown that for plates with an aspect ratio less than 2. 45, the relationship can be determined. It is recommended that additional field measurements be made to clarify the shape of the post-welded deformation of larger-aspect-ratio plates.