I have written a number of posts on the subject of naval damage control over at one of my other blogs. With that in mind, when I read about the size of the crew on the Navy's new "littoral combat ship", I was a bit dismayed.
Let me explain why.
Fires at sea are fought from General Quarters, which is "all hands man your battle stations." The teams assigned to damage control are in the Repair Lockers, of which there are three on ships the size of frigates and more on large ships. The Repair Locker team has a minimum of six hose men on two hose teams who actually go in and fight the fire. Investigators check the surrounding spaces. There are one or two sailors with advanced first aid training. There are sailors to relieve the hose teams when their air tanks (SCBAs) or oxygen canisters (OBA) run out, for fire-fighting in a shipboard compartment is very hard and hot work. (Even in a fire simulator, walking with a hose into a steel compartment with a fire burning is like charging into Hell. A major fire in a ship is orders of magnitude worse.)
I've forgotten how many sailors it took to properly man a repair locker, but 25-30 may be a good estimate for one fully-manned repair locker. A warship the size of a LCS would have three repair lockers. The repair lockers' actions are coordinated by the Damage Control Assistant's team in Damage Control Central, which is another five or six people. if you have been doing the math, that is close to a hundred sailors.
Fires are among the worst threats a warship commonly faces. There will be a fire, maybe minor, maybe not, on every warship during her lifetime. It is a rare sailor who will go through his or her career without hearing the words "Fire! Fire! Fire in Compartment ..." broadcast over the 1MC (ship's PA system) at least once. Forty people on a LCS means that if there is a major fire on board, the word may be passed to "abandon ship", for there will not be enough people on board to fight a large fire.
The article said: "there are still questions about whether the smaller crew, and all the "smartship" tech can really handle the kind of damage control emergencies that crop up on military ships." I don't think there is any question about it. Hoping that a fire won't break out or, that when one does, that it is small enough to be contained by miniscule damage control party, is not a plan. It is wishful thinking that, in my opinion, may well result in the loss of a ship.
6 comments:
How do you know all this stuff?
Sounds like wall street is in charge of the Navy too. . .
Karen, I've had a varied life.
You're exactly right, it takes a lot of people to do all the jobs necessary on a warship. And usually, like firefighting, it is when something goes wrong that bodies are needed. In a hurry and well trained. But there are other times, like refueling/re-provisioning. Maybe it's changed over the years but undermanned ships just can't get the job done properly and in a hurry.
Ruckus, that's also true. I doubt if forty people are going to be able to keep a ship that size clean and painted to traditional Navy standards. First Division on a small warship had over 20 sailors, which would be have the manning of a LCS.
Just to let you know, I noticed. You were right. So get get a ITYS.
https://gettheflick.blogspot.com/2023/02/ive-been-thinking-about-writing-again-i.html#more
Carry on.
Don
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