U.S Navy ships are equipped with firefighting and damage control equipment.
A fire on a ship at sea can be disastrous. There is no fire department to call or other emergency personnel to respond and assist. Sailors must rely on their equipment, training and each other to extinguish the fire, control the damage and make the ship structurally sound to stay afloat and functional. U.S. Navy ships are prepared for these emergencies and supplied with firefighting and damage control equipment for sailors to use to repair their vessels.
Shipboard firefighting equipment
Ships have to be prepared for fires at sea.
Shipboard firefighting equipment goes beyond common household fire extinguishers. U.S. Navy surface ships are required to have several items on board to detect and react to different kinds of fire emergencies. That equipment includes: aqueous potassium carbonate, carbon dioxide, halon, HFP sprinklers and miscellaneous seawater sprinkling and portable fire extinguishers and pumps. Chemical, biological, and radiological attacks are also a threat to ships at sea. Modern naval ships are outfitted with defense equipment, individual protective gear, individual detection kits and decontamination materials to handle such an attack.
Damage control equipment
Shipboard naval personnel use damage control equipment to contain the effects of damage received during battle and other emergency events while at sea.
Equipment is stored at designated damage control repair stations on the ship. In the event of an emergency personnel report to their assigned repair station to shore beams, fill holes and make other necessary repairs. Each damage control repair station has a repair locker outfitted with standard U.S. Navy's damage control equipment, a wire-free communication station and a damage control system computer work station.
Damage control equipment includes portable smoke control equipment, oxygen breathing apparatus, self-contained breathing apparatus, portable dewatering equipment and forcible entry tools. Gear lockers are also stocked with personnel protection equipment such as firefighting ensemble, helmets, firefighting boots, gloves and flash gear.
Preparation saves lives
When a Navy ship is damaged by a weapon, has an accident, collision or fire emergency, the vessel's operational abilities and sailor's lives are threatened. Fires and explosions must be extinguished and contained, flooding must be controlled and sailor's lives protected. This is accomplished by equipping ships with the tools necessary to tackle each emergency.
Tags: control equipment, damage control, damage control equipment, breathing apparatus, control repair
