navies A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...

and the maritime industry, damage control is the emergency control of situations that may cause the sinking of a

watercraft Any vehicle used in or on water as well as underwater, including boats, ships, hovercraft and submarines, is a watercraft, also known as a water vessel or waterborne vessel. A watercraft usually has a propulsive capability (whether by sail, ...

. Examples are: * rupture of a pipe or hull especially below the waterline and * damage from grounding (running aground) or hard berthing against a

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

. * temporary fixing of bomb or explosive damage.

Measures used

Simple measures may stop flooding, such as: * locking off the damaged area from other ship's compartments; * blocking the damaged area by wedging a box around a tear in the ship's hull, * putting a band of thin sheet steel around a tear in a pipe, bound on by clamps. More complicated measures may be needed if a repair must take the pressure of the ship moving through the water. For example: *

Thermal lance A thermal lance, thermic lance, oxygen lance, or burning bar is a tool that heats and melts steel in the presence of pressurized oxygen to create very high temperatures for cutting. It consists of a long steel tube packed with alloy steel rods, w ...

cutting around the rupture. *

Oxyacetylene welding Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...

or electric

arc welding Arc welding is a welding process that is used to join metal to metal by using electricity to create enough heat to melt metal, and the melted metals, when cool, result in a binding of the metals. It is a type of welding that uses a welding powe ...

of plates over the rupture. * Quick-drying

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

is applied underwater over the rupture. Damage control training is undertaken by most seafarers, but the engineering staff are most experienced in making lasting repairs. Damage control is distinct from

firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...

. Damage control methods of fighting fire are based on the class of ship and cater to ship specific equipment on board.

Notable contemporary examples

Particular examples: * USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'': After an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

holed the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

beneath the waterline in 1988, the crew fought fire and flooding that threatened to sink it. * USS ''Princeton: After an Iraqi naval mine damaged the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

during the 1991

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, her crew fought fires and sealed cracks in the hull, then repaired electronic systems, bringing the

Aegis Combat System The Aegis Combat System is an American integrated naval weapons system developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, and it is now produced by Lockheed Martin. Initially used by the United States Navy, Aegis is now used also by t ...

back on line within 2 hours. * USS ''Cole'': immediate measures to stop sinking after the ship was bombed in 2000. * HMS ''Nottingham'': measures to keep the ship afloat after, on 7 July 2002, the ''Nottingham'' ran aground on the submerged but well-charted Wolf Rock near

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Damage Control Nautical terminology Navies Ship management

Measures used

Notable contemporary examples

See also

Notes

External links