INTRODUCTION 



Under various Federal laws and Executive Orders the Navy is 

 responsible for cleaning up its own spills, and assisting with men and 

 equipment as directed to provide salvage capability for any private or 

 government vessel that poses a pollution threat. The Navy is concerned 

 with developing its own oil-spill-cleanup technology and capability 

 because of the present lack of applied research and development of new 

 procedures and hardware. 



A 1969 study conducted by Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific 

 Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington, for the Civil Engineering 

 Laboratory,* NCBC, Port Hueneme, California, disclosed that oil slicks 

 were most effectively removed by the use of dispersants or by skimming 

 the oil off. With dispersants banned except for use in hazardous spills, 

 the Navy has pursued the development of better methods of physical 

 removal. Rapid and effective containment of an oil slick by mechanical 

 booms is of paramount importance to the successful removal of a spill. 

 Therefore, one specific area of research is the design of more effec- 

 tive oil -containment booms. 



The use of booms for passive containment , or as part of a 

 recovery sweep system, requires well-designed and integrated boom 

 components. Part of the Navy's problem has been the procurement of a 

 wide variety of commercial oil-containment booms and, of course, the 

 many new types of hardware associated with these booms. 



Currently, each of the large number of oil -containment boom 

 manufacturers has its own design for boom connectors and tow assemblies. 

 Only a few have dock or bulkhead attachments available for use when the 

 boom is deployed in areas with tidal fluctuations. A Naval field activity 

 with more than one type of boom must fabricate special adaptors to inter- 

 connect booms of different sizes or to attach a boom to a dock or 

 bulkhead. Equipment adaptation is further complicated when different 

 Naval commands join forces to combat a major spill. In addition, much 

 of the hardware has exhibited serious design deficiencies, especially 

 in the area of structural strength. The Navy is correcting this situa- 

 tion by updating its Military Specification for oil-containment booms. 



The problem of equipment incompatibility can be solved by 

 developing: 



1. A universal connector, which would allow sections of different 

 types and sizes of boom to be connected. 



* Formerly the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory. 



