PRINCIPLES OF NAVAL ENGINEERING 



CO2 supply, and fight the fire. Men at the fire 

 who are not actually engaged in fighting the 

 fire should be sent to the standby party. The 

 standby party makes the closures necessary to 

 isolate the fire area, cools the surrounding 

 areas, supplies foam and CO2, and assists in 

 fighting the fire when necessary. 



3. The firefighting party must be quiet and 

 orderly. There should be only two men talking 

 at a fire: the leader of the firefighting party 

 and the messenger or phone talker, 



4. All orders issued at the scene must be 

 clear, concise, and accurate. 



5. All reports to damage control central 

 must be clear, concise, and accurate. 



6. All possible safety precautions must be 

 observed. 



7. Precautions must be taken to see that the 

 fire does not spread. Fire boundaries must be 

 established, and men must be stationed in ad- 

 jacent compartments to see that the fire does 

 not spread. Even distant compartments may 

 require checking, since fire can spread a great 

 distance through ventilation ducts. 



Figures 4-3 and 4-4 show members of a 

 shipboard firefighting party in action. 



CONTROL OF FLOODING 



Flooding! may occur from a number of dif- 

 ferent causes. Underwater or waterline damage, 

 ruptured water piping, the use of large quanti- 

 ties of water for firefighting or counterflooding, 

 and the improper maintenance of boundaries 

 are all possible causes of flooding aboard ship. 

 It should be noted that ballasting fuel oil tanks 

 with sea water after the oil has been removed 

 is not considered a form of flooding; ballasting 

 merely consists of replacing one liquid with 

 another in order to maintain the ship in a con- 

 dition of maximum resistance to damage. 



If a ship suffers such extensive damage that 

 it never stops listing, trimming, and settling 

 in the water, the chances are that it will go 

 down within a very few minutes. If, on the other 

 hand, a ship stops listing, trimming, and settling 

 shortly after the damage occurs, it is not likely 

 to sink at all unless progressive flooding is 

 allowed to occur. Thus there is an excellent 

 chance of saving any ship that does not sink 

 immediately. There is no case on record of a 



■•■The effects of various types of flooding on stability 

 are discussed in chapter 3 of this text. 



ship sinking suddenly after it has stopped list- 

 ing, trimming, and settling, except in cases 

 where progressive flooding occurred. 



The control of flooding requires that the 

 amount of water entering the hull be restricted 

 or entirely stopped. The removal of flooding 

 water cannot be accomplished until flooding 

 boundaries have been established. Pump capa- 

 city should never be wasted on compartments 

 which cannot be quickly and effectively made 

 tight. If a compartment fills rapidly, it is a 

 sign that pumping capacity will be wasted until 

 the openings have been plugged or patched. The 

 futility of merely circulating sea water should 

 be obvious. 



Once flooding boundaries have been estab- 

 lished, the removal of the flooding water should 

 be undertaken on a systematic basis. Loose 

 water— that is, water with free surface— and 

 water that is located high in the ship should be 

 removed first. Compartments which are solidly 

 flooded and which are low in the ship are gen- 

 erally dewatered last, unless the flooding is 

 sufficiently off-center to cause a serious list. 

 Compartments must always be dewatered in a 

 sequence that will contribute to the overall 

 stability of the ship. For example, a ship could 

 be capsized if low, solidly flooded compart- 

 ments were dewatered while water still remained 

 in high, partially flooded compartments. 



In order to know which compartments should 

 be dewatered first, it is necessary to know the 

 effect of flooding on all ship's compartments. 

 This information is given in the flooding effect 

 diagram in the ship's Damage Control Book. 

 The flooding effect diagram consists of a series 

 of plan views of the ship at various levels, 

 showing all watertight, oiltight, airtight, fume- 

 tight, and fire- retarding subdivisions. Compart- 

 ments on the flooding effect diagram are colored 

 in the following way: 



1. If flooding the compartment results in a 

 decrease in stability because of high weight, 

 free surface effect, or both, the compartment 

 is colored pink. 



2. If flooding the compartment improves 

 stability even though free surface exists, the 

 compartment is colored green. 



3. If flooding the compartment improves 

 stability when the compartment is solidly flooded 

 but impairs stability when a free surface exists, 

 the compartment is colored yellow. 



4. If flooding the compartment has no very 

 definite effect on stability, the compartment is 

 left uncolored. 



68 



