I spent a very memorable day training on the buttercup trainer in Newport, RI. We were a bunch of hospital corpsmen who basically had just watched a couple of films on how to patch pipes and plug holes and shore up hatches. So we didn't keep Buttercup from sinking. At least the water in Buttercup was a lot cleaner. Later on, I went to a frigate. Couple of days after I reported aboard, we had a firemain strainer blow out in the diesel generator compartment and that flooded about chest deep before we figured out what was happening and got the water shut off. Spent the next three months tied to the pier getting the diesel generators, and everything else in those compartments, rebuilt and repaired. Later on, after a yard period, we got sent to Guantanamo Bay for damage control refresher training. In the ten days before we arrived, we had a lot of training and preparation. And we had a man overboard, a main space fire, flooding and buckling bulkheads, and a major trauma injury. It was a very bad week.
I was in Repair 5 on an LPH during Desert Shield/Storm. Fortunately, all we faced was a small fire in the insulation on the boiler uptakes. Our training proved very valuable.
I wasn’t in the Navy, I was in the fire service and hazmat response. We used the same shoring techniques for urban search and rescue, and the same plugging techniques for hazardous material leaks from tanks.
When I was in UK sea cadets, we went down to his Raleigh with the unit, as part of the unit week, we had a morning in the old damage control training centre, everyone got involved including all the unit instructors including the CO, because it was fun (not so much If it had been real). After 2 hrs we were waist deep in water lol. Sadly we weren't allowed on the new (at the time, it had started use the week before) damage control trainer, it swung so it simulated a ship in rough seas, also when the water poured in, it came in at correct pressure. HMS Raleigh is the boot camp for the royal navy
Damage control training is important in the Royal Navy after the Falklands war Damage Repair Instructional Units (DRIU) also known as HMS Havoc were designed for teaching damage control. During the Falkland's war HMS Glamorgan was saved by the effectiveness of the damage control parties.
Your video on the Sammy B illustrated how important damage control is. Not storm damage, but I work in a medical facility and have just had a hot water pipe replaced after the second split in a week. Leaked in ceiling where two main corridors meet. Lots of ceiling and wall repair still to do.
The plug has a mark from the lathe when it was turned. I worked on fish/tug boats when younger we used to keep a bundle of shingles short pieces of rubber hose 1-6 inch in diameter wedges and tarps. Shingles plug cracks folded up tarp and wedges for bigger holes.
Damage control at home. Funny you ask. My house has a spring under it. Have to drain the water out through pipes that have holes to let water in. All gravity ran. Just one small problem. Tree roots like to grow in the pipes.
I had the opportunity to go through 2 different damage control trainers at different times to learn how to try to control flooding. One of them was a portion of a ship that was actually floating in a very large swimming pool. We did the training in that several times as it slowly sank to the bottom of the pool. That got you used to trying to do things in a flooding compartment where simply moving around and doing some of the needed tasks by feel was emphasized. Later I went through another trainer that was just a modified section of a normal building. They had drains in the floor so as the water rushed into the room it could be continuously pumped back in with the level of water in the room not getting much more than ankle deep. However, the real challenge came at the end. It was a two story trainer and you had to exit through an escape scuttle into the upper room which was flooded with waist deep water. Trying to get up the ladder through the scuttle with all the water flowing back down had you feeling like a salmon. Both trainers were both instructive, interesting and even a little fun.
The "normal building" DC trainer I went through most likely had drains in the floor, but they sure weren't letting any water out of them during the drill. Water was chest-high by the time we got the "leaks" stopped.
Never had to do damage control on a house but I did have to fix a leak on a boat in less than ideal circumstances. Long story short I was helping a friend move a decent sized boat that he won in an auction, this thing was old and had been used for storage so not much room to move. Not entirely sure what happened but too far into our journey we sprung a leak and it was pretty quick, because the old engine wasn't a great starter we put it in idle incase we couldn't fix the leak and needed to get closer to somewhere dry. We had a surprising amount of stuff to plug that hole, but due to the storage room nature of the boat we then had a lot of smoke appear - some old oil bottles had fallen into the engine compartment, burst and begun to smoke badly. Digging it all out to reach where we needed to be we discovered the worst part yet - a serious amount of sea flares with a troubling crust around the boxes and an expiry date that would have put them out of service during the day's New Jersey was still in use. So we had that to deal with next to oil that was threatening to ignite. I hated that boat, moral of the story is if you get any vehicle crammed with rubbish and told "take it today or leave it", you should probably leave it regardless of how stupidly cheap it is.
You mentioned that the bulkheads wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure of water - but what were they there for, then? Isn't the whole point of a bullhead to seal off a flooded compartment?
For people who wonder what that kind of damage control might look like in practice, Tom Scott did a great video a few years ago at the Royal Navy's damage control simulator. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xXC6U0NfJg8.html
How do the rudder indicators and steering wheels throughout the ship stay synchronized? Is there some kind of master indicator at the rudder that all control and indication points are linked to?
@@baerster There would be a synchro transmitter on each rudder head, driving the synchro receivers in the port and starboard rudder indicators. Same principal for the gyrocompass and the many gyro repeaters. Wind Speed and Direction system was a bit more complicated. There were synchro transmitters in the sensor units up on the mast, but the speed sender was connected to a little propeller, requiring a conversion to a steady-state reading, then out via a different synchro transmitter. Helm, if relatively modern, would have the wheel connected through some gearing to two synchro transmitters in the helm console. One would drive synchro receivers in the Rudder Order indicators, the other would drive a synchro receiver which controlled the hydraulics in After Steeering. FWIW, this is also how the Engine Order and Prop Order systems worked. Paired synchros. Guess i could mention that a synchro is basically a specialized stepper motor. When wired properly, the rotors would sych up to the same position when power was applied. From that point, moving the rotor on one (transmitter) would cause the rotor on the other synchro (receiver) to move a corresponding amount. Very little torque, but great for indicating and control where the torque isn't required.
I was gonna add that they then hit a nail into the center to put more pressure on the hole, (ok didn’t spot the lathe.) And of course thanks for the great videos!!
@@fragotron I have no idea what you're talking about but you do seem to be coming across as a bit...fanboyish and over reacting to a very simple joke. Take a chill pill and wash it down with some cognac and relax.
The "Strike Marks" on the wood plug ends are in fact marks from the Lathe that held the wood when they were turned. The part on the lathe is known as a "Drive Sper" that leaves that mark. You are right about the marks on the sides as being witness marks from them being used. I was a Tool Maker at a company that would make these from time to time for the Navy and commercial ships. The spec called for White Birch. Keep up the great work! Love the channel and hope to get down from Maine to visit the NJ soon.
May I suggest putting a full size periscope in the river (with the appropriate approvals of course) so that the guests can see that Hollywood grossly exaggerates how easy it is to spot an enemy submarine? The Pier 3 Marina is about 1,300 yards off the bow.
@@kennethng8346 A custom build RC rig might be more practical. Not a permanent fixture in the river, and a repeat visitor couldn't be sure where to look for it.
@@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t I like it too because it’s more accurate. A periscope is hard to see, the feather or wake makes it a little easier, and subs while moving slow at periscope depth were rarely stationary.
@@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t But then someone would have to operate it as their fulltime job. Also, an RC sub roaming in the river would be considered a hazard to navigation by the USCG and be shut down pretty quickly.
Ryan, the Cross Cut saws were available in the military supply system. Going outside the supply chain was a real pain! Great video! Not just battle ship size DC Plugs we had Huge ones on Nimitz Class Carriers. How many DC Awards Does New Jersey have??
Just as a heads up at 6:46 ish, the strike marks look like they are from the center for a woodworking lathe. It will have a spike in the center then 6 flats that spur off to keep the end of the wood that isn't in the chuck from flopping around.
at 2:40 the bottom of the diagonal should be cut to butt up against the base block the same as the top...as is the back pressure will crush the bottom of the 45 degree brace
One of the best schools I went to was the ‘wet’ damage control (DC) school at Naval Station, San Diego. We trained to patch pipes, how to operate a water pump (P250), and learned how to use shoring (lumber) like Ryan talked about. On the last day we put it all together in a huge mock-up of the inside of a compartment where instructors could turn on valves and water would start to enter the compartment. We had to plug the holes with anything we could find, i.e., DC plugs, shoring, pillows, mattresses, etc. I’m sure the students always lost and the water won. Our last task was to abandon the compartment by exiting UP a vertical ladder with ‘Niagara Falls’ falling down on us while two shipmates guided us up. That was so fun, it was the essence of ‘hands-on’ learning DC. I went thru advanced fire fighting school and radiology school to learn how to use radiation instruments and fighting the ship during nuclear attack. 20.5 years of active naval service aboard 2 CVs, 2 DDs, & 1 LPD. Anchors Aweigh! Go Navy, Beat Army!
Are there higher concentrations of damage control gear in some areas than others or is if fairly evenly distributed below the water line? As for the storm we were fine, but my middle sister was working at a youth homeless shelter in NYC. She got stuck at work because her replacement had a car washed up against the door to their apartment building. She had to bail the leaks at her site out the window because the drains stopped flowing.
I was in the german Navy on a frigate and we have mostly stored our Equipment a Department above the Waterlevel. But in the big machinery room we had also stored wood and small Material inside the rooms depends of the space inside.
Hi Ryan, Is there any documentation on stability conditions of USS New Jersey in museum files ? As professional seaman I am interested in that conditions and real calculations done during her service. Cpt Kozlowski
USN Vet here, we went thru what is called a "Wet Trainer" to teach us methods of using those timbers to shore up hull breaches, as well as other leaks or compromises in the ships hull integrity.
We were supposed to get Ida as a tropical storm a day or so after landfall, but it wasn't bad at all, not more than normal thunderstorms. We thought Ida was losing steam fast, and then the next day it hit the East Coast hard.
I would suggest that the round plugs were mostly for plugging pipes that would break. Water and fuel. Steam would probably have a different type of plug..
@@hlvscomendandeche8744 That's actually an easier situation to deal with. There are isolation valves all over the ship. You just shut the one that's upstream of the break (and downstream of it as well if needed).
Damage control after Ida--12+ hours of storm/hurricane conditions in NOLA on (of all dates) the 16th Anniversary of Katrina. Got up the next morning and had to put a tarp on the roof to cover where shingles has been torn off and rain was leaking through. Damage to interior walls and ceilings from water incursion. 10 days without power, running minimal items on a generator. So far the tarp and other sealing efforts have significantly reduced the leaking. We have just gone through 3 more days of storm and rain from TS Nicholas. All that said, we are very fortunate. Those west and north of here were hit so much harder. All in the path of Ida have lost some. Some have lost all. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who didn't make it through the storm and its aftermath.
Fuel, bedding, paint, supplies, clothing, paper, ammunition. While they keep flammable materials to a minimum, there are some things that just have to be made out of those materials.
First rule of damage control: Stop the water from coming in. First rule of museum ship conservation: Stop the water from coming in. Original lumber? Cool!
THERE IS ONLY ONE MAUL. THE 5 LB MAUL. IT CROSSES THE FIRE FIGHTERS AXE TO CREATE THE DC RATE SYMBOL. lot's of good stuff. would love to see something on repair lockers (especially 5) and DC Central.
Those weren't strike marks on that plug. I have hammered a lot of wood in my day, hard and soft, and I didn't see a single hammer mark on that plug. Those marks I did see came from the spindle of the lathe on which that plug was turned.
Damage control a matter of ship design, equipment but most if all the crew. Both USS FRANKLIN CVA13 & USS FORRESTAHL CVA59 survived massive fires with loss of life & returned to service. First & foremost neither had to be abandoned (survival odds for remainder of the crew sure is better aboard as vessel). Compare losses of IJN Shinano (incomplete ship lacking watertight integrity & inexperienced crew sank nine hours after hits) or Taihō (able to mitigate flooding from torpedo hits but bad DC decisions allowed avgas vapours to ignite). I doubt the USN wouldn't have sent the former to sea in such a sad state or let the latter get out of hand.
Great videos Ryan! Keep up the good work! I'm trying to talk the wife to drive out there with me for the weekend and do a tour with you! We live in Michigan! Maybe next summer!👍
In this video you mentioned the crew possibely buying tools at a local store, which brought up a question. How would a ship buy something in a foreign port? Does a naval vessel carry money, or some other means of payment? I'm not thinking of crew members buying things for personal use, but something needed for the ship. Examples might be local food, fuel, a commonly available part for something, etc. Thanks, Jack
No damage control at home but my fathers destroyer was hit off Okinawa, and badly damaged at that, With the deck cracked and split across the entire beam, one of the things they did was to cut holes in the 3/8th deck plate, wrap chain around the longitudinals, and take up the slack with chain falls to keep the splits from widening. Dad limped his ship into Kamera Retto (SP??) where he was told "I'm sorry Captain, but your ship is a CTL and isn't worth fixing".
Wait, random question that I never thought of till now. Who works in the post office on a navy ship? Are they a postal employee on postal pay roll or Navy on Navy pay roll? Are they both somehow? I always knew they had post offices but I just saw the window there and couldn't help but wonder 😂
The readiness exercise report done a few months ago for the USN rated the current capabilities of the damage control teams more towards the WWII Japanese level of proficiency than the US's level.
I can't believe that a damage control party would be cutting heavy lumber with that puny saw. A gasoline powered chainsaw would seem more like it especially when speed is paramount. When they first surveyed the wreck of RMS _Titanic_ , Robert Ballard and his team observed that the damage to the hull caused by the collision with the iceberg appeared to be an opening in a riveted seam about 150 ft long but not more than 1-1/2 inches wide. If that was the case, they certainly had enough stuff on board to fill that gap and a lot of people to do the stuffing, but apparently no one who understood the concept of damage control. One complication would have been that a significant part of the opening was in a coal bunker so they may have had to shift a lot of coal to get access to the damage.
My father severed on the jersey in damage control in the 50s I got chills watching this he died when I was 10 but can still remember him telling story’s about the big J as he called it. I remember when the jersey was being sent to nom and my mother fighting because he wanted to reinlist and my mother going nutz saying she would kill if he tryed I have. To go and see the ( big J) with my son. Tell him some of the story’s my father told wile I still can. Thank you for all your hard work keepin this ship alive I would hate to see her end up like the enterprise
6:45 that's not a hammer strike mark. It's where the lathe centre dug into to turn the taper. Which makes me wonder, is there wood turning lathes on new jersey? Or metal lathes with carpentry centres?
Very interesting to see the types of materials used in the damage control procedures. I suspect that hammer size may not always be a big issue though since there is probably a lot of adrenalin involved lol. Thanks for another great video Ryan.
Considering that a lot of their problems were caused by watertight doors that didn't shut properly it could likely have at least bought them more time before the ship sunk.
Modern ships are protected by ego. They are so certain that they can stop any incoming fire that nobody does anything to address the one that gets through. The enemy doesn't have to be accurate or lucky sometimes...just more persistent than you are.
Really appreciate your entire mission and execution...... nothin' but the facts and about stuff I'd admired for years but could get only so close. The day my enlisted father drive through Norfolk base but we couldn't board a ship, he made up for it, getting me a day on the X-1 submarine out of hometown Annapolis :) About plugs made of yellow pine and not intended to last....... correct it is a soft wood. Expose it to humidity or even immersion enough years and good luck driving a nail into it!!!! Working in restoration of historic homes in Annapolis, I'd dealt with a lot of yellow pine studs....... it petrifies with age, and Annapolis is quite humid being on the Chesapeake Bay. Many the saw blade chewed up by ancient yellow pine too.
My brother saw a video talking about an exercise where the testers really tried to sock it to the DC crews. The DC crew was "trapped," but they found a way through a void space, and they came out on deck about half a ship length aft and the people running the exercise were like "How the heck did you get over there?" We've looked but we can't find that video. Does it sound familiar to anyone else?
We have plugs but also use wedges (they come in 2 or 3 sizes) to plug holes. Rule of thumb being 1 wedge per 1" of hole. Any gaps you split the wedges and hammer them in the gaps
