Objective of the Damage Control

The three basic objectives of the damage control are:

• PREVENTION,
• MINIMIZATION,
• RESTORATION.

Prevention means to take all practical preliminary measures, such as maintaining watertight
integrity, providing reserve buoyancy and stability before damage occurs.

Minimization is to minimize and localize damage by taking measures to control flooding,

preserve stability and buoyancy.

Restoration is to accomplish as quickly as possible, emergency repair or restoration after

occurrence of damage. Restoration requires regaining a safe margin of stability and
buoyancy. The primary duty of the damage control organization is to control damage.

Damage control objectives are attained by taking necessary action to do the following:

• Preserve Stability
• Preserve watertight integrity (buoyancy).
• Control list and trim
• Maintain effective segregation of the vital systems
• Prevent, isolate, combat, extinguish and remove the effects of fire.
• Detect, confine, and remove the effects of nuclear, biological, and/or
• chemical attack.
• Assist in the care of injured personnel.
• Make rapid repairs to structures and equipment.

Investigation of Damage

Four Principles of investigation should be considered in investigation of damage:

• An investigation must be thorough.

• It must be conducted with caution.
• Results must be reported clearly and quickly.
• Investigations must be repeated.

Ships have been lost and others have suffered unnecessary damage because investigating
personnel have neglected one or more of these four principles.
Flooding Control

One of the most important damage control measures is to control flooding. Damage by fixed
systems or portable pumps is ineffective in handling flooding caused by damage until the
rate of flooding has been controlled.

The entire pumping capacity of drainage system is sufficient to care for flooding only when
the leaks are small. All pumping facilities cannot be used on any single flooded
compartment. Therefore, it is essential that it need to isolate compartments flooded by
underwater damage by
watertight subdivisions before dewatering efforts can be successful.

Basically, two methods can be used in the control of flooding:

• restrict or entirely stop the flow of water entering the hull and
• confine and remove water that has entered or still entering the ship.

Preparatory Measures to Restart Flooding Before Damage

It has been wisely said that 90 percent of the work of damage control- the important part is
accomplished before damage and only about 10 percent after the ship has been hit. Most
preparatory work consists of measures taken to toughen the ship to resist flooding. An
important first step is for all personnel concerned with damage control to learn what
features have been designed into their ship to enable it to resist flooding.

The most significant of these features is the extent and type of vessel subdivision. The
subdivision or the vessel will determine the extent and type of flooding that can occur and
type of corrective measures needed after damage. Certain material preparations are vital in
toughening the ship to resist flooding.

They include:
• maintaining watertight integrity of the ship's subdivision
• properly setting material conditions of closure
• properly classifying closures and fittings, and
• providing adequate and well-distributed operable damage control
equipment.

Type of flooding

There are two major types of flooding:

• SOLID
• PARTIAL.

SOLID:

If the ship has received severe underwater damage, compartments will be badly ruptured
and completely flooded. Little or nothing can be done to correct this damage.Isolate the
compartments to permit concentration on compartments that can be repaired to prevent
progressive flooding.
(Solid flooding refers to a compartment that is completely filled from deck to overhead.)

To be able to flood solidly, a compartment must be vented. Venting can take place through
an air escape, an open scuttle or a ventilation fitting, or fragment holes in the overhead.
Solid flooding has no other effect than to add weight at the center of gravity of the ship.

PARTIAL:

Compartments that are only partially flooded because their outboard bulkheads contain
small holes, cracks, loose rivets, broken seams, or splinter holes, allow progressive flooding
to take place. If nothing is done about these holes, the ship will lose buoyancy and list or
trim stability.

Partial flooding refers to a condition in which an intact compartment is not completely

flooded. An “intact compartment” means that the deck on which the water rests and the
bulkheads that surround it remain watertight.

If the boundaries remain intact, water will neither run into nor out of the flooded
compartment as the ship rolls. The final result of partial flooding is usually a decided loss in
overall stability.

Establishing Flooding Boundaries

Flooding boundaries are the bulkheads and decks restricting the partially flooded area from
the flooding boundary.If partially flooded compartments become completely flooded, the
flooding boundaries may not hold. There may be hidden cracks or leaky stuffing tubes or the
bulkheads may not be able to withstand the pressure put on them.
In other words, just because a flooding boundary seams safe one minute is no sign that it
will be safe the next. Therefore, repair party personnel should keep on reinspecting and
should make sure the boundaries holds (even so for as to add shoring if bulkhead or
overhead strength is in question.)

Estimate of Damaged Ship's Situation

The most significant factor for ship stability after damage situation is the ability to keep the
ship afloat.

Ability to keep the ship afloat

The following factors have an important bearing upon the ship's ability to stay afloat.
• Whether or not flooding is progressing
• Effectiveness of immediate corrective measures
• Transverse stability
• Reserve Buoyancy
• Longitudinal Stability
• Structural Strength

Determination of whether flooding is progressing

The first step to be taken is to determine whether or not flooding is progressing. This can be
done by a careful survey, including observations to determine the rate of increase of list,
trim, and bodily sinkage.

Effectiveness of immediate corrective measures

Other steps including the plugging and patching of holes, and removal of damage water with
the  available capacity of undamaged pumping and drainage equipment.

Actions to be Taken in Case of Damage

Following actions are to be taken immediately after damage in order to ensure the
watertight integrity of the vessel and to assess the damage:

1. Closing of watertight doors and hatches

All watertight hatches are to be closed immediately. In general the status of the closed
hatches can be checked on the status panel on the bridge.

Additionally a visual check by a designated  person shall be performed. In case it is deemed

absolutely necessary to open a watertight door or hatch in the damaged condition in order
to proceed with further actions, it should be carefully judged whether this hatch/door is
crucial to prevent progressive flooding. After use, the hatch is to be closed immediately.

2. Closing of weather tight openings

All weather tight openings are to be closed immediately, further more the closing appliances
for ventilation openings are to be secured.

3. Closing of valves

All valves in the piping system are to be closed immediately as far as the connected pipes
are not used for the pumping operations.

4. Check the extent of damage

If possible a visual check of the extent of damage and the affected compartments shall be
carried out.

5. Sounding of flooded compartments

After having found out which compartments are damaged, the amount of water ingress
shall be determined by sounding measurements. In case a compartment is connected to the
remote sounding system, the amount of water ingress can be determined directly.

6. Draught readings

Draught readings at the forward, mid and aft draft marks shall be performed, the heel angle
and trim shall be calculated based on the draught readings.

7. Calculation of water ingress

By periodical checking of the soundings of the damaged compartments and comparison

with the draft readings, a calculation of the water ingress and flooding rate shall be made.

8. Use of pumps

Bilge and ballast pumps are available for pumping out water from the damaged
compartments. Two scenarios – a) the amount of water ingress (flooding rate) exceeds the
available pump capacity, the compartment must be isolated by closing all water tight
accesses including valves
10. Liquid transfer operations

Before any filling or discharging of water ballast carried out, a thorough check and pre-
calculation of the resulting floating position is to be carried out and the limit values for
stability and strength are to be checked.

The crew must be aware that filling or discharging of water ballast tanks can have negative
influences on the stability due to the effect of free surfaces for partially filled tanks. In order
to minimize the heel and trim of the vessel, it may be advisable that water should be
pumped in the tanks opposite to the damage location. If possible, the filling of slack tanks
should be preferred to improve stability of the vessel.

11. Determination of ground condition, in case of grounding

Check the ground condition and extent of damage by a diver. This check shall be performed
only with the necessary safety measures when the ship is in a stable position and no
movement of the ground is anticipated.

12. Information to the owner, coast guard

The local coast guard and the ship owner shall be informed about the present situation. A
possible outflow of oil should be stated immediately.

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