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In Gulf Heat Dubuque Engineers Avoid Heat Stress

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080713-02
Release Date: 7/13/2008 8:19:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Gross, USS Dubuque Public Affairs

USS DUBUQUE, At Sea (NNS) -- With USS Dubuque (LPD 9) operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet where temperatures often exceed 100 degrees outside, the ship's leadership makes sure personnel working in engineering spaces aren't being exposed to excessively high temperatures.

Heat stress surveys are required every day aboard Dubuque, where temperatures in the engineering "pits" average 115 degrees.

"It gets bad down there [in the #1 main machinery room]," said Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Jeff Martin. "Being down there for a minute, you can turn your head and you will start to sweat."

Heat stress is any combination of air temperature, thermal radiation, humidity, airflow and workload that may stress the body as it attempts to regulate body temperature.

The heat stress survey provides guidance concerning personnel exposure limits due to high heat and humidity aboard ship and establishes procedures for the survey of shipboard spaces when hazardous conditions exist.

In order to obtain accurate and reliable data on heat stress conditions, personnel use a wet bulb globe temperature meter, or WBGT meter. The meter indexes the basic everyday thermometer temperature, the temperature of the personnel under ventilation when they are wet from sweat, and radiated heat temperature off of equipment in the space.

The engineers aboard Dubuque are on a watch rotation of four hours on and eight hours off. However, they still have a regular work day as well; so on any given day they may spend a total of eight to 10 hours in the pit fixing and monitoring equipment to keep the ship operational.

"It's like working in a tropical rainforest or sauna without the perks of being at a spa or the visual aspect of a rainforest," says Machinist's Mate 1st Class (SW) James Thompson. "But whenever anything bad goes down, we're there to fix it."

There is a lot of pride in this job knowing that there is really nothing that is going to stop us from getting the job done."

For more news from the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group, visit www.navy.mil/local/lha5/.