Damage Control
Very few warships from any country match the design and training of American ships in order to stay afloat in combat. The US has the most horizontal and vertically designed bays and most of the equipment designed to keep it that way when the battle is damaged. Damage control and training are key and important to all hands, as is the training and involvement of the fire brigade. US ships have redundant damage control equipment for emergency use throughout the ship. Other nations expect their ships to be depleted.
Russian ships are not too overloaded to ensure safety and survivability. This was never a tactical design priority for the ship. Survivability costs a lot of money. There is a doctrinal difference. The Russians will be outnumbered at sea, so they count on an all-out attack on the invading force, using their land to protect the air and hitting the core of the enemy fleets with all their might, shooting at everything they get and doing the most damage quickly before the enemy can reach the operational range to launch their aircraft and cruise missiles.
Russia sees its ships and, for that matter, its land and air assets as disposable weapons to be used and, if used up, replaced. While the Russian ships look very formidable, they are one shot. When all those big missiles are gone, they either turn around and run to port to rearm them, or they will most likely sink.
Damage control is a naval term meaning the use of any possible means to fight to save a sinking ship. The safety of a ship is ensured by its survivability, that is, its ability to withstand accidental damage while restoring and maintaining, to the extent possible, its ability to use for its intended purpose.
The Ship Charter of the Navy states that the entire crew is engaged in the fight for the damage of the ship: “No one has the right to leave the emergency compartment on their own. The fight for damage must be carried out by the entire crew of the ship, including those temporarily on the ship, for the survivability of the ship in compartments not occupied by command posts and combat posts, as well as on the upper deck, emergency parties (groups) are conducted."
The survivability of a ship is ensured by: constructive measures during its design, construction, modernization and re-equipment; organizational and technical measures carried out during the operation of the ship; the actions of the crew members in the fight for the survivability of the damaged ship. The organization of damage control of a ship provides for a clear distribution of duties and the most rational use of all personnel, technical means and emergency equipment in case of emergency damage to the ship. The organization of damage control should be based on the principle of maximum centralization of leadership, combined with initiative, prompt and decisive actions of the personnel.
The organization of ensuring the survivability of the ship, methods of fighting fires, the ingress of sea water, eliminating damage to technical equipment, as well as the procedure for taking preventive measures to prevent accidents on the ship are determined by the regulatory legal acts of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, guidelines (manuals) of the Navy mandatory for the crews of all ships, regardless of their purpose (class).
The general management of the ship's damage control is carried out by the captain. The direct leadership in localizing areas of damage, the spread of fire is assigned to the senior assistant captain, and in the struggle for the unsinkability of the vessel - to the chief engineer. In the absence of a captain or a senior mate on the ship, the ship's survivability control is headed by the watch officer (shift assistant captain). The main ship's documents for the organization of damage control of the ship are the ship's alarm schedules, which determine the duties and procedures of each crew member.
To eliminate fires, seal the ship's hull when sea water enters, the ships provide for the formation of emergency parties (groups) from among the specialists of the deck and engine crews. The commanders of emergency parties (groups), as a rule, should be the second assistant to the captain and one of the ship's mechanics (electromechanics). The number of emergency parties (groups) and the composition of specialists in them is determined by the captain, depending on the number of crew, design features and technical equipment of the ship.
At least once a month, and on passenger ships - before each going to sea, a ship's exercise (training) to combat the ship's survivability with a check of the readiness for operation of all fire-fighting, drainage and other technical means of the ship, ensuring its safety. The knowledge and training of the ship damage control crew must ensure the confident and accurate performance of all ship damage control actions, taking into account the most difficult emergency conditions.
In case of emergency damage to technical equipment, lighting and means of on-board communication, control and signaling are subject to immediate restoration. First of all, the mechanisms, devices and systems on which the ship's survivability depends should be restored, and if it is impossible to restore them by the crew, the captain is obliged to report to the head (commander) of a higher military command body on the need to take urgent measures to maintain the ship's readiness for action in the event of an emergency on it of a fire or other emergency.
In the event of damage to the working mechanisms, systems and devices, the crew members serving them must, without waiting for an order, stop their work (turn off), change the operating mode or turn on the reserve (backup) means to ensure the movement and control of the vessel with an immediate report to the officer in charge of the watch. Independent shutdown of technical means that ensure the movement and control of the vessel is unacceptable, even if they are threatened with complete failure. Stopping the main engines and turning off the indicated technical means is allowed only with the permission of the officer in charge of the watch.
In exceptional cases, the captain may decide to continue using the damaged (faulty) technical means that ensure the movement, control and damage control of the ship in the event of a threat to the death of the ship, life and health of people. In case of accidents associated with flooding of the premises of power plants or a fire in them, the supply of electricity should not be interrupted as long as it is possible. Switchboards should only be de-energized when flooding or fire could cause a short circuit and cause a more severe accident.
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