Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Warship design and construction, terminology, navigation, hydrodynamics, stability, armor schemes, damage control, etc.
Fatboy Coxy
Member
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:18 am

Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by Fatboy Coxy »

Hi all, certainly in Nelsons time, and possibly throughout the years of sail, emergency hull repairs could and were undertaken while at sea, by fothering. This was the practice of wrapping a sail around the bottom of the hull, being fastened on either side of the ship, hoping the pressure of water trying to get into the hole would push the sail in, providing a decent plug. Come the 20th century and the demise of sail, was there anything similar to effect emergency hull repairs to warships, to ‘get them home’.

Regards
Fatboy Coxy
Regards
Fatboy Coxy

Currently writing https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/ ... if.521982/
OpanaPointer
Senior Member
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by OpanaPointer »

You could put a mattress against a smallish hole and brace it. Standard test to see if it would hold was to get a beefy dude to swing from the overhead an hit it with both feet. This is good information up to 197something when my ship was doing training at Gitmo.
Fatboy Coxy
Member
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:18 am

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by Fatboy Coxy »

Thank's OpanaPointer
Regards
Fatboy Coxy

Currently writing https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/ ... if.521982/
OpanaPointer
Senior Member
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by OpanaPointer »

For more robust bracing look at the pictures of ships who lost their bows in a collision.

Image

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/co ... all_after/
Fatboy Coxy
Member
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:18 am

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by Fatboy Coxy »

Clearly a credit to the ships architect and builders for the construction of a ship so well compartmented.

I wonder how much spare timber might be carried by a ship for emergency bracing, and just how low and accessible it might be stored in a ship. Back in the days of the wooden ships, they must have carried a lot, but by the 20th century?
Regards
Fatboy Coxy

Currently writing https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/ ... if.521982/
OpanaPointer
Senior Member
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by OpanaPointer »

In anticipation of such events as illustrated in my last post the outfitting parties would have tucked timber wherever it would fit. I was on USS MacDonough when we were in Gitmo for training. She had just come out of the yards and one of things done during a yard period is to check that we have everything we're supposed to have. I helped load 4x4 and 8x8 wood at one point, stashing it in the overhead piping when we could find a spot. It would take some exploration to find out how much was considered "minimum load out" for that item.
User avatar
OSCSSW
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:47 pm

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by OSCSSW »

This is from the Handbook of Damage Control. It is technical BUT if you persevere there is no reason even those without formal damage control training can grasp the basic concepts, after all it was written for sailors :lol: :lol: :lol:

CHAPTER 8
BATTLE DAMAGE REPAIR

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military ... pr_ch8.pdf

CHAPTER 36 SHORING

https://maritime.org/doc/dc/part9.htm
"You see those battleships sitting there, and you think they float on the water, don't you?... You are wrong, they are carried to sea on the backs of those Chief Petty Officers!" Admiral William Halsey USN :wink:
Steve Crandell
Senior Member
Posts: 954
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:05 pm

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by Steve Crandell »

Thank you! That's fascinating. It's really interesting the different methods they use to plug holes of various types.
OpanaPointer
Senior Member
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: Emergency hull repairs while at sea

Post by OpanaPointer »

I was on DC parties and Inport Fire Parties, worked my way up to #1 Nozzleman. Lots of "fun".
Post Reply