Delta IV Shipyard Fire
Reading between the lines of this story about a fire aboard RFS Ekaterinberg (K 84), I'm guessing the shipyard used turpentine-impregnated wood in building the scaffolding. Excerpts:
Television pictures showed a giant plume of smoke above the yard in the Murmansk region of northern Russia as over 100 firemen struggled to douse flames which witnesses said rose 30 feet above the stricken vessel. Emergency workers said efforts to partially sink the submarine at the dock had failed to fully extinguish the fire. A defense ministry spokesman quoted by state news agency RIA said the blaze, which began at 1220 GMT (7:20 a.m. ET), was under control more than eight hours later...Earlier reports said the reactor was shut down after the fire started, but I'm guessing that was just media reporters who don't understand the military coming up with that one there own. Any fire that's bad enough for them to decide to try to submerge a boat undergoing refit must be pretty bad, though. I'm wondering if the Delta IVs have some sort of hull coating, and if maybe it got hot enough for that to catch fire?
...After hours of trying to put out the flames, officials decided to partially submerge the hull of the 18,200-tonne submarine at the Roslyakovo dock, one of the main dockyards of Russia's northern fleet 900 miles north of Moscow.
Local media reports were vague, but the blaze was believed to have started when wooden scaffolding caught fire during welding repairs to the submarine, which had been hoisted into a dry dock.
What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen shipyard workers do to endanger Sailors?
posted by Bubblehead at 11:30 PM
56 Comments:
At MINSY in the mid-70's getting put back together after a refueling overhaul. The shipyard fire watch who was assigned to monitor the hull heaters took off.
After the fire, the hull mounted aluminum lockers in the wardroom were nothing but big puddles on the deck. Needless to say, an even bigger hole was cut to replace the fire damaged hull steel.
No one got hurt thankfully and only took $1.5 million (as I recall) to repair all the damage. Just damned lucky is all I can say.
Old Chief from the dark ages
Jerry
12/30/2011 12:42 AM
At Pearl Harbor NSY in 1995 one of our IC guys touched a box on the shipyard wall that was electrified...it blew a hole in his arm just above his elbow. The shipyard had an open ticket to fix that box for a few months.
12/30/2011 7:13 AM
The AP story about the fire being out had this:
"Russian state television earlier showed the rubber-coated hull of the submarine still smoldering, with firefighters gathering around it and some standing on top to douse it with water. Most modern submarines' outer hulls are covered with rubber to make them less noisy and more difficult for an enemy to detect."
12/30/2011 8:17 AM
During a refueling overhaul in the late sixties when the shipyard workers attempted to lift a refueled module while it was still bolted to the deck. Ever see a crane ready to topple on to a refueling house?
12/30/2011 9:01 AM
Still common today, at least at PSNS and IMF Bangor, are workers smoking dope in tanks and the drydock.
12/30/2011 9:10 AM
Without too many details...
One boat in overhaul a few years back (at NNSY), during completion of re-ballast testing, used an improper ventilation lineup and sent 2 sailors to the hospital with diesel exhaust inhalation issues.
SY safety came by and basically told people to stop complaining... as "nothing was wrong".
I know 4 sailors ended up as part of a medical study to determine if they had lung damage or any long term effects.
Just more proof that the SY may be good at what they do sometimes... just not all of the time.
---
MM1/SS
12/30/2011 9:59 AM
Times are a changing,,Except the constant that dem dere Ruskies still suck at Submarines..
12/30/2011 10:06 AM
2011 SUBPAC SSN Battle E Predictions
CSS-1 Texas over Bremerton (tough)
CSS-3 Louisville over North Carolina (ugly)
CSS-7 Santa Fe over Pasadena
CSDS-5 Jimmy Carter over Connetticutt
CSS-11 Albuquerque over Asheville (close)
CSS-15 Buffalo over Houston (very close)
12/30/2011 11:23 AM
'87 after a 4 year refueling overhaul (don't ask) at PNSY, in transit to conduct TRE and ORSE, we began having problems with the still and the evaporator, eventually losing both.
On RTP, the nukes tore them both apart to find the problem: both units were packed with cigarette butts the SY workers had tossed in there over the years they were uncovered.
Thanks again, PNSY!
12/30/2011 12:03 PM
As most of us know, this was no ordinary Russian sub, it is a ballistic missile submarine that ordinarily carries 16 nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles. Russia had hoped the fire (begun Thursday) could be doused quickly and embarrassing press avoided.
This has now become another huge black eye for their strategic nuclear program.
Heads will likely roll, even if some are later said to have “retired early”.
12/30/2011 12:07 PM
PSNS, drydock. I'm finishing up a tour of the RC when someone sounds the fire alarm for a fire topside. I get up to the pier (where DC central was located during the docking) to find out that the fire was out. Turns out a yardie was using a heat gun to keep warm as he slept and it fell into his hard hat, igniting the paper inside it (and partially melting the hat). I made a fun call to the CO starting with "First of all, the fire's already out..."
Later our SSO gave me a hard time for not evacuating the drydock.
12/30/2011 12:08 PM
Back in 1969, or so, MINSY sank Guitarro at the dock. If I recall correctly it happened the night of the big Navy League Dinner in town and all the brass hats got called from the head table one by one as the disaster unfolded.
12/30/2011 12:24 PM
Following major overhaul at PHNSY, the Bremerton is doing sea trials in the early 90's. Left PD going deep and while passing 150, there is a boom up forward, the boat shakes and immediately, we start heading to the surface. All compartments report no leaks and sonar is reporting some more flow noise up forward. Surfaced and could find nothing wrong. Later, pull into port and divers go in the water to find the underside of the sonar dome severely dished in. Later investigation revealed a chunk of rubber from the shipyard worked its way into the equalizing line and plugged it up. Long slow transit to San Diego where there was a spare dome.
12/30/2011 12:45 PM
Following major overhaul at PHNSY, the Bremerton is doing sea trials in the early 90's. Left PD going deep and while passing 150, there is a boom up forward, the boat shakes and immediately, we start heading to the surface. All compartments report no leaks and sonar is reporting some more flow noise up forward. Surfaced and could find nothing wrong. Later, pull into port and divers go in the water to find the underside of the sonar dome severely dished in. Later investigation revealed a chunk of rubber from the shipyard worked its way into the equalizing line and plugged it up. Long slow transit to San Diego where there was a spare dome.
12/30/2011 12:46 PM
PSNS in the early 80s. They repaired a stern plane and were adding resin inside the plane. Lunch came and yardbirds left...left two open cans of resin (big cans) sitting on top of an energized welding heat strip. Several long minutes later, it looked like an inverted Saturn V rocket on that stern plane. They just let it burn for about 10-15 minutes!
12/30/2011 1:18 PM
Quality of the news reports on this is horrible.
Whatever happened to networks consulting technical experts before reporting on technical issues.
I like the line about how the 550' vessel was "hoisted" into the drydock for repairs.
That would be a big crane.
12/30/2011 2:32 PM
"Whatever happened to networks consulting technical experts before reporting on technical issues." - Anon @ 2:32 PM
That's not even half of the problem with today's journalism.
12/30/2011 7:07 PM
See Congressional Report of Guitarro sinking at http://www.history.navy.mil/library/special/guitarro.htm
It's hard to comprehend how totally incompitent all involved actually were.
12/30/2011 7:13 PM
Didn't endanger the sub, but was fun to watch. Standing topside watch while the boat was preparing to into drydock at MINSY, watched a forklife drive on to our shore power cables, way down the seawall. The yardworkers had carefully calculated, and knew the forklift could hoist the almost swamped boat out of the water. So, the forks were loweed, and the worker in the boat proceeded to tie the hoist sling to the very tips of the forks. He gave the signal, and the forklift driver started hoisting. Made for an interesting center of gravity problem. The boat got a few feet out of the water when---- the forklift's rear wheels left the ground. Forklift weight+boat weight+water in the boat weight, all sitting on two wheels on our shore power cables. They didn't like it- and let go. There was a blue flash, and I watched the forklift driver dive one way into the Vallejo River, and the boat guy jump the other way, as the forklift landed on top of the boat, which wasn't rated for the forklift's weight- they both sank, immediately. Security violation was called away, and I got on the 1MC and announced, "Shore power loss was due to forklife driving on the shore power cables." As fast as you read that was as long as it took for the duty officer, engineer, and XO to get topside. They all looked down teh seawall at- nothing. The engineer asked, "I thought you said there was a forklift." me, "There was." Him, "Where is it?" Me, "In the Vallejo River." With that, the two SY workers finished their climb up the ladder. Soaking wet. The XO told the engineer to get the full story, and shaking his head, went below.
I was told they both were newly unemployed within an hour.
12/31/2011 10:50 AM
Called away light smoke from one of the SSMG's as SRW. Turns out one of the No Ka Oi bruda's from PHNSY was sniffing fumes off of the curing oven they had for resin inside the positive ventilation tent. Didn't hurt any sailor or endanger the boat, but what an idiot.
-Current SMAG
12/31/2011 1:32 PM
Forgot to mention it, though implied- they forgot to add in the weight of the water in the boat they were hoisting...
12/31/2011 1:41 PM
Builder's Trials on the 1st Trident, the shipyard civilian diving officer under-calculated the dummy weights in each missile tube by many thousands of pounds. Dive in Long Island Sound, the boat kept going towards the bottom, since we were a very large number of tons heavy. CO ordered emergency blow. I heard the shipyard let the guy go.
12/31/2011 9:12 PM
PSNS '86. Shop 51 was ready to turn over the Drain Pump. E-Div was supporting testing. Shop 51 bird supporting the test was nicknamed Jesus because he looked just like the paintings you always see. But this guy always seemed to be high, and even talked like a SoCal stoner. Anyway, Jesus says he's ready for ship's force to "fire off the Drain Pump." EM in AMR2LL calls up Conn & Maneuvering (where I am as the SEO) to say they're ready. Drain pump is started, followed by a LOUD BOOM and a voice over the 2JV screaming FIRE IN AMR2LL!!! De-energized the pump and fire was out.
The guys in AMR2LL reported that a large fireball erupted from the Drain Pump controller and the EM had to dive to one side to avoid being hit by the ball. Lucky for all involved. We tag it out and open up everything. Just as we get the charred controller open, Jesus says, "Oh, there's my wrench." Turns out he left his wrench laying across the bus work in the controller. Guy just shrugged his shoulders and walked off. To my knowledge, he was never reprimanded or anything.
12/31/2011 10:09 PM
Back to the Delta IV story:
Here's a Google satellite view of, most likely, the same Delta IV in its drydock, pre-fire.
If you look at the news pics of the smoke rising from the Delta IV, you can see that a skimmer is also parked in the same large drydock, so I very much doubt that they even tried to submerge the drydock to put out the sub fire. The chance of both ships being immediately seaworthy at once while in drydock just doesn't pass the common sense test.
1/02/2012 2:24 PM
A few years ago the crane operators failed to tie down the crane. A large storm with high winds came through and blew one crane into the other taking it off it's tracks and teetering back and forth over our stern planes. All 3 LET's were removed so if that crane would have fallen on us it would have been a VERY bad day.
1/02/2012 5:48 PM
Buffalo, PHNSY, 1991. 3 fires in 4 days. I was SRO for one and figured I had about 5 minutes before I would have had to leave from the smoke.
1/03/2012 10:38 AM
anon 2:24 you said "If you look at the news pics of the smoke rising from the Delta IV, you can see that a skimmer is also parked in the same large drydock, so I very much doubt that they even tried to submerge the drydock to put out the sub fire. The chance of both ships being immediately seaworthy at once while in drydock just doesn't pass the common sense test."
Check out these pics scrolling at the bottom and you'll see you are wrong.
http://www.barentsobserver.com/submarines-torpedo-compartment-was-on-fire.5003663-58932.html
1/03/2012 10:46 AM
Saw a welder yard bird catch his lower pants leg on fire multiple times outside of manuevering. This was on the 22 boat during new con.
You think after the first time he would of adjusted his protection.
idiot
1/03/2012 12:21 PM
watch the whole slide show, specifically shots 6 and 7. They definitely partially flooded the dock on the delta.
looks like the waterline is a bit below center line of the boat.
1/03/2012 1:26 PM
How about one from the other side. I was outboard tube 20 when I heard a guy topside say "Laucher, topside: area clear." Umm, area is not clear. I hollered and a sailor in the superstructure between the tubes said "Oh, you need to move now." As I was getting aft in a hurry, the locking ring spun and the hatch opened.
Check an area clear before you say it is. Thanks.
1/03/2012 7:00 PM
Was on two separate boats with serious people incidents...one was shipyard-on-shipyard, and the other was navy-on-shipyard.
In the S-O-S case: OVHL - the shipyard used oil-impregnated (deterimined after the fact) asbestos clamps/brakes to hold a BRA-34 fairing in place while one of their guys worked underneath it, inside the bottom of the sail, connecting it up. The fairing slowly lowered with the guy trapped underneath it, taking the weight across his thighs. Net effect: One seriously injured shipyard worker, who was more than a tad difficult to extract. Good news: he was reportedly able to walk on his own again months later.
In the N-O-S case: NEWCON - a none-too-bright TM1 used full hydraulic power to close a shutter door that was being inspected in drydock. The procedure called for hand-pump usage while clearances were checked...but that was apparently too difficult and slow for the TM1. Net effect: one brown-shorted shipyard worker and poppin'-his-cork TMC, who had both thankfully just stepped out of the way...but only 'just.'
Stupid is as stupid does.
1/04/2012 1:22 PM
One time, in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. A shipyard worker was told "unclamp #1 scope." "Unclamping #1 scope..."
...and promptly unclamped the #2 scope... Which wasn't secured... Which feel straight down the periscope well... And almost clipped the old man as he was giving a tour in control...
Yaaaaay all stop work! I loved the endless safety briefs.
1/18/2012 4:10 PM
One time, in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. A shipyard worker was told "unclamp #1 scope." "Unclamping #1 scope..."
...and promptly unclamped the #2 scope... Which wasn't secured... Which feel straight down the periscope well... And almost clipped the old man as he was giving a tour in control...
Yaaaaay all stop work! I loved the endless safety briefs.
1/18/2012 4:11 PM
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