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COLLISION REPAIR


The damaged Denver arriving at Pearl Harbor.

NAVSEA 00C5 Project Managers are experts at emergent welding repairs to enable damaged ships to continue steaming and complete their mission. They demonstrated this ability time and again on USS OGDEN, USS GREENVILLE, and on USS DENVER, shown in these photos after its collision with USS YUKON off Pearl Harbor in Spring 2001. The NAVSEA 00C5 repair team brings a wide range of skills to deal with any contingency. Structural and hydrodynamic analysis, welding experts, ship class specialists and experienced project managers to tie it all together. In these example pictures, DENVER had its entire bow ripped away by its' collision with YUKON. NAVSEA 00C5 was able to seal off the damaged area from the ship, rebuild the bow, and enable the ship to continue steaming from Pearl Harbor until it arrived safely at it's home- port, San Diego The entire repair took only 7 days.


NAVSEA contract diver welding a new bow stem to the DENVER.


NAVSEA project manager overseeing the repair effort. 
  

Rebuilding the Bulkheads and the bow stem. 
 

Finishing the Bulkheads. 


Completed work at the pier.


USS DENVER returning to Sea.

 

UNDERWATER WELDING

Through both Navy divers at CDU and the Diving Services Contract, NAVSEA 00C5 offers an extraordinary range of underwater welding services. Procedures have been developed for DH-36, HY-80, HY-100, Monel, Nickel-Copper, and Copper-Nickel. These procedures can be used for work on fairwaters, rope-guards, hull inserts, rudder repairs, and just about anything else you can imagine would need welding. We continue to expand our weld procedures as new needs and new technology become available. Though many underwater weld repairs are classified as temporary, through use of dry-chamber habitats permanent repairs can be made. A wide array of Non-Destructive testing can also be conducted underwater, including Magnetic Particle Tests, Ultrasound, and Radiographic Tests to ensure the highest quality welds. With this capability, ships no longer need to be dry-docked for even the most serious of repairs.


Depleted waster sleeves taken from USS JFK.


New waster sleeves to be installed on the USS JFK. 


Remains of ropeguards taken from USS Enterprise.


New ropeguards to be installed on USS Enterprise.

UNDERWATER INSPECTIONS AND CLEANING

Maintaining a vessels operational readiness and prolonging the interval between drydocking requires a rigorous underwater ship husbandry discipline consisting of underwater inspections and periodic cleaning. Routine underwater inspections are conducted to assess the condition of the hull and appendages. There are two types of underwater ship inspections used in underwater ship husbandry. Investigative inspections occur on a random basis to diagnose suspect damage or in preparation for a ship's deployment or underway exercise. These inspections often lead to underwater repairs to correct the deficiency or damage discovered. Equally important are pre-cleaning inspections, which assess the level of biofouling on a ship's hull or other submerged components. Excess biofouling on a ship's hull, shafts and propellers can result in over 15 percent more propulsive fuel consumption, thus reducing the ship's ability to meet operational speed and shorten operating range. Severe fouling can damage the coating system and result in excess corrosion of the hull and running gear. Failure to maintain the ship's coating system could lead to more frequent drydockings and costly repairs to the underlying structure and replacement of the coating system.

Thoroughly trained and qualified divers utilizing the appropriate equipment and procedures can effectively remove the fouling and restore the hydrodynamic performance of the ship. The NAVSEA Underwater Ship Husbandry Division develops equipment and procedures suitable for cleaning complex ship systems found on U.S. Navy vessels and provides contracted diving and cleaning services to the Fleet throughout the world via an expansive network of qualified diving companies. Additionally, NAVSEA provides technical support and equipment acquisitions for Fleet diving assets to accomplishing an array of cleaning tasks.


NAVSEA qualified contract divers perform hull and propeller cleaning services to maintain the propulsion efficiency and operational readiness of ships worldwide (Photo courtesy Seaward Marine Services, Inc.) 


U.S. Navy Divers, specially trained and certified to clean Navy propellers, periodically perform emergent propeller cleaning on deployed ships throughout the world to maintain the ships operation performance (Video by PH2 Merriman) Click on the image to see the video; ~ 1.5MB.