Heat and Smoke Management Guidelines and Fire Fighting Doctrine for the LPD-17 Well Deck and Vehicle Stowage Areas

Abstract : The Total Ship Survivability and Battle Damage Repair Assessment (TSS/BDRA) performed on the LPD-17 contract design illustrated the need for fire fighting doctrine and heat and smoke management guidelines for the Well Deck (WD) and Vehicle Stowage Areas (VSAs) of the LPD-17. The TSS/BDRA highlighted several potential problems in the WD and VSAs given a weapon hit scenario. Hit related damage included the release of substantial quantities of Class B fuels (e.g., diesel fuel, JP-5, and MOGAS). Large fires could develop rapidly and be sustained for significant time periods due to the large quantity of oxygen contained in the expansive WD and VSAs. The result was extensive smoke logging of the WD and VSAs, which sharply reduced the visibility throughout these interconnected areas. The potentially large fire sizes would also create high gas temperatures that make fire fighter access, approach, and fire fighting activities difficult. The forced ventilation to this area, which was assumed to remain running for selected hits in the TSS/BDRA effort, supported the continued growth of large fires. The high temperatures and limited visibility prevented expedient access to these areas using standard heat and smoke management doctrine. Also lacking was general fire fighting doctrine for these types of situations.