Options for Advanced Smoke Control Onboard Ships

Abstract : The complications posed by smoke disrupt all facets of the damage control (DC) problem onboard ships. Smoke will reduce visibility, which causes disorientation and deterioration of communications among the ship's crew. In turn, the ability of the ship's crew to restore vital ship mission capability will be impeded. In practice, desmoking is generally not implemented until after the fire is under control. With this approach, the benefits gained from minimizing smoke levels in the earlier stages of the event are not realized. For the design of future Navy ships, it is essential to identify the performance requirements for smoke control and to design systems according to these requirements. Installed smoke control systems will become more important on ships with reduced manning since there will be fewer people available to implement manual techniques This report describes a shipwide system that could be installed on ships of the future.