Starship Accident Data

[The Oz]

Here's a sea story without such a happy ending.... <sigh> But it does have a direct TRAVELLER application, I guess.

I was electrician in a DC locker during drills when the guy manning the aux boiler space failed to answer a phone check after a simulated missile hit. Since his space wasn't one that was supposed to be involved in the hit (that's how we find out where the damage is; we call around and if the space doesn't answer, that's where the hit is) we were ordered to go see what was going on, since the access trunk for his space opened in our zone.

So we start going down decks in the access trunk. Quite a few decks later (this was a carrier) we get to the last hatch. It's an armored hatch with a hydraulic lift to help us pick it up (the hatch is a 3 by 4 foot slab of steel one inch thick, no way you can haul that up by hand). We undog the hatch and nothing happens.... Usually the hatch pops up from the hydraulics. We try to pull up the hatch and nothing doing; it's not budging, even with a couple of prybars under it. We check the hydraulic lift and it's fine, no trouble there. We can't figure this out. Finally someone remembers the test fitting.

Near all watertight hatches and doors you will find a small pipe going through the bulkhead with a screw fitting plugging your end. This allows you to check what's on the other side of the door/hatch before you open it. If you undo the test fitting and smoke (or worse yet, water) comes out, it's not a good idea to open the hatch without taking some precautions.

So we undo the test fitting and....

Air rushed into the compartment. And as it did, the armored hatch popped up. At the bottom of the ladder we found the guy manning the space. He was dead.

What we later figured out was that he had been pumping his bilges (steam leaking from the aux boiler condensed in the space constantly, making lots of bilge water) using an eductor pump. Eductor pumps are wonderful things and the Navy loves them. They have no moving parts at all, they use a stream of water (from the firemain system, usually) to "entrain" other fluids and pump them around. Basically the high-speed firewater is used to create a suction that vacuums up the fluid you want to pump. An eductor pump will pump any fluid: water, diesel oil, gasoline, jet fuel, air....

While this guy had been pumping his bilges the ship had gone to Circle William, which is the codename for Chemical Warfare conditions. Under Circle William we shut down all the ship's ventilation systems (obviously we don't want to help spread any poison gas around the ship). That includes the shaft alley where this guy worked. When we went to Circle William he wound up in an airtight compartment.

And his eductor pump was still running.

It pumped out all the water in his bilges and kept on pumping. But the only fluid left for it to pump was the air in his compartment and under Circle William, no more air could enter his compartment. We calculated that he probably drew about a 26" vacuum in that compartment, which caused him to die of asphyxiation and explained why we couldn't get the armored hatch up: it had literally tons of air pressure holding it closed. This became a fleetwide NAVSEA bulletin requiring all eductor pumps to be secured during Circle William.

As for the TRAVELLER application, I can imagine that warships probably still have a simple test fitting to let you check what's on the other side of that hatch before you open it. If you're on a starship and air rushes in when you open the test fitting, I really recommend precautions before opening that door. Yes, we see that starship hatches often have nice little windows to let you see on the other side, but vacuum looks just about the same as air and remote pressure sensors can be damaged or sabotaged. Having a simple test fitting might still be required, just for additional insurance about what's really on the other side of that hatch.

 

[TheDS]

I dunno, Chaser, the yardbirds don't sound incompetent enough. Well, MAYBE; I suppose once in a while they accidentally don't get anyone pissed off at them. The Union reaction seems about right tho. However, considering the date, I think the Union will not have as much power as that, and when the military complains to the local noble, SOME ONE'S head is going to roll. Maybe literally.

 

[ChaserCaffey]

Originally posted by TheDS:
The Union reaction seems about right tho. However, considering the date, I think the Union will not have as much power as that, and when the military complains to the local noble, SOME ONE'S head is going to roll. Maybe literally.

Unless the planetary marquis is the head of the Union.

Think about it: a world industrializes. During the Long Night, there's a die-off of skilled workers, and the ones that are left organize themselves into a union. Since they now control pretty much all skilled labor on the planet, the union starts calling the shots- you can set up a business if you want, but mess with the union and you won't get anyone with more than a sixth-grade education to help run it. When Cleon I and his merry band show up, the union president is given the title of marquis as de facto head of state.

Imagine that...a yardbird union with the backing of a head of state. You Navy guys shuddering yet?

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by The Oz:
And his eductor pump was still running.

Oz,

Oh, sh*t...

I knew the ending as soon as I read about the test fitting...

That yard stay I wrote about? We were in seeing if Hunter's Point could handle Enterprise? The yard did fine, the ship did not. They lost three men in a paint locker.

It's an old story. A small compartment not opened for months, supplies that give off fumes in it, no one bothering to check or think, you know.

Supply opened the hatch and set up shop one deck above, apparently you climbed down into this locker. The crew is chipping and painting as always. Some guys show up for five gallons of red lead or light machinery grey or something. Two of them go down in the locker while the other is filling out the paperwork with the supply puke. Time ticks by, the guys with the paperwork chat a while, and finally think WTF? Where are those two clowns? The must be f*cking off, I'll get them and the 3rd climbs in.

The supply puke waits a bit, realizes somethings odd, and goes over to the hatch to yell WTF? He sees a dungareed pant leg at the bottom of the ladder and does the first smart thing done at that paint locker all day; He does not go in.

He calls DC central and sickbay. Everyone runs around like chickens for awhile, then some guys put on OBAs and drag the three bodies out. They're dead. Died within a few minutes of entering the locker 'cause no one bothered to check the air in what was clearly labeled a 'confined space'.

Ships are dangerous enough. You don't need to add stupidity to the pile.

Anyway, starship's IMTU has the fittings you wrote about and for the reasons you stated. Military ships have more; many more airtight compartments, and civilian ships have less; they lean towards pressure tight flats instead of airtight compartments.

(I read a piece of Traveller fiction recently that had a five deck, tail landing merchie sporting open grid deckplates... One airtight compartment anyone?)

Those fittings let you test the air in that other compartment too. Testing the air is something that can come in handy occasionally.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[ChaserCaffey]

(Here's something a bit more light-hearted.)

DATE: 283-1088
SHIP: INS Reverie Indigo Echo (CF-6418), Azhanti High Lightning class frontier cruiser.

PROXIMATE CAUSE(S): Unsafe deck surface, inattention of personnel to safety regulations
ROOT CAUSE(S): Inadequate training of galley personnel in vacuum storage procedures.

DESCRIPTION: While preparing for an extended patrol mission on the frontiers of the Spinward Marches, the Reverie Indigo Echo completed provisioning at the classified naval base. During this process, a non-airtight cargo container (1 dton) was placed in the Deck 7 cargo bay despite it being clearly labeled as FS-8732 (Eggs, Terran Chicken), which the Imperial Supply Manual clearly shows to be a vacuum-unsafe designation.

After a skirmish with Vargr raider forces (see after-action report) during which non-essential spaces had their air evacuated as per standard IN procedure, cargo-handling personnel attempted to retrieve a consignment of food from the Deck 7 cargo bay. When the cannister in question was open, it was discovered that all 14 m3 of eggs had burst when the chamber was evacuated. Their contents spilled onto the deck, causing six cargo-handling personnel and one maintainance walker to fall onto their backsides. The ship's medic and laundry service were paged, and no permanent injury resulted from the incident.

The IN Office of Safety would like to remind all personnel that care must be exercised in storing supplies in spaces that will be evacuated during action. All such supplies must be stored in an airtight container or be vacuum-approved.

 

[Morte]

Don't know how well this'll convert to the great big ships in Traveller, but:

A certain young graduate engineer working for a defence electronics company is squeezing his way around a diesel-electric submarine (those things are tiny). The boat's about to go out and trial some new gear that connects the Confidential to the Confidential in a way that makes them collectively more useful. He stomps along the duckboards sat on crates of food that form the floor of the main fore-aft passageway, until he gets to the room with the Confidential racks, where the wily old engineer from Systems division has pulled a board to see if the diagnosis and replacement procedure works in the hands of somebody who didn't write it. [He didn't do this to wind the youngster up, oh no...]

Sighing, our engineer ethernet pings every board in the rack and finds the missing one (as if he couldn't do it by looking for a hole). He identifies the correct spare, draws it from the unpowered spares rack, and procedes with the hot-swap. The hot swap fails, he is unable to insert the new board and seat it properly. An investigation ensues and...

"Yeah, well the rack is really warm and the galley's closed, so I saw the empty slot and thought I'd put my pasty in there to warm it up" says the Petty Officer.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Bill and Oz,
Yeah, confined spaces are a bugger. Even though I went nowhere near anything like that (short of my rack), I was required to do annual training on confined spaces AND tagout procedures. BTW, is Circle William the same as Condition Zebra?

Morte,
Figures. Before they invented MRE heaters, there were more Jeep/HMMWV engines than you can shake a stick at made nasty by cans of soup/MREs/chicken/etc. And, of course, the warnings they had to post on the PAGST helmets for all the old heads - boiling water in a resin/composite helmet is a little different than doing it in an old-fashioned steel pot.

 

[jasper]

ok some my and my brother stories.
Magic ammo.
While on the range qualifying two grunts were coming up with extra ammo at the end of time fire and given alibis. (Ex time for when weapon misfeeds etc). The happen through out the day at various range slots and various times. Reason the Nam vet in my platoon was ticked off and shooting targets in other peoples range.

Body found. When my brother was helping refit the Enterprise in the nineties They found a body from another refit. It still had some welding equipment with it.

Food poisoning and blister agent. Not. Was in the field and shipping mres out for lunch. During a practice gases attack one trooper drop into convulsions and vomiting. Until the vomiting even the Captain thought the private was doing a great acting job. It was discover he had slight allergy to packing powder in the mask (he had not cleaned out like told) and the ham slices in the mre were bad.

Near assault. We were in the field but cooking out a permanent building. The water on base had a high calcium content leaving a white ring on all cooking pots and equipment. We discover the grape Kool-Aid packages could be use as cleanser and if boiled and wipe dry quickly the stain would not take hold. Grunt sees me cooking up a huge boiler (50 gal +) of grape Kool-Aid. He mentions something about smelling like spiced wine. I told it was but only for the officer mess. He begs for a cup. I decide to go alone with it. I go to the back for a cup really going for a couple of cloves to drop in the cup. I given a cup of hot unsweetened Kool-Aid. He was not happy when he complained to floor SSgt and discovered I had lied to him.

Burner unit filled with water and gas mixture. This was caused by unlabeled cans. The jerry cans we used for gas were the same as the water cans. Granted the cans did have gas or water stenciled in black on the spine but grunts don’t read. One gas can had about a quart of gas left in it and grunt took to get filled and tosses both type cans in the back of trailer. I get the can. It smells of gas. I pour into the burner unit, pump the unit up to pressure, and light it. And relight it. And relight it. I take a hot heat shield from another burner unit, test the flow, clean out the outtake, etc. Pump some more air in. Light it. Notice drops of flame dripping from outtake. Normally the outtake is supposed to be like a pilot light on high. Shut off the burner unit. Get stupid. Open the suspected gas can. It smells of gas. Splash some at my feet light it. It burns. (scaring the NCOs in the mess tent). Etc. Next field problem all gas cans are painted red on top.

Undocumented surplus firearm in armory. Or it could have been. During some alerts in Berlin the weapon count in formation did not agree with weapon count check out of the armory. The battalion Colonel was carrying his son’s bb gun. A forty five model.

Unsecured crypto equipment. One driver of a company commander was release from the field problem with Captain returning to the barracks in the company bus. Driver decided to get early start on his drinking and left the jeep parked near his favorite bar. He then left there all night since when he exited the bar he knew he was too drunk to drive.

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
BTW, is Circle William the same as Condition Zebra?

Fritz,

No, but Circle William encompasses Condition Zebra. Think of them as differing levels on the same scale.

X-ray, Yoke, and Zebra deal with watertight doors/hatches. Roughly speaking, very roughly, X-ray doors are shut all the time (even in port), Yoke is shut while at sea, and Zebra is shut during General Quarters. They're shut but you can move through them just as long as you shut them behind you. If need to leave on open, like for material handling, you get permission from DC Central. DCC then also logs the condition of the door/hatch.

Circle William is a 'level' or 'layer' added on top of Zebra. In it you secure all ventilation. As Oz points out this makes compartments airtight too.

Airtight and watertight aren't necessarily the same thing.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Yeah, Bill, I knew of X-ray, Yoke, and Zebra, but hadn't heard "Circle William" called (ever) over the 1MC. They would often shut down the ventilation during GQ. Of course, there are few places that are airtight on the upper levels of an aircraft carrier....

BTW, would starships have yellow and black stripe paint/tape on various pieces that protrude into the cranium-level regions? And, how come starships on film never have knee-knockers?