Quantitative Assessment of Manned Damage Control Performance

Abstract : New ship manning concepts have resulted in new demands and changing roles for personnel assigned to damage control. The changing force structure requires that designers and operators understand the capabilities of damage control teams. This includes the design, equipment, and doctrinal requirements needed for an acceptable level of ship recoverability. Limited formal structures and validated methods for assessing such capabilities exist. Methods to assess readiness and training requirements suffer from a lack of quantitative or validated approaches. This paper describes the use of manned damage control modeling techniques and readiness assessments to provide a more rational basis to assess damage control manning.