Damage Control Training: An Integral Part of Eagle Life
From USGC Eagle Public Affairs
May 4, 2009
ABOARD USCG EAGLE (WIX 327), North Atlantic Ocean – America’s Tall Ship has many missions: a mission to train cadets and officer candidates in the maritime arts, a public affairs mission, and a mission to maintain its crew’s readiness. However, none of these missions is as important as protecting the ship from engineering casualties and potential disasters such as fire and flooding. To this end, sailors aboard regularly perform engineering and damage control drills, in accordance with the Cutter Afloat Training Manual.“We do the exact same damage control and engineering drills that any other Coast Guard cutter in the fleet does,” said Capt. Chris Sinnett, Eagle’s commanding officer. “We have to teach our trainees there is one right way of doing things, and that is the fleet cutter way. It is essential to the successful operation of any ship, anywhere.”
On April 29, Eagle ran a series of Basic Engineering Casualty Control Exercise (BECCE) drills to test the proficiency of several engineering watchstanders, which led into damage control drills for the entire crew. The BECCE scenarios included the overheating on the main engine, class “C” fire on a generator switchboard, unusual noises and vibrations emitted from engineering equipment and a crankcase explosion.
“We are testing watchstander knowledge to find out if they know what to do in the event of an engineering casualty,” explained Chief Machinery Technician Paul Jones, Eagle’s assistant engineering officer. “The most important part of that is ensuring that they have memorized the initial actions and what they are required to do in the event of an actual casualty. That can be difference between a widespread casualty or a minor one.”
The BECCE conclusion – a potentially catastrophic crankcase explosion – led to a stimulated mainspace fire, and a “General Emergency” for the entire crew. “Once the engineering watch section called away the casualty, we will start manning up the repair locker in preparations for the worst case scenario,” Jones said. “While the watch section is still combating the damage, in the repair locker we have two designated fire teams getting dressed out in firefighting ensembles. We also have sailors starting the firefighting pumps on the waist of the ship, and charging the firemain so that we can have multiple hose attack if necessary. Possibly the most important part of this training is boundary-setting, so wherever that fire is, we are going to try to contain it.”
An assessment of that day’s drill resulted in a passing grade of a 91 for the crew.
“We have grading sheets from the Afloat Training Group that we have to go by to grade a pass or fail, but what we are also looking for is enthusiasm of the crew themselves,” Jones noted. “What we like to see is a lot of enthusiasm and overall knowledge, to see that Eagle crew members are thinking one step ahead.”
America’s Tall Ship is a three-masted, square-rigged cutter currently sailing 3,149 miles along the 35th parallel north on an 18-day cruise that began April 20 in New London, Connecticut, bound for Rota, Spain. Originally commissioned Horst Wessel by Germany in 1936, she was recommissioned USCG Eagle a decade later, and her permanent crew of 55 Coast Guard sailors are joined by hundreds of cadets and officer candidates for sail training every year.