RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
 NEW TECHNOLOGIES

ex-USS Shadwell
Naval Research Laboratory/Office of Naval Research
Chemistry

chemistry.nrl.navy.mil/6180/6186/damagecontrol.php

Science and Technology Success Stories
Fire Prevention · Firefighting · Damage Control

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the Navy’s corporate laboratory, has maintained a strong leadership in interdisciplinary research and development program for new concepts, materials, and doctrine in fire protection and damage control. Many of these tests and research are conducted onboard the Navy's fire test ship, ex-USS Shadwell. The Navy has special concern for fires in semiconfined spaces (below deck in surface ships) and in totally enclosed spaces (submarines) where fires behave differently from most civilian situations. Such Navy spaces contain highly sophisticated equipment that must continue to operate under adverse conditions, are densely inhabited, cannot be evacuated, and must rely on crew cross-training for firefighting. NRL’s advances have continually revolutionized Navy firefighting to provide effective damage control at minimized manpower. While directed toward the Navy’s problems, the NRL advances have also made significant impact in the civilian world.

Navy Technology Center for Safety & Survivability
Dedicated to studies on active & passive fire protection, flooding, and chemical defense Realistic, time-critical scientific measurement, modeling, and performance analysis Application of basic and theoretical research and development Evaluation of hardware/software concepts and experiments with users Transitioned Technologies 1940s Protein foaming agent developed for countering fuel fires Potassium Superoxide as oxygen source for Navy firefighter rebreathers 1950s Purple K (Potassium Carbonate) powder firefighting agent 1960s Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) - “firefighting foam” - deployed in the Fleet 1970s Twin Agent Unit (TAU) deployed Conversion of all carrier washdown systems to firefighting foam 1980s NRL’s FIRE I test bed dedicated Navy Infra-red Thermal Imager deployed to see through smoke Ex-USS Shadwell commissioned as full scale fire-test bed Materials technology to optimize shipboard passive fire features 1990s NRL data revises 90% of Navy firefighting doctrine Halon alternative, HFC-227ea with NRL patented water spray cooling system Water Mist and Smoke Ejection Systems selected for LPD-17 2000s Damage Control - Automation for Reduced Manning for future ships Sensor technology and data analysis for improved fire detection Network Model for real-time prediction of fire, smoke for ship design Smart Valve for autonomous fluid system isolation Multi-sensory system (machine vision) Recent Recognition 1990 - Harry Bigglestone Award from the National Fire Protection Research Foundation 1995 - 1997 - EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award 2003 - Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) - Lloyd’s Register Safer Ship Award 2004 - Fire Protection Research Foundation - Harry C. Bigglestone Award	Ex-USS Shadwell
	Chesapeake Beach Detachment
	Explosion Suppression Studies
	Development of DC-ARM Technologies (Supervisory Control, Early Warning Fire Detection System, Distributed water mist, Smart Valves)
ONR/NRL/NAVSEA Advanced Shipboard Fire Suppression/Mitigation R&D
ONR/NRL Base Program Technology Fire suppression technology – AFFF, PKP, Halon alternatives; Water Mist & Propelled Extinguishing Agent technology (PEAT) Sensor technology for improved fire detection Materials technology to optimize shipboard passive fire features Modeling/simulation technology for real-time prediction of fire, smoke, CB agent spread NRL/NAVSEA Full-scale R&D aboard ex-USS Shadwell Completed validation testing for LPD-17, LHD-8 and DD(X) AFSS fire protection designs Awarded contracts to ‘productionize’ shipboard detail designs with NGSS and BIW Transitioned technology and doctrine for its use to PMS 500, PMS 400, PMS 317, PMS 378, PMS 450, SEA 05P4 Navy Payoff Damage tolerant fire protection designs Improved “fight through” capability Improved vulnerability analysis Supports optimal manning goals	Machinery Space Fire Test Aboard ex-Shadwell
	PEO(S) Briefs Fleet Sailors Aboard ex-Shadwell
	ex-Peterson WET Validation Test for DD(X) AFSS NAVSEA/NGSS/BIW

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