CHAPTER 12
DAMAGE CONTROL
Damage control is the responsibility of ALL
HANDS, from the commanding officer to the newest
recruit. Without proper damage control training, your
shipmates may be injured or killed, or perhaps your ship
may sink. During World War II, many ships were saved
because of the positive damage control practices.
For instance, the German battleship Bismarck was
kept afloat and remained in a fighting status for an
extended period in spite of the British pounding it with
heavy gunfire. You can see that survivability through
positive damage control is not only important for the
United States, but on an international level.
Effective damage control (DC) requires the correct
use of equipment and techniques to prevent or minimize
the damage effects caused by battle, fire, collision,
grounding, explosion, and so forth. DC also includes
defensive measures used to reduce the effects of
weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical,
biological, and radiological (CBR) warfare. Remember,
our Navy gives you the best damage control training in
the world. As a ship’s crew member, it’s your
responsibility to properly safeguard yourself and your
ship. You learn how to do this through training.
You may feel the information in this chapter doesn’t
apply to you because of your chosen occupational field.
Remember that as a Sailor, no matter what your rating,
you may serve aboard ship at any point in your career.
Therefore, as a crew member, you must know your
damage control responsibility. For more in-depth
information about the administration and organization
of damage control, you should refer to the following
manuals:
Surface Ship Survivability, Naval Warfare
Publication (NWP) 3-20.31
Naval Ship’s Technical Manual (NSTM), chapter
079, vol. 2, “Practical Damage Control”
Naval Ship’s Technical Manual (NSTM), chapter
555, vol. 1, “Surface Ship Firefighter”
Our Navy has a complete organization in place
relating to damage control. This organization consists
of the following two main parts:
1. The administrative organization, and
2. The battle organization.
ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION
Learning Objectives: When you finish this chapter,
you will be able to—
Identify the chain of command within the
damage control administrative organization.
Recognize the functional purpose of each part of
the organization and the interrelationships
between the parts.
The damage control administrative organizational
chain of command is shown in figure 12-1. As you can
see, the responsibility for damage control begins with
the commanding officer (CO) of a naval ship and runs to
the most junior Sailor in the DC division and damage
control petty officer community.
Look at figure 12-1. As you can see at the level of
the ship’s damage control assistant (DCA), other
personnel report to the DCA. Each person has a
different administrative responsibility and tasking.
Each person reports back up the chain via the DCA.
PURPOSE OF ADMINISTRATIVE
ORGANIZATION
The administrative organization requires the
efforts of all hands to establish and maintain material
readiness conditions. Material readiness is
12-1
…the events of 14-15 April 1988 have proven that solid damage
control, good training, and sound leadership based on experience can
save a ship that is on fire and sinking, to fight another day.
—Paul X. Rinn, CAPT
CO, USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)
