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 TM 55-1905-223-SDC
Section VI. EFFECTS OF DAMAGE
5-23. NATURE OF DAMAGE. The purpose of this section is to discuss the causes of damage and the
impact of damage on the ship.
a. The nature of damage which the ship sustains as a result of battle damage depends on the type of
weapon, its size, and the location of the hit.
b. All damage is not inflicted by the enemy. Collisions, groundings, and storms have in many cases
caused damage so severe as to threaten the survival of ships. Self-inflicted damage may stem from lack of
preparation or neglect, as discussed previously. Some other causes of impaired stability are icing topside,
excessive deck load, removal of ballast, overloading, and free surface in ship tanks or bilges.
5-24. ABOVE WATER WEAPONS. The damage which is sustained from above-water attack is initiated in
four general ways: penetration of boundaries, blast effect, fragment attack, and toxic gases.
a. Penetration. For penetration, most missiles are fitted with a strong steel case.
b. Blast. Blast effect is obtained by filling the interior of explosive missiles with a bursting charge. The
amount of blast produced varies with the weight of the bursting charge, not with the total weight. In a lightly
constructed ship, an armor-piercing missile may pass through three or more boundaries before detonating.
Occasionally such weapons pass completely through a small ship and detonate in the air beyond it.
c. Fragment attack. The extent of fragment or splinter damage depends both on the thickness (and type)
of case and the size of the bursting charge. Hence, greater fragment attack may be expected from a "stinger"
type missile than from an armor-piercing projectile. The fragments projected from a missile that undergoes a
higher order detonation often have velocities as high as 3,000 or 4,000 feet per second. They may penetrate
two or three successive boundaries in a ship of light construction. Secondary fragment effects are produced
where passage of the missile or the blast of its explosion tears loose portions of ship structure and hurls them
about the ship, often in unexpected directions. In the LCU, above water attack may carry to the engineering
plant, cutting the fuel, or lube oil piping and damaging or misaligning the machinery. Engineering repair teams
must be prepared to isolate such damage quickly and use the damage control pipe and tank patching kits
expeditiously to restore fuel and lube oil to the engines and generators. Likewise, the hull systems (e.g., fire
main and drainage) are likely to suffer. Local structural damage may include holes in decks and bulkheads,
plus the warping of door and hatch frames so that closed fittings leak and open fittings cannot be closed.
Repair teams must be trained in the patching and shoring of decks, bulkheads, door and hatch frames to
maintain watertight integrity. Fittings are also sometimes rendered inoperable by fragments.
d. Toxic gases. The detonation of any high-explosive substance liberates smoke and noxious fumes. If
confined within the ship, these vapors have a toxic effect on personnel and may cause severe illness or
death. The ordinary protective mask gives little protection against such gases within the
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