Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator
Appartnly the Ark, on her last commission, sailed with all lower water tight hatches secured. To go below you had to get clearance from damage control to ensure that a limited number of hatches were open at one time.
My informant, at one point, opened up a hatch just above the water line to discover the compartment, and it was presummed correctly the 5 below, was filled with the wet stuff.
It seems a sea cock had sheered and they had to get a number of 12 inch pumps to pump it out enough to secure the leaking compartment.
The old Ark was rotting to pieces. Remember she was laid down in 1944 and not launched until about 1950-51.
She would have been great for a wet lease.
True, she sailed in condition Yankee and access to compartments below the waterline were controlled from the SCR on a tally basis, so that only a certain number fore and aft were ever open at once.
As regards flooding, don't want to worry you light blue chaps but we quite often open a compartment to be met with wet stuff - and not always below the waterline! Cross connections of magazine sprays is a fave...