I still think it looks like an ithyphallic AEGIS.
Posted on 05/11/2012 10:41:41 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Bristling with cutting-edge technology and carrying an awesome array of weaponry, the Royal Navy’s new destroyer HMS Dauntless is said to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful warships.
But the £1 billion ($1.61 billion) vessel was left helpless and stranded—when a £10 ($16) fuse apparently blew.
Dauntless was left without power and plunged into darkness.
According to one source on board, the ship was ‘drifting for several minutes’ before the fault was corrected.
No official cause for the problem has been given, but Navy insiders suggested that the fuse blew because a complicated water-cooling system had not been adjusted to take account of the fact that the destroyer had entered an area of higher sea and air temperatures. …
Dauntless is the first of the Navy’s six new Type 45 destroyers to operate in tropical waters.
The incident is a huge embarrassment to the Ministry of Defense and Dauntless’ commander, Captain Will Warrender, particularly as his 190-strong crew had spent the previous week training sailors from Senegal, Gambia and Morocco on how to board suspect vessels. …
Dauntless was the second of the six new Type 45 destroyers to be commissioned.
The total cost of the project to the Navy was £6.5 billion—£1.5 billion more than the original estimate.
In 2007, the Commons Defense Select Committee expressed its disappointment that the Ministry of Defense and defense contractor BAE Systems had failed to control rising costs. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The purpose of shakedown cruises.
That particular fuse had better be well protected and they better have a hundred extra backups.
Just stick a penny or a nickel in the slot. Should fix it right up for the rest of the cruise! LOL!
I’m truly dumbfounded that the loss of a single fuse could cripple the entire ship. There’s either more to this story, or someone in their naval design bureau needs a good, hard kick in the seat of the pants.
Just hope the “off” switch is well protected.
I’m reminded, btw, of a Swiss tank design in the 70s/80s that had a similarly embarrassing electronic problem. The Panzer 68 had several instances where systems shared circuits. This included the heater sharing circuits with the main gun’s fire controls. So, when a crew tried to warm up on a frosty alpine morning at the firing range, the main gun had a tendency to fire of its own accord shortly thereafter.
Lucas (The Prince of Darkness) Electric strikes again.
(Or building the thing to damn short in the first place)
All that is needed is to create jobs.
So what if it shakes when they do the laundry.
Still more employees needed for the repair!
They used a penny for arming the british nukes, didn’t they?
I knew pennies were useful for something! BTW, I vastly prefer fuses to circuit breakers, the problem with them is tampering, like using a penny to energize an overloaded circuit. All the military systems I'm familiar with use GFI circuit breakers to allow resets in the case of a temporary fault.
I still think it looks like an ithyphallic AEGIS.
Best reply ever!
“but Navy insiders suggested that the fuse blew because a complicated water-cooling system had not been adjusted to take account of the fact that the destroyer had entered an area of higher sea and air temperatures. … “
So... instead of ruining $30 million dollars worth of cooling system equipment, or $60 million dollars worth of engine, a $16 fuse blows.
Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?
The only missing part is that SOMEONE wasn't doing their job.
The fuse blew and disabled the ship so that it's 'complicated cooling system' wasn't destroyed. The FUSE was doing it's job.
Whoever and whatever was responsible for adjusting the system due to changes in the sea water temp and air temp, was not.
It’s not supposed to shut the whole ship down. Does your car’s engine stop running when your air conditioner fuse blows?
Penny in the slot is "too big to fail."
ROFLMAO!
Britain has been relying on America?. Really?.
Build the Harrier did we?. Or the Vulcan?. Or Blue Streak?. Or the Chieftain or Challenger tank?. Fight the IRA did we? Or fight the Falklands War?. Or fight terrorism in Kenya, Malaya, Cyprus, Palestine, Aden, Arabia, Oman?.
If you think the UK has relied on America for its defence for the last 40, 50, 60 years, then your ignorance of the UK and the British military is pitiful. STFU, go away and try learning.
As for real fuses, thats a bit rich coming from a nation who spent a billion dollars on a stealth plane, and then couldnt fly in in the rain!.
Figured you would show up on this thread....no show without Punch. LOL.
No... but then my car doesn't randomly fire armed missiles if a fuse blows.
I'm scratching my head on that one and I worked on shipboard A/C units. IF the ship used a chill water LOOP system meaning a water cooled pumped through the ship to coils at the fan rooms or air handlers the adjustment should have been automatic.
Warmer sea water temps would mean higher head pressure on the A/C itself. Several other safteys or at least one on the unit itself should have tripped first. The sea water would displace heat absorbed from inside the ship. Or to make it more understandable like the condensing unit fan blowing hot air outside on your central heat and air. Ships use sea water for that.
I'm gonna go out on a limb on this one and see if this makes a bit more sense. Most electronics onboard ships are heat sensitive. You have maximum temps on some equipment that may cause the electronics to trip off. IOW I would bet it wasn't the A/C unit fuse that blew but rather the fuse at the electrical load dispatchers control console due to high operational temps.
USN requires the main A/C units to be checked minimum once every two hours and logged readings. A good AC&R top watch {not the one who takes those reading but the on watch operator should be able to see notable changes at his desk. I could sit in the shop and by reading two thermometers on the chill water loop tell you with reasonably good accuracy if a unit had tripped off and which portion of the ship it was in.
Nonsequitur. That didn’t happen with the ship in question either. The whole ship shut down.
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