Posted on 11/17/2011 4:33:31 PM PST by Zakeet
The US Navy's newest and mightiest nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS George H W Bush*, has been plagued by continual failures in its lavatories, according to reports. Sailors have been forced into increasingly desperate measures to relieve themselves.
The Navy Times, following up initial stories of the problems appearing on blogs, quotes members of the 5,000-strong ship's complement as stating that at times there hasn't been a single working head – as lavs are known at sea – anywhere aboard the entire mighty hundred-thousand-ton warship. Reportedly the Bush is fitted with no less than 423 thrones, but it appears that problems with the suction flushing system can easily knock out large numbers of these at once – or even all of them.
According to the NT's unnamed sources, crewpersons aboard the carrier have struggled to cope with the situation. It seems that desperate sailors must often hunt for long periods to find a functioning head, and if they do discover one there may be a lengthy queue. Some of the unfortunate matelots have apparently resorted to urinating in sinks or showers, or in some cases off the towering sides of the ship (parts of it are as high above the waves as a 20-story building). The latter is a risky practice, however, as it is against regulations: at least one sailor has been put under punishment for doing so.
[Snip]
Naval commanders blamed the problems on inappropriate objects such as clothes or feminine hygiene products being flushed down the heads.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
Put a bowsprit on the ship and let them go back to the using a real saiilors “head”.
That one never backs up and depending on the sea state you can sometimes get a free saltwater washdown.
Buckets would work well ... Just don’t dump it over into the wind.
I heard that the entire ship had been supplied with toilet paper that had Barry’s face on every sheet. The sailors enjoyed using it SO much, that the ship’s sewage system was overwhelmed. It’s just a rumor...
.
Yep, sounds like a major design problem. From the wiki page:
"Environmental
Environmental upgrades have also been designed into the ship, including a vacuum collection/marine sanitation device (VC/MSD), a new marine sewage system that uses fresh water in lieu of sea water for lower maintenance costs. Many older ships in the U.S. Navy utilize a gravity-driven collection holding and transfer (CHT) system to handle sewage waste. Newer US Navy ships, including now CVN-77, collect sewage waste by vacuum, allowing for greater flexibility in piping installation, smaller pipe sizes overall and reducing water consumption.
The collection tanks of Bush were modified to accommodate both the VCHT (Vacuum CHT) equipment and the elements of a marine sanitization device to treat the waste prior to discharge. Bush is the first and only aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy to combine the two technologies.
This new VC/MSD driven waste management system has, however, not been without problems. Reports began surfacing immediately after delivery in May of 2009 of issues with the ships toilet system. As of November, 2011, the entire system has gone down at least twice, rendering all 423 commodes in the ship's 130 heads inoperable, with many more incidents that have rendered either half of the ship, or sections of the ship, without operating sanitary facilities. In one ship-wide incident, a repair crew spent 35 non-stop hours attempting to return the system to working order."
*********************
So it sounds like the ladies will have to be relegated to the older vessels where the plumbing isn't quite so easy to plug-up.
Like it’s namesake, this ship sounds like it’s all backed up and full of sh*t.
No similar problems reported with the CVN-76 U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, right?
I rest my case.
Time for those A Gangers to get busy, put on the suit, and head into the sanitary tanks to take the pen out of the hull valve.
Oops... I bad...
That’s on a submarine...not a target!
Sure. Just get smarter women on board who know not to flush tampons - if that’s the truth. It sounds just too weird that the problem would continue over and over after the first discovery. Let’s face it; the women can’t use those heads either and they’re not gonna continue clogging the works. There’s gotta be more to it than feminine hygiene products.
You never knew when the 1MC was going to be a source of amusement. We had a seaman announce, “Dickie Byrd departing” one day instead of Richard E. Byrd.. The captain was not amused. The next announcement almost immediately was “Arriving.”
http://www.dometic.com/47dc839e-0c3a-476d-8b91-b83b27b06884.fodoc
VacuFlush owner’s manual
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
The VacuFlush system fills a ten-gallon (28.4 liter) tank in the same time that an ... Vacuum generator design eliminates clogging problems associated with other ...
“”That’s not what the poop deck is for?””
I don’t believe anyone caught this. Very funny!
Wasn’t the G.H. Bush touted as the “first of the new era CAD designs” ? IOW, how did the designers, and/or their computers fail to anticipate the consequences of introduction of “feminine hygeine products” into the system ? How did the “New Navy” fail in this regard ? (I suspect there was a lot of “old ways engineering” at work in this debacle !
What does this “failure” import to the Navy’s recent decision to put women aboard boats ? Are our enemies going to be able to track our boats by the discharged tampons ? Or the noise from regurgitating sewerage systems ? >PS
Let me guess: Energy-efficient, low-water volume toilets.
Probably not possible. Ever hear how tight government specifications are? Even if a contractor identified the problem and brought it to the attention of the bureaucrat in charge, he would likely be told: "Follow the plans and specs, or don't get paid."
At least that's been my experience with similar issues.
And that's how we end up with $500 hammers and $800 toilet seats.
feminine hygiene products being flushed down the heads.
Don't send women out to sea?
At the hospital I work at there is STAFF ladies room in emergency that regularly gets plugged with ladies sanitary products. There is a sign on the door, a sign on the stall door, and a sign on the back of the stall door that explicitly says not to dispose of these items in the pot, use the trash bin RIGHT BESIDE YOU!
We have tried everything to repair the issue, but the only alternative left is to shut down 2/3 of the emergency department for 3 weeks and tear up the entire concrete floor. That’s NOT going to happen, especially when the problem is caused by ignorant arrogant people of the fairer sex ignoring simple instructions.
Yes, there is an inherent flaw in the system, but if these items were not put down the loo, the loo WOULD NOT PLUG UP!
This particular can is the ONLY one in the entire complex that is plugged up regularly by these items. The one building (there are 9 buildings on campus) this particular pot is in has over 170 other pots. None of them plug up more than once a year or so. This one in emerg plugs up every 3-4 DAYS, and it’s ALWAYS the same thing stopping it up!
These are RN’s and other professional staff who constantly do this.
Let’s just face it, there are some folk who are too stubborn to follow simple instructions/requests. It’s likely no different on an aircraft carrier.
In my day, we hooked up a hose from a 150lb air header and blow that “clog” on down the line.
Really? I don’t recall any other ships in the past 25 years having this problem.
This will be even more fun for the submarine fleet. Political correctness is doom for any nation foolish enough to succumb.
We had a guy at high school like that-—called him the Phantom Pooper!
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