Posted on 04/03/2016 3:56:20 PM PDT by Incorrigible
Affirmative action welder.
Bump # 61
Hard to believe that the repairs could take so long.
So apparently these were copper-nickel steam pipe elbows made by NuFlo in their Jacksonville, Florida plant.
That is correct. Although the parts in question are welded in place to other piping, the part itself is not supposed to be welded in the manufacturing process.
Same goes for many aerospace parts....no welding allowed whatsoever, so if a part has a defect somewhere in the manufacturing process, you have to correct by some other means or scrap it.
Given that these parts are probably quite expensive, I can see the economic incentive to skirt the rules. Problem is, someone has to sign off on them at every step in the manufacturing process. Whoever did this, knew what they were doing and concealed it.
They were designed to be rugged, and easily maintained in austere conditions.
Sure, their aircraft are crude by our standards but their aircraft are rough field capable and can be maintained with simple tools.
Our aircraft on the other hand need permanent fixed bases with climate controlled shelters near a beach (or major population center) with a well manicured golf course, and require special tools that can’t be found at the local True Value down the street.
You are correct...I didn’t mean to imply the Thresher was lost due to a power plant failure or faulty welds...Should have been more clear...
Just saying a power plant failure from such a weld failing could doom a submarine and crew...The way my submariner buddies explain it to me a sub more or less “flies” thru the water and is dependent for thrust to move up and down (adjusting buoyancy is only part of it”...Loss of propulsion in a deep dive could be catastrophic, I’ve been told...
That’s all I was getting at, and trying to make a point people working on our subs have an unusually high degree of personal responsibility to the crews who will sail in them...Lives depend on doing it right...
The NuFlo meter division was bought by a Houston company about ten years back IIRC. Mainly oil patch sales.
The NuFlo site says they make stuff for commercial maritime and for aviation, petroleum, chemical uses.
I wonder who actually found the defective stuff originally. Maybe a blue shirt nuke snipe peon?
“I bet everything in the military is like this now from nukes to rifles.”
Indeed. this kind of stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The whole FedGov is probably this way given that appointment and hiring criteria are solely all about PC gender/color/race/ethnicity/LGBTXYXness, and work priorities revolve around green light bulbs and such rather than the actual missions of each agency.
The manufacturing process of the elbows introduced flaws, and the repairs weren't allowable per the design specifications. Flawed parts are to be junked not repaired. Any remedies of flaws would introduce metallurgical alterations affecting longevity in the components; which, the design specs were chosen such that the components would exceed the service life of the ship.
More than 3 dozen of these components are in inventory or are installed. Time to short this company's stock!
That is a class 1 F@%k up, product substitution and unauthorized repair. They should be shut down and those responsible in prison.
I wholeheartedly agree and appreciate the detail on where the process broke down. I don’t have a welding background but years in quality (including Material Review Board chair) and supplier quality. A supplier that pulls that kind of crap would be barred from procurement. Had one or two suppliers in my time that falsified test data that we discovered. All hell came down, from corporate on down.
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