Photo By Troy Miller | From left to right: Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Test and Tagout Division (Code 246)...... read more read more
Movie directors like to make the audience squirm to hype up the anticipation on what “could” happen. An example of this is when the character puts his hand inside the garbage disposal to unclog it and there is someone near the switch about to turn it on without realizing the danger behind it. Sadly, accidents like this have been known to happen in real life. In order to prevent injury, damage to equipment, or worse, death, the tagout program is administered by the Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s (NNSY) Test and Tagout Division (Code 246) to ensure personnel safety while performing work onboard vessels at NNSY.
“The lockout/tagout program has been around for decades,” said Code 246’s Chief Test Engineer Ottis Reese. “Before a mechanic works on a piece of equipment, machinery, valve, circuit breaker and anything else that could cause harm to the mechanic or damage to the equipment if activated, a ‘danger tag’ is hung on the switch, valve, or other component to prevent operation.”
Reese continued, “In commercial agencies, it is the mechanic’s responsibility to perform tagout actions prior to starting work on the equipment. However, for naval shipyards, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has placed that responsibility in the hands of another entity. In NNSY’s case, it’s Code 246 who performs the tagout requirements on ships to ensure the safety of shipyard employees.”
The reason for this is because of the complexity of the shipboard systems. For some of the work that needs to be conducted, it requires hundreds of tags to be hung before the work can start. OSHA recognized this would be an infeasible task to be accomplished by each mechanic. Therefore, Code 246 hangs thousands of tags every availability to ensure the safety of NNSY’s workforce.
Personnel safety through the hanging and clearing of tags is only part of Code 246’s job. Their other major function is to test all of the repairs that NNSY has completed during a ship’s overhaul. Most testing can be performed pier side, but some testing requires the vessel to be underway. This is where sea trials come into play.
“Once the work is completed, it is our responsibility to perform tests to ensure all work was properly completed and the systems/equipment operate as designed,” said Code 246 topside Lead Test Engineer Tim Hodge. “There are some tests we can perform while the ship is moored to the pier and there are others that need to be conducted while the ship is out to sea.”
USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) recently completed its 13-month planned incremental availability with successful sea trials that were conducted in January. During sea trials, Code 246 had two teams performing tests and making any necessary adjustments. The first team, the propulsion team, conducted tests on engines, motors, valves, pipes and other pieces of equipment related to the propulsion side of the ship.
“We check welds on piping to verify it has correct tightness and that it doesn’t leak; electrical pieces of equipment for proper operations such as all electrical parameters are working in specifications, whether it’s volts or amps,” said Assistant Chief Test Engineer Jonathan Halter. “During the Truman sea trials, our biggest test was verifying the main engines operate properly. We performed a lot of bearing tests and we needed to verify that they were not overheating; there was no abnormal noises and the engines could function at all bells to get the ship through the water and back to port.”
Code 246 Lead Test Engineer Michael “Petey” Peterson added, “we initially allotted three days for testing the engines. With the hard work and effort put forth by the propulsion team and Sailors who perform day to day operation on the engines, we managed to successfully complete and certify the engines in a little over one day.”
Code 246’s second team, the topside team, is responsible for testing and certifying equipment, systems and repairs that are located outside the engineering spaces. Some of these systems and equipment are, but not limited to, aircraft catapults; air conditioning plants; oxygen nitrogen (O2N2) plants; aircraft and weapons elevators and fire pumps.
“Code 246 didn’t work alone while conducting all the required tests during sea trials,” said topside Assistant Chief Test Engineer Darryl Mason. “This was a team effort with the air department, engineering department and the reactor department onboard the Truman. It’s a lot of strategizing and scheduling with everyone.”
Riding the Truman and seeing two years worth of work from preplanning the availability to the completion of sea trials, brought on the sense of fulfilment and completion among Code 246 Truman project personnel.
“During sea trials, we are finally getting to see the fruits of our labor between us and all of the test directors and work control technicians who are part of the code,” said Halter. “Not only Code 246, but all NNSY employees, contractors and Truman Sailors are proud of the work we all accomplished together as a team. We all strived during the Truman availability to return a quality product back to the fleet and I feel we did just that. Now the Truman is on her way to join the active fleet once again and to do its part in conducting the Navy’s mission. Once again, the One Mission – One Team concept at NNSY prevails.”
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2024 14:11 |
| Story ID: | 465492 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 669 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Test and Tagout Division Supports USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Availability and Sea Trials, by Troy Miller, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
