Development of a Robust Dynamic Damage Control Simulator

Abstract

The art of ‘Damage Control’ has been part of a seafarer’s professional expertise for time immemorial. The utility of effective damage control as well as the disastrous consequences of lack of it, in modern Naval combat, was once again very painfully reminded during the Falklands War in 1982. Consequently, the discipline of ‘Damage Control’ underwent some of the most radical changes as part of the lessons learnt exercise at the end of this war. The resultant overhaul of the damage control system, onboard Naval ships, envisaged wide-ranging improvement in many facets of naval warfare ranging from basic outlook towards damage control to rudiments of ships design itself. However, the most significant part of this process was to train the basic human response, in the face of a catastrophe, from essentially a crisis management exercise to a systematic application of resources. Needless to say extensive and realistic training forms the cornerstone of this evolution of transforming damage control from the chaotic response into a symphony of ‘right actions’ in this endeavour, while the technology bridged the gap between available and desirable, simulators helped in recreating realistic scenarios under a controlled environment to extract maximum benefits of training (Valera and Soares, 2007).