The Smack Track by Ian McPhedran

Author:Ian McPhedran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-07-21T04:00:00+00:00

13

Dunnies, drains and dinners

Darwin’s sophisticated weapons make it a lethal fighting ship, but there is far more to keeping it in top condition than meets the eye.

Almost every day brings fresh demands on Chief Petty Officer Andrew ‘Goonga’ Sims, a ‘chippy’ (naval shipwright) who, with his team of technicians, is responsible for keeping the warship seaworthy and fully functional. Nothing can be taken for granted.

‘I’m the manager of all auxiliary machinery on board,’ Sims explains. ‘That involves the sewerage system, freshwater-making systems, all our air systems on board, whether it be high-pressure or low-pressure air, our main system for fighting fires and also providing cooling to machinery.’

He is also responsible for the air-conditioning units, refrigeration units and all the damage-control equipment on board, and for rectifying defects around the ship.

‘In other words dunnies, doors and drains,’ he says with relish. Then there is the ‘material’ state of the frigate. ‘That’s the integrity of compartments – so the whole structure, bulkheads, deck heads, any rust or corrosion throughout the ship.’

Apart from fuel for the ship’s gas turbine engines, fresh water is the most important liquid on board. It is provided by two main reverse osmosis desalination units, each producing about 6800 gallons (25,700 litres) a day.

‘We’re constantly testing the water,’ he says. ‘Every day we have to make sure the salinity is below its acceptance level. We’ve got four large fresh-water storage tanks. They hold roughly 2000 gallons (7500 litres) each.’

The desalination units have electric motors driving high-pressure pumps that push the salt water through the filter membranes to extract all the salt and brine. They then treat it with bromine to kill the bacteria and make it drinkable.

‘Some people do say it’s better than Sydney water when we drink it, because you don’t get that chlorine taste,’ he says.

In the old days evaporators were used instead of the ‘desal’ units. ‘We were always on water restrictions, shutting down the laundry and scullery, just to try and catch up with the water, and then we’d relax restrictions again.’

Nowadays, water is rarely restricted on the ship, other than in foreign ports – such as Dar es Salaam – where the quality of the local water is either unknown or risky.

Toilets are another necessity. They work on a vacuum system and are flushed using fresh water to avoid any build-up of potentially lethal hydrogen sulphide gas. Many sailors have fallen victim to gas poisoning over the years, so the sewage collection, holding and treatment compartment in the bowels of the ship is fitted with hydrogen sulphide monitors.

Outside the twelve nautical mile (twenty-two-kilometre) territorial limit, the ship can purge the treated contents of the tank into the ocean, but in port the sewage must be stored and pumped into either the local sewerage system or a truck. Two hundred and twenty-eight people generate a large amount of waste so the tank needs to be purged every two or three days. In case the vacuum pumps fail there are three standard gravity-fed flush toilets on board for emergency use.

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