Hull Inspections – Condition-Based Maintenance
By the 1906 revision of the Regulations, there were many more technical changes to manage. Most ships now had iron or steel hulls, which changed the mechanism of how a hull would fail. Galvanic corrosion and methods to prevent it were well understood. The chapter covering “Preservation, Repairs, and Docking” required zincs, the sacrificial anodes to be placed near the screws to prevent galvanic corrosion.
Regulations still expected frequent inspection, early intervention, and detailed documentation. Some aspects of condition-based maintenance were now part of navy regulations. For example, the captain was required to inspect the bottom of the ship annually and report the results using form S. 205. If the hull thickness was less than a quarter inch, the requirement was shifted to every 6 months. The inspection required “immediate remedial measures” and application of “preserving compound” to everything.
Inspection of the hull bottom by a dockyard was required every four years, but there were two kinds of hull surveys. Survey No. 1 was conducted every 4-5 years. This survey required inspections of various structural elements, including the bottoms of coal bunkers and under boilers. For the first time in the British regulations, assessment and repair of the electrical system was required.
Survey No. 2 was conducted at 8-9 years and was meant to be more thorough than Survey No. 1. Survey No. 2 required dry-docking and hydrostatic testing of double bottom voids. A list of defects was completed with estimates for repair or upgrade, then forwarded to the navy controller…just like Monson’s Tracts described prior to 1643.
Special knowledge about the engines was kept separate from the hull and deck equipment. Both an Engineer officer and a Carpenter were still assigned to the ship. A separate inspection of the inside of the hull was required every quarter by the Engineer Officer and Carpenter, and had a mandatory report form S. 180. A new course in steam engineering was required for the engineer sub-lieutenants.
Managing the Industrial Environment
Industrial safety engineering was now included in the navy regulations: Article 1081 contained requirements for confined space safety: control of ignition sources, a basic check for explosive atmosphere and existence of oxygen, requirements for forced ventilation, and continuous communication with workers inside the confined space.
Formalized project management made its first appearance. Article 1089 had a procedure for prioritizing critical work and instructions on how to distribute copies of the pink-colored master list using a hectograph, a forerunner of the mimeograph and photocopying.
Procurement and cost accounting were also considered. Form number 414 titled “Account of Repairs” was required when the repair was not made in a government yard. Bid waivers were required for repairs costing over 1000 pounds.
Power Trials – A Failure-Finding Task
In marine engineering, “trials” are an event conducted to test a ship or power plant as a system. Trials are demonstrations that prove the ship is capable of meeting specific speed and endurance requirements, turning radius, diving (for submarines), or equipment evolutions. In modern navies, trials are normally conducted after the ship is built or after a major overhaul.
The 1906 regulations required the engine department to conduct power trials, during which a ship would sail at high power for a specific length of time. Every calendar quarter, an 8-hour trial was required. Every year, a 30-hour full power trial was conducted. Form S. 346 was used to report the conditions and results. If a ship had to skip the trial, or return to port for repairs, a written waiver was required. (Article 915) This ensured that the truth was known outside the ship to the larger navy organization.
The power trials had two purposes. The first was to determine the fuel economy of the ship, so that operational endurance and refueling requirements could be determined. The second reason was to “keep machinery in efficient order,” making a power trial a failure finding task in a condition-based maintenance approach.
1910 Steam Manual
Detailed requirements to inspect machinery had been moved from the general King’s Regulation and Admiralty Instructions to the Steam Manual. The 1906 Regulations now delegated authority to the Steam Manual. The Steam Manual had existed since 1843. Older regulations did not mention it, but it now had formal authority under the general regulations. The 1910 Steam Manual shows that a modern formal maintenance management system existed in the Royal Navy.
The manual prescribed the shipboard organization required to accomplish maintenance, detailing training, promotion, and pay. It also contained technical requirements and the periodicities for maintenance and inspections. The manual clarified the Engineer’s relationship with the Carpenter, a position that had existed for more that 300 years.
Examples of requirements that are clearly preventive maintenance:
- Article 106 addressed how to manage lubricating oil, including use of a silver nitrate test to detect water contamination.
- Article 161 listed thirteen causes of boiler corrosion, one of which was “Insufficient observance of the preventive treatment referred to in Arts. 156 to 180.”
- Article 345 required hull inspections by dockyards annually, biannually, or quadrennially, depending on the type of ship.
- Article 347 addressed corrosion in reserve feed tanks.
- Article 357 addressed galvanic corrosion between copper pipes and steel hulls
- Articles 375-378 required special preparation of safety valves and steam pressure gages just before trials were conducted. The manual recognized the trials as a event with some risk, especially if the ship was newly constructed or had been in overhaul for a long time. Extra safety valve requirements managed this risk.
- Article 469 contained requirements for how to prepare machinery for storage
- Page 185 was the record “Details and Tests of Safety Valves.” In the scanned copy on Hathitrust linked in the references, this record was filled in by hand on April 17, 1912.
The Steam Manual only used the word “preventive” once, “maintenance” three times, but never used the term “preventive maintenance.” Instead, it favored “preservation,” using this term 33 times in 246 pages.
Conclusions
Ship hulls have required maintenance since antiquity. Large standing fleets operating by Mediterranean powers like Venice probably developed systems to manage the expense of repairs.
The Royal Navy has managed hull maintenance and repair since the organization came into being. Appeals for more repair money in 1609 were surely not the earliest. Several historians have concluded that unstable budgets were the root of many apparent instances of mismanagement, beginning in the Tudor period. Unstable funding affected the navy in every way, from dissuading volunteers, developing press-gangs, and managing deserters. Unstable funding prevented the organization from being able to feed itself, and caused more than one crisis in the availability of timber for repair. Taxation to build and maintain a standing fleet was one of the reasons for the English Civil War.
Samual Pepys developed a better management system for recording the expenditure of money, mostly to account for spending on food and pay. A series of policy letters from the 1670s-80s were included in the Royal Navy’s formal regulations in 1717. The regulations included requirements to have accurate accounting for repair work and designated an officer as responsible for hull preservation. These regulations included a simple work order and annual reviews of repair backlogs at a national level.
The 1717 regulations included one of the earliest written time-based maintenance requirements given from a national to a local organization, the requirement to pump the bilges twice a week. Since the 1717 Royal Navy had written work orders and both formal and informal periodic preventive maintenance activity, the Royal Navy had a maintenance management system.
Britain’s wars of the 1700s consumed the island’s native supply of ship timber. The rate at which new warships were built depressed the quality of the ships. Ships built with unseasoned or substitute timber had shortened life-cycles. The increasing cost and material requirements for repair resulted in closer management of the government dockyards. Quality defects, rate of decay, and repair rates threatened Britain’s national security. This threat was acute and nearly prevented the possibility of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar.
After Trafalgar, Royal Navy regulations included more requirements for pro-active detection by inspection and early remediation of material defects. Over the decades, regulations increased inspection requirements, required forwarding of inspection reports to a central authority, and increased auditing and oversight of equipment condition. Navy regulations included more time-based inspections and standard report forms. These are all elements of successful maintenance management systems. This philosophy and culture positioned the Royal Navy to incorporate new advanced technologies of steam and screw in the second half of the 19th century, with a degree of reliability needed to support the national strategy of empire.
References
1717: “The Oeconomy Of His Majesty’s Navy-Office: Containing The Several Duties Of The Commissioners And Principal Officers Thereof: Being The First Rules Establish’d For Them By His Royal Highness The Duke Of York, Then Lord High Admiral Of England And Ireland, Under King Charles Ii, And Continu’d In Force To This Day; With Several Letters Relating To The Same From His Said Royal Highness, To The Navy Board, By An Officer Of The Navy.”
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433009302484
Williams, W. J. Steam Manual for the British Navy. Portsea: W. Woodward, 1843.
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433008150850
Historical role of the Carpenter: https://www.philipkallan.com/single-post/ship-s-carpenters
History of the role of warrant officers, including the Carpenter, and the evolution to the modern system: https://www.commsmuseum.co.uk/dykes/warrant/warrant1.htm
Great Britain. Admiralty. The Queen’s Regulations for the Royal Navy London, Harrison & Sons, 1862. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hl4q8n
A transcription that is easier to read, but does not include sidebars: https://www.pdavis.nl/Q20.htm
Great Britain. Admiralty. The King’s Regulations And Admiralty Instructions for the Government of His Majesty’s Naval Service. London: H.M. Stationery Off, 1906.
Great Britain. Admiralty. Steam Manual for His Majesty’s Fleet: Containing Regulations And Instructions Relating to the Machinery of His Majesty’s Ships. Corrected to April, 1910. London: H.M. Stationery Off., 1914.
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