Where is the subject stored?

How is drinking water stored, purified and safeguarded on USS Battleships, etc

• How is drinking water stored, purified and safeguarded on all USS Battleships, Destroyers and Aircraft carriers. How is the water transferred? Is it from shore to shore or ship to ship while the ship is under steam? Also, what do they do with the garbage on board? And where does the waste water go. While we are on the subject, same questions only this time, for USS submarines, that can stay under for many months. Thanks

• Answer:

  I'm going to jump in and answer this from personal knowledge, as well as point you to some more concrete resources. FYI, I am a US Navy veteran who served most of four years in the late 1980's on an Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigate (FFG). As a point of order, technically there are currently no commissioned Battleships (BB classification) in the United States Navy. The broader term "Naval vessel" is usually used in referring to the array of ships in the fleet. I'll give you my personal knowledge on these topics, then list a couple of resources which you can consult for more details. Water: The terminology you want to use when you do any searching on this subject is "potable water" as well as "distillation" and "desalinization." When in port, fresh water hoses are run from the shore to the ship, filling tanks designated to hold "potable water." At sea, distillation/desalinization is indeed used to replenish the fresh water tanks. A nightly report is made to the Officer of the Deck (OOD) when underway as to the percent of potable water in these tanks. If water use is too high, things like showering are restricted until the freshwater tanks reach a certain level. Note that saltwater is used where freshwater isn't strictly required, such as for sewage purposes (the toilets, or "heads" on board are normally flushed with saltwater when at sea). When in port, the freshwater being piped in is often used to purge the saltwater pipes as they do get rancid (saltwater with sewage is great for breeding nasty stuff). The enlisted personnel who maintain the water systems are called BOILER TECHNICIANS. It's a nasty, hard job. Think of them as the Navy's super plumbers (and I mean that as a BIG compliment). When in port, Naval vessels are normally required to retain their sewage. It wouldn't do to be pumping one's nastiness into San Diego Harbor, would it? THAT'S the regulation, BUT, accidental (and sometimes not so accidental) discharges do occur. However, I feel confident in saying that US Navy vessels are probably among the most rigorous ships on the planet at adhering to environmental regulations. There are regulations as to how far at sea (how far from a coastline) a Naval vessel must be before discharging waste water - i.e., the untreated wastewater is spewed into the ocean, but only when out far enough. Garbage: There are regulations for this as well. In practice, we regularly threw our trash overboard when at sea. Regulations, as with waste water discharge, are affected by WHERE a vessel is. On short cruises off the coast of California we usually kept our trash, offloading it whenin port. Sometimes tactical considerations made us hold on to our trash also. That is, leaving a trail of garbage behind you is a good way to be found (a twisted version of Hansel and Gretel when you think about it). But. I have vivid memories of following an Aircraft Carrier (USS Ranger) looking at a swath of garbage miles long floating behind it. Carriers carry up to 6,000 people - imaging the garbage produced by a town that size on a daily basis and you get the idea. As with all military questions, there is seldom a simple, single, airtight answer. One normally has to look at a number of regulations (which may even conflict). Hence I direct you to ... Resources to Consult: A good search string to use on something like, say, Google(!) that I recommend is: Naval regulations trash disposal at sea Using that, I found the following which refer to regulations (which, again, may differ from actual practice): Navy Environmental Documents http://web.dandp.com/n45/doc/navydocs/ With a good specific one on garbage and waste disposal at sea: OPNAVINST 5090.1B http://web.dandp.com/n45/doc/navydocs/pdf/50901BCH2/chap21.pdf Also see: Uniform National Discharge Standards (UNDS) Program http://unds.bah.com/ If you see PASSWORD REQUIRED (and I don't know why) but you can apparently get to them anyway (just click around a lot). None of these appear to be sensitive or classified materials. Finally, if you go to any Federal Depository Library (check large area public libraries and most university libraries) they may have Department of Defense training manuals. If you give me your general geographic area (City and state?) I can give you a list of area Depository Libraries. By law they are open to the public. For a specific manual, I would direct you to: Boiler Technician 3&2 (NAVEDTRA 10535-H) SuDoc No.: D 207.208/2: B63/5 983 Use the "SuDoc" number listed when you inquire about availability. This specific manual briefly discusses "POTABLE WATER SYSTEMS" (p. 3-32) and more extensively covers the distillation process (pp. 8-44 to 8-50) including a really nice photograph of a "Two-stage, 12,000 gpd flash-type evaporator." (p. 8-48). Hope this helps, and Fun in the Navy! fugitive-ga