PAINT COATING SYSTEMS ON US NAVY DESTROYERS 1

[DONKUMPUNEN]

ANY NACE CERTIFIED INSPECTORS OUT THERE?WE HAVE A LEVEL 3 NACE INSPECTOR WHO IS AN ENGINEER-US NAVY CIVIL SERVICE.
HOWEVER IT SEEMS LIKE MOST TIMES WHEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH
UNDER WATER HULL PAINT SYSTEMS HE SIDES WITH THE CONTRACTOR.
HE ALSO SAID TO INSPECT UNDER NACE YOU HAVE TO BE A LEVEL 3.
IS THIS TRUE?RECENTLY ON A DDG IN THE FLOATING DRY DOCK I NOTICED PAINT FLAKING OFF TO BARE MEATAL IN FRONT OF SOME
SEA CHESTS.I TOOK PICTURES AND WROTE A QDR[QUALITY DEFICIENCY REPORT]TO DOCUMENT A POSSIBLE FUTURE PROBLEM.THE SHIP LEFT FOR GOOD YESTERDAY AND WILL BE HOME PORTED IN SAN
DIEGO.I WONDER WHAT THAT U/W HULL PAINT SYSTEM WILL LOOK LIKE 3 OR 4 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD?ANY NAVY OR CIVILIAN COMMERCIAL ENGINEERS/NACE OR WHATEVER HAVE DEALINGS WITH PAINT COATING SYSTEMS FAILURES?ANY ONE WORK WITH WARRANTY WORK ON THIS TYPE OF ISSUE? DON KUMPUNEN

 

[kenvlach]

Hi DON,
I don’t know the answer to your inspector question. But I think that Navy technical regs below should cover your paint questions.
Go to the US Navy site: National Surface Treatment Center.

http://www.nstcenter.com/

Click on ‘Navy Community,’ then ‘Approved Exterior Coatings,’ then ‘1 Underwater Hull’ to reach
“Underwater Hull Coating Systems.”

This page has or links to all necessary cleaning and application procedures and materials. Note in particular:

Applicable Coatings Specifications and Approved Coatings:
Anti-Corrosive Primer Coatings:
o MIL-PRF-24647 Anti-Corrosive (QPL-24647)
Anti-Fouling Topcoats:
o MIL-PRF-24647 (QPL-24647),
Note: MIL’s and QPL’s available at ASSIST:

http://assist1.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/

Naval Ships' Technical Manual (NSTM) Chapter 631

http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/nstm/

· Volume 1 Preservation of Ships in Service - General
· Volume 2 Preservation of Ships in Service - Surface Preparation and Painting
· Volume 3 Preservation of Ships in Service- Surface Ship/Submarine Applications.
Specific instructions on underwater hull cleaning are given in NSTM Chapter 081 Waterborne Underwater Hull Cleaning of Navy Ships.
and

NAVSEA STANDARD ITEM 009-32 "Cleaning and Painting Requirements"

http://www.nstcenter.com/nstc_009_pdfs/009-32_FY05.pdf

- Contains cleanliness, surface preparation, and coating application requirements, along with complete system application instructions for each product (number of coats, coating thickness per coat, etc.) used for the underwater hull.

A NAVSEA Coating Area (Underwater Hull) contact person is also listed.

Hope this helps,
Ken

 

[pcschmid]

Ken provided the best web sites for your questions.

With respect to the Inspector quals for Critical Coated Systems (of which the underwater hull is considered) refer to NSTM Ch 631, Para 11.6 for Coating Inspector Requirements.

The inspector only needs to be NACE Level I or NAVSEA Basic Paint Inspector (NBPI) certified. NBPI is now being handled by SSPC (

http://www.sspc.org/certification/NAVSEAinspector.html).

In theory, if you are down to bare steel and the area is minimal in size (2% of entire surface area of underwater hull), the Impressed Current Cathodic protection system of the ship will protect the steel. There are many times in ship repair that requires replacement of shell stringers waterborne and we do not coat the exterior because of the ICCP system. Eventually, SURFLANT will get some underwater hull paint on the ship (Hycote ot Aquatapoxy). The Engineer was probably in that typical hard spot of supporting the undocking verses repair of a small area. Remember, 7-10 days to cure the required 5 coats of paint.

Lastly, the east coast ships will get the dive inspections and evaluation of the underwater coating system. Not sure how SURFPAC does their business. If bare steel, it will be picked up and documented by the divers and a decision made to recoat or leave alone.