Thursday, January 16, 2020

The U.S. Navy's $3 Billion-a-Year Oxidation Problem


Popular Mechanics: Rust: The U.S. Navy's $3 Billion-a-Year Oxidation Problem

Where there's a lot of metal, there's a lot of rust.

* The U.S. Navy spends $3 billion a year fighting rust, according to Military.com.
* Corrosion takes place both on ships and shore, affecting cruisers, helicopters, and fighter jets.
* A deep fix of corrosion issues on just two ships cost the service $170 million alone.

The U.S. Navy was founded in 1775, and every day since has faced the same implacable enemy: iron oxide, or rust. For more than 200 years, this quiet war has caused untold billions—and there's no end in sight.

According to the Los Angeles Times, rust costs the U.S. Navy $3 billion billion a year, or at least it did in 2014. Spread over 293 ships that’s the equivalent of $10.2 million per ship. But some of the Navy’s ships are huge, with aircraft carriers displacing 100,000 tons while littoral combat ships (LCS) displace 3,900 tons. The tiny, aluminum-hulled LCS suffers from fewer corrosion issues.

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WNU Editor: One thing that I have noticed about the Chinese Navy is how clean and rust-free their ships look. It is almost as if there is a permanent crew on board whose sole job is to paint the ship.

5 comments:

Mike Feldhake said...

Trust me, lots of painting goes on in the Navy. My daughter had served on these ships and its a daily task. Paint somewhere and rust shows up somewhere else. Its a constant battle.

Bert Bert said...

"Deck Crew" maintain these areas full time. This is not representative. That area of deck is normally a grit infused epoxy that is very rust resistant.

Anonymous said...

China has or will have more ships. Soon their rust bill will exceed the US's.

Are we going to have a Ming 2.0 where a treasure fleet bankrupts China?

Hans Persson said...

China probably uses paint that are banned in the west for being to toxic to the environment. These paints are very good on keeping rust and other sea-life (algae, seashells etc) off the boat.

Many years ago Norwegian fishing ships only needed to repaint their boats once a year using one of these, now banned, paints.

Anonymous said...

About what Hans posted.

Before you paint you prep the area to be repainted by grinding with wire brushes to get rid of rust and flaking paint.

I hope the Chinese workers or crew have the appropriate particulate masks to protect them.

Pay me now (masks) or pay me later (lost days, lost human capital, health bills).