Evaluation of Modern Navies' Damage Control and Firefighting Training using Simulator Platforms

摘要

Modern navies have faced new roles and challenges during the last decade. From purely defensive responsibilities, modern navies have now taken on such multiple challenges in the worldwide theater, as peace keeping missions, humanitarian assistance, anti-piracy support, disaster assistance and others, both military and sociological in scope. Furthermore, the increasing complexity of these missions mandates a strong, constant operational readiness and a high level of performance in the full spectrum of a ship's activities. In order for these missions to be accomplished successfully, survivability is the foremost concern, and the cornerstone of survivability is damage control. Permanent, continuous and high-level damage control and firefighting training for all crewmembers of a navy ship is paramount. Hopefully, this training can be achieved safely, efficiently and economically by using simulation and training simulator platforms, which have dominated the training field in the last few decades. After participating in 'damage control' and 'firefighting' courses, investigating the main training system components, and administering surveys to instructors and students regarding subjective ratings and opinions about the training system, we found that the U.S. Navy Damage Control & Firefighting Training at San Diego location is very effective, valuable, and beneficial to ships crews and the U.S. Navy.