SSBN USS Virginia Loses Skin

[Mjolnir]

url: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1317303/US-Navy-scrambles-fix-2bn-stealth-submarine-USS-Virginia.html

SSBN USS Virginia Loses Acoustic-Absorbant Skin

Sub loses acoustic skin makes it home for retrofit. Nice photos, too.

[subzero]

Must have been a slow news day. This made the local paper a week or so ago, but then again our local paper loves taking potshots at the shipyard about anything related to the submarine programs.

The flashy headline looks really great, but the non-story is confirmed by the line where the Navy rep says this is no big deal and it doesn't impact the performance of the ship. Earlier submarines had a different form of this treatment, applied in tiles. It was not uncommon to see a 688 come into drydock missing a shitload of tiles. The problem? Like any surface treatment that didn't take: bad surface prep of the base metal. The yard (yards) has (have) made significant improvements in application since the first couple of boats.

ETA: Virginia is an SSN, not an SSBN.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Be funny if the coating comes off because it was reformulated to more environmentally friendly.

[BrianS]

Be funny if the coating comes off because it was reformulated to more environmentally friendly.

Working with coatings/adhesives/membrane and other products that have been screwed up by new "Low VOC" formulas for this reason I would almost be willing to bet money on it. You could even have a twofer situation here where the skin is a membrane that is less elastic and the adhesive used to attach it isn't as sticky as it could be because modern products no longer have the stuff traditionally used to make things elastic or sticky (Volatile Organic Content).

:D