The speed with which corrective action is taken to control an engineering casualty is of paramount importance. This is particularly true for casualties that affect the ships propulsion power plant, steering system, and electrical power generation and distribution. If casualties associated with these functions are allowed to accumulate, they may lead to serious damage to the engineering installation-damage that often cannot be repaired without loss of the ships operating availability. When risk of possible permanent damage exists, the commanding officer has the responsibility of deciding whether to continue operation of the equipment under casualty conditions. Such action can be justified only when the risk of even greater damage, or loss of the ship, may be incurred if the affected unit is immediately secured.

Whenever there is no probability of greater risk, the proper procedure is to secure the malfunctioning unit as quickly as possible even though considerable disturbance to the ships operations may occur. Although speed in controlling a casualty is essential, action should never be undertaken without accurate information; otherwise, the casualty may be mishandled and cause irreparable damage and possible loss of the ship. War experience has shown that the cross-connecting of intact systems with a partly damaged one must be delayed until it is certain that such action will not jeopardize the intact systems. Speed in handling casualties can be achieved only by thorough knowledge of the equipment and associated systems and by thorough and repeated practice in performing the routines required to control specific, predictable casualties.

PHASES OF CASUALTY CONTROL

The handling of any casualty by starboard personnel can usually be divided into three phases: (1) limiting of the effects of the damage, (2) emergency restoration, and (3) complete repair.

The first phase is concerned with immediate control of a casualty to prevent further damage to the affected unit and to prevent the casualty from spreading through secondary effects, com-monly known as cascading. (One fault leads to another.)

The second phase requires the use of Engineer-ing Operational Procedures (EOPs) and involves restoring, as far as practicable, the services that were interrupted as a result of a casualty. For many casualties, the completion of this phase will eliminate all operational handicaps, except for the temporary loss of standby units, which will lessen the ability of the machinery to withstand additional failure. If no damage to, or failure of, machinery has occurred, this phase usually completes the operation.

The third phase of casualty control consists of making any repairs required to completely restore the installation to its original condition.