[cva66snipe]

Shipyards under the best of conditions are a dangerous place to work. Explosions in one form or another aren't that uncommon unfortunately and it's been that way since modern shipyards came to be. My last year on ship we were in a one year overhaul. I was T.A.D. to the ships Fire Department for six months and then went back to my shop for my final six months of enlistment to train a new crew of Snipes.

During my last six months I was also on Rescue and Assistance Detail which was back up for our own Fire Department and could be sent to assist other ships in the yards.

One night we were called to gear up to assist another ship a few piers away. Seems a yardbird went to weld in a space with explosive gases. Killed him and his fire watch best I remember.

[daniel1212]

My now-deceased dad was an expert welder at Beth steel for 35 years, then Porstmouth, and being short (5’1’’) he was a favorite to work in subs. Of course you always had to have a fire watch, but on gov. ships, which took about 3 times as long to repair due to the regs,

And sometimes a piece of something could smolder or do a small burn and which small cases my dad was good at quickly blowing or smothering it out rather than using the fire extinguisher, for if a fire extinguisher was used even for a second then a lengthy investigation took place.