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Making watertight right

On board ships, watertight doors are a reality. No one goes through a day underway without passing through a number of these — and generally the same ones –- over and over.

Proper etiquette says that when you go through one you are supposed to close it behind you and “dog” it down, meaning you have closed and latched it. During normal underway steaming, there are times when many of these doors are kept open, although some must be kept closed all the time. The general rule … if it was closed when you got there, then leave it closed when you go through there.

When Kitty Hawk goes away, there’s a special type of “quick-acting” watertight doors that will leave the Navy along with it.

“This is the last ship in the Navy with this kind of door,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jim Humphreys, a surface warfare officer and the ship’s damage control assistant,” I haven’t see them anywhere else.”

Today, most watertight doors in the Navy have a long lever that when pulled down, seals the door to the bulkhead (Navy for wall) it’s attached to. These, popular in the 1950s and early 1960s, had a stainless steel wheel about a foot wide with a single, long spoke that allowed sailors to turn the wheel to seal the door.

“The problem is when you are in a hurry, it’s not intuitive because some of them seal to the right and some to the left,” he said. “You have to stop and think and in damage control, that can cost you critical time.”

Simply put, watertight doors are put on ships to help keep the ship afloat in an emergency. The idea is if a space gets flooded, you can isolate that compartment and prevent that flooding from spreading.

But for Kitty’s old doors, technology has left them behind. Without regular grease and other maintenance, they quickly stop working properly. Now there are even newer doors that officials claim don’t require much maintenance at all.

These are being installed on the San Antonio class of amphibious ships. Only time will tell if those claims come true or if those doors will become a thing of the past, like the Kitty Hawk’s wheeled versions.