ABSTRACT: Research on damage stability and unsinkability is a valuable source of knowledge of behaving a ship while flooding its compartments. In the paper, a short description of accidents and damages of Polish warships taking place in 1985-2004 is presented. The time when compartments are flooded (tf) and stability parameters are one of the key elements which have influence on a rescue action. The knowledge of the time mentioned and a metacentric height (GM) are very important for a commanding officer making decisions while fighting for unsinkability and survival of the ship. To provide the information about the time tf a new method was designed. The method was tested experimentally and results of the tests are presented in the paper. In the experiments, the flooding process of compartments in a ship of the type 888 was simulated. The results of the experiments can be a base to define general rules to make proper decisions during the process of damage control.

KEYWORDS: Flooding, Ship Stability, Metacentric Height (GM), Flooding Damaged Compartment, Stability Parameters, Unsinkability, Process of Damage Control, Damaged Compartments

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