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MAN OVERBOARD!!!


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Having never been aboard a ship at sea I don't know the answer to this question.

 

If there was a Man Overboard alert, will it be standard procedure to check everyone on board?

 

Whether they found whoever took the dive or not, wouldn't they check everyone - passengers and crew - so they would know who, if anyone, was missing?

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In the Navy there would be an accounting of personnel but not at the risk of losing someone. Rescue efforts are activated immediately. The teams assigned to act in a rescue are accounted for immediately as they report to their assignments. As rescue efforts begin uninvolved departments and work centers take muster and report to the bridge. Usually within a few minutes they know who went over the side on most ships. On Carriers it takes a bit longer but if someone is witnessed going over the side the colors of their gear would help indicate what team or department they are in. 
 

I have no idea what happens on cruise ships or how they react. 
 

A most sickening feeling is when someone from a Carrier goes overboard and the ship on lifeguard duty cannot find them. Falling from a Carrier deck is most traumatic to the body. Many do not survive. 

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Pat posted while I was typing, he's got it right.

 

SOP on most every cruise (Uncle Sam's canoe club) I went on, when the ship got to the outer marker buoy (marks the transition between a shipping channel and navigable water), the ship would call away a man overboard drill. All hands were required to muster with whatever workspace they were administratively accountable to.

 

For the drill, one sailor would have been randomly snatched out of the passageway by roving security, to verify the accuracy of the drill.

 

So, yes -- when man overboard is called, everyone gets physically verified by trooping in to their workplace. I suppose there are a few higher-ups who just told their staff, 'It's okay, I'm here,' but by and large, EVERYONE gets to be seen.. Up and forward starboard, down and aft port.

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I WAS ON THE BOAT CREW DURING A DRILL, THEY THREW A DUMMY OVERBOARD.  AFTER LOWERING THE RESCUE BOAT, IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE PROPELLOR HAD BEEN DISCONNECTED FROM THE SHAFT.  IT AMAZED ME THAT SETTING IN AN EIGHTEEN FOOT BOAT THAT AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER COULD DISAPPEAR SO QUICKLY.  THE SHIP LOWERED A SECOND BOAT TO TOW US IN,  THAT TOOK OVER AN HOUR.

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1 minute ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

having never been on a big boat , for any extended time , NOT SURE 

 

 from seveal of the posts , it looks like ya may be feeding the fishes :unsure:

 

  figure I will stay inland , 

 

  CB 

They're called "ships". ;)

Boats are what ships carry  for rescues. :D

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45 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

They're called "ships". ;)

Boats are what ships carry  for rescues. :D

That is what my dad would say....I still had NO interest in the Navy......They all went on the water....

 

Texas Lizard

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1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Boats are what sink ships.

Only to landlubbers and ground pounders...and submariners that need to feel good about themselves.  :P

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A lot of people laughed at the blue digital camouflage uniforms the Navy went to several years ago saying now they'll never see a person if they fall overboard.

 

I got news for you, if the sea state is up at all it's difficult to find a person regardless of what they're wearing.

 

The Navy uses a mannequin with flotation devices to keep him afloat for man overboard drills, call him "Oscar".  Our Oscar was in a gumby suit - bright orange.  In rough seas it was very difficult to find without a helicopter.  Especially if the bridge team is not on their game and can't properly execute a Williamson (or "J") turn.

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8 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

In the Navy there would be an accounting of personnel but not at the risk of losing someone. Rescue efforts are activated immediately. The teams assigned to act in a rescue are accounted for immediately as they report to their assignments. As rescue efforts begin uninvolved departments and work centers take muster and report to the bridge. Usually within a few minutes they know who went over the side on most ships. On Carriers it takes a bit longer but if someone is witnessed going over the side the colors of their gear would help indicate what team or department they are in. 
 

I have no idea what happens on cruise ships or how they react. 
 

A most sickening feeling is when someone from a Carrier goes overboard and the ship on lifeguard duty cannot find them. Falling from a Carrier deck is most traumatic to the body. Many do not survive. 

This! 

 

Though we didn't get too many men overboard on submarines. 

 

We did have it happen once next to a tender when a line broke under tension and took a guy's arm almost off.  He fell in and got pulled out by a bosuns mate from the tender. 

 

Another time a couple of guys were in a jon boat painting the sides of the sub when the jon boat began to sink.  That was pretty funny as the boat developed a very large crack and was taking on water fast.  A butter bar threw them a bucket and told them to bail.  The water was already almost up to the gunwales, so bailing wasn't an option.  For the whole patrol the butter bar would walk by a group of people and you could hear someone muttering "bail, bail!' then laughter.

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I spent a decade teaching offshore sailing on sailboats in the 30 to 60 foot range.  Man overboard drills were some of the first maneuvers taught to the basic sailor.  At every level of instruction above that we added new man overboard recovery techniques, and when we started truly teaching offshore skills, rule number one was to attach yourself to the boat as you came on deck from below.   In anything but very calm seas we taught wearing a harness and snapping onto a fore and aft jackline or other boat fixture, so if you ended up overboard, you were not separated from the boat.  As stated earlier, it's very hard to find a person in rough seas from the deck of a ship (5 stories or more above the water), so finding them from a sailboat is damn near impossible.  That said, if the boat is sailing fast in rough seas, you may drown attached to the boat before you can get hauled back or haul yourself back on deck.  So, the best rule for rough weather came from legendary multi-circumnavigator Tristan Jones who always preached "One hand for yourself and one hand for the ship."  That kept him on board through numerous rough weather passages including sailing in the Roaring 40s of the Southern Ocean.

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23 hours ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

well now , it seems some of the Navy folks be a mite touchy 

 

  and YES , I be grunt , 11B20  INF blue through and through 

 

  CB :FlagAm:

I suppose that for grunts we could add pictures.  :)

 

If memory serves me, a boat is less than 120 feet long.  A ship is over 120 feet.  And there are those other boats that are made to sink (and come back up).

 

BS

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When I was in the Navy, way back when, I was on a carrier, and we just called it "The Boat".

 

Then again, I was an airdale, maybe the black shoes called it a ship.

 

Always heard that a boat goes on a ship.  Well the Kitty Hawk was smaller than the Nimitz, so technically it could go on it, so there.

 

When we had man overboard drills, we had to muster in our workcenter.

 

They would spin that bad boy around while launching the motor whaleboats.  Pretty neat, you'd be surprised how fast a carrier can turn.

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13 hours ago, Howlin Mad Murdock SASS #4037 said:

When I was in the Navy, way back when, I was on a carrier, and we just called it "The Boat".

 

Then again, I was an airdale, maybe the black shoes called it a ship.

 

Always heard that a boat goes on a ship.  Well the Kitty Hawk was smaller than the Nimitz, so technically it could go on it, so there.

 

When we had man overboard drills, we had to muster in our workcenter.

 

They would spin that bad boy around while launching the motor whaleboats.  Pretty neat, you'd be surprised how fast a carrier can turn.

 

To quote I guy I was stationed with. "Carriers can turn fast but not anywhere near fast enough when you are in the drink."

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