Re: Why Big ships?

> I just took a course about fires last week, so I can clear up some
> misconceptions here (although if there are any firefighters on the
> list,
> I'm sure they can do a better job than me). Sometimes fires do erupt
> in
> areas that are almost completely sealed (this is when backdraft
> situations can occur: as soon as new oxygen is added to the mix you
> get
> a huge explosion). Now when this happens the fire doesn't just put
> itself out. First, by the time this has happened the fire has already
> burned enough to reduce everything in the room to ashes (and this is
> with a lot less oxygen than we would be talking about with an air
> envelope). Second, the fire doesn't actually use up all of the
> oxygen.
> Enough of the oxygen is replaced by other gases to keep open flame
> from
> burning, but everything in the area will continue to smolder and
> ultimately be destroyed. With the size of a ship's air envelope a
> fire
> that was left unchecked would completely destroy the ship given time.
> Even if the fire was belowdecks, and the belowdecks area was
> completely
> sealed off from the rest of the air envelope, the fire would
> completely
> gut the ship, and make its structure untenable (this is much more
> comparable to the situations in RL which cause backdrafts).

I still wonder about this.  Yes, furniture and papers are completely
destroyed.  But we're talking some massive timbers here.  Maybe it will
smolder over time.  But the immediate, quick ship destroyer is still
going to be ramming.  Your smoldering fire killed the crew, long before
it destroyed the ship.  Also fires in RL have good air.  We still have
to deal with air quality even before the fire starts.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com