人生行路 — The Journey of Life

The news is out that five Indian (dot, not feather) sailors aboard the INS Jalashwa, formerly the USS Trenton (LPD-14), were killed because of H2S leakage.  Perhaps journalists might start hyping up the fact that we own older Austin-class LPD’s, but none of this would have happened if the sailors had worn a little device called a breathing apparatus.

They come in various forms, such as OBAs and SCBAs, depending upon whether a ship’s equipment has been upgraded.  You put it on, and you can breathe in otherwise unsafe spaces.  Simple, isn’t it?

Worse yet, every ship in the U.S. Navy trains to fight toxic gas leaks and keep personnel safe.  It’s called gas-free engineering.  And I wouldn’t consider it a stretch to bet that every ship in the Navy has a CHT gas leak at least once every year or so.  It’s something we deal with, and when it’s done right, nobody gets hurt.

*Note to outsiders: If you don’t know what CHT is, replace the ‘C’ with an ‘S.’  Then try to pronounce it.