Advances in ship survivability against underwater explosions

Mines, torpedoes and improvised explosive devices (IED) pose a serious threat to the survivability of naval combatants. Inasmuch, a major goal in the design of modern combatant ships has been to eliminate or at least reduce the devastating damage caused by underwater explosion events. Even though there has been extensive research performed on the various underwater explosion phenomena and their associated effects, effective shock testing and shock proofing strategies for naval ship systems have proven to be illusive. Through the use of modeling and simulation (M&S), live fire test and evaluation (LFT&E) and laboratory testing, general guidelines for the shock hardening of shipboard equipment and systems have been developed. In this paper, current aspect of ship survivability has been addressed and future direction is discussed.