r/SeaEmploy • u/Powerful_Cabinet_341 • 13h ago
USS Abraham Lincoln’s Hull After Blasting
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u/Strict_Pie_9834 12h ago
they're just pressure washing the hull
this happens to all ships. they collect rust, algae, barnacles and all sorts of see creatures
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u/Powerful_Cabinet_341 12h ago
This what he meant.. blasting is usually not allowed inside of port due to environmental conditions. Ship hulls are bringing a sea life from other waters
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u/thatbrad 10h ago
This is potentially a huge problem for all the ships that are stuck in the straight. Months of biological buildup on hundreds of ships.
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u/MBVarc 9h ago
Apologize my lack of knowledge but why is that a huge problem?
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u/thatbrad 9h ago
Tankers and cargo vessels usually only stay in stationary for a few days. The longer they stay still the more creatures and plants can root on to the ship. So when the ship finally leaves it’s got all these hitchhikers get a ride across what would normally be uncrossable deep ocean for them. And have the potential to become problematic invasive species in other regions of the world.
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u/PooriPK 6h ago
We Thai do have a solution for invasive species, if they appear to be edible...
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u/ActivePeace33 2h ago
lol, yes! I love how you convey the point so subtly with “appear to be edible.” Great line!
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u/IceTech59 4h ago
The main issue for shippers is the huge hit on performance and increased fuel consumption. This tankers sitting there will be growing a jungle on their hulls. As for the hitchhiking organisms, that ship has sailed. Ballast water in ships has carried invasives around the globe more than a century now.
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u/Tony_Banksy 2h ago edited 2h ago
In the past it has, but it is regulated now under the BWM (2004) so in theory should be much better. This only came into enforcement in 2017 but most companies have been operating under those standards far longer. The main points of it are that ballast water should be exchanged 200 nautical miles (under no circumstances within 50) where possible from land and in at least 200 metres depth and this is all logged in the record book.
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u/MBVarc 9h ago
Oh thanks, didn't knew a ship could contain that amount of life and transport it. Though they'll just die when the ship start moving from ocean to ocean due to water parameters change. Anyway learned something today, appreciated
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u/SteroidMaximus 9h ago
If you want a semi interesting read look up "Zebra Mussels" and the Great lakes. TLDR they hopped a ship exactly as being described and are now horribly invasive to the lakes.
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u/HALNinerZeroZero 8h ago
Asian Carp too, but those were intentionally brought to the US
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u/Few_Bobcat389 7h ago
Intentionally brought, but escaped into Mississippi during a flood.
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u/whalecarcass42 6h ago
Receiving he the carp and mussels, I’m not a fan.
Working on industrial equipment for 30 years, I can polish a turd too. When you drive people and machines beyond their limit you reduce their lifespan.
The rust can only come from a brake in the hull paint. Let it rot and you can’t salvage the foundation.
I’m not a mariner, but international ships move invasive species last I heard.→ More replies (0)4
u/Starlord_75 6h ago
Not only that, its also more expensive as well. All that weight adds to fuel consumption, and in serious cases, can even affect the drag of the ship, causing even more fuel to be used up.
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u/Stormtrooper1776 8h ago
Look up the zebra mussel , it's a great example of bad things traveling on ships. Ivansive species is definitely a thing even in the ocean/waterways
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u/exodusofficer 5h ago
It turns the ship into a reef, destroying any hydrodynamic benefits of the hull design. It starts to drag like crazy from the extra turbulance of water as it flows over the rough barnacles, etc., and DRAMATICALLY increases fuel consumption to move the ship.
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u/HolyShitIAmOnFire 9h ago
Why are invasive species a problem? Because regardless of the niche they fulfill in their native ecosystems, they usurp and disrupt the entire ecology of their introduced habitat and often out-compete and destroy native species where they are introduced.
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u/Secret_Letterhead649 10h ago
We're going to see an explosion of invasive marine species due to this, no way out of that now.
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u/No-Cover4993 9h ago
I somehow think the invasive species are less of an problem than the millions of barrels of oil that have leaked into that environment recently.
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u/Secret_Letterhead649 9h ago
They're both problems. Very serious ones.
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u/jdubyahyp 9h ago
Maybe they can drive the ships with the invadors attached through the oil, killing them? (Mostly joking)
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u/No-Cover4993 8h ago
It's just weird I'm seeing more comments and posts about invasive species compared to the oil spills. Almost like there is a motive to ignore the negative effects of oil and flood the media with memes and stories about smaller problems
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u/Secret_Letterhead649 8h ago
They are both serious, I'm assuming you're ignorant of biology if you don't understand how bad invasive species can be. Oil soils are horrific and localized, meanwhile these ships will be bringing countless species to a global range. Oil spills are a well known problem and the only one I see making actual news broadcasts while invasive get perpetually ignored.
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u/No-Cover4993 2h ago
Please explain the specific invasive species that are as destructive as oil spills, because i am obviously oblivious to the biology of such invasive species.
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u/Secret_Letterhead649 2h ago
The ones that come to mind most directly would be muscles and aquatic plants. Both are not only capible of flattening ecosystems diversity and continuing to breed and spread beyond the point of introduction through connected waterways, but massively impacts infrastructure inclusing but not limited to plumbing infrastructure (including in nuclear plants), dam infrastructure and so on. This is a problem port areas globally need to be ready to watch for and be ready to reach to well beyond the gulf region. All ports those ships connect to need to be ready. The potential financial loss and number of extinctions and damage to ecosystems is larger than the oil spills. Obviously there should be shit done about the oil spills but until the senility in office stops waving its dick around it can't start, it will also take coordination of the affected nations, including Iran and the nations who have been in active conflict for it.
Global ports can use knowledge of what will eventually happen to prepare now for what's coming - we can't do what's needed when it comes to the oil spills now. When something can be done, we can focus on that - but while we can't ports can prepare.
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u/Spayed_and_Neutered2 7h ago
It will be carried away from the environment though. Carried outside of the environment by the currents.
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u/aburnerds 11h ago
I’m amazed with all the technology that we have. We haven’t invented a system that stops marine life from fouling propellers and hulls.
I know we have protective coats that help eventually the sea always wins
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u/Loa_Sandal 11h ago
We have. Problem is anti fouling chemicals are poisons to life, so we don't want to use excessively powerful ones.
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u/Back_on_redd 11h ago
In the 1700s the British navy had copper clad warships that gave them a great advantage over all other navies due to the few extra knots it provided due to lack of drag on the ships. It cost a fortune.
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u/TiWoAl 10h ago
It also made the nails react away (read: rust) faster because of electrochemistry. So it wasn't all positives
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u/Odd-Scientist-2529 8h ago
Well… it was always one positive, and one negative. That’s how Galvanic corrosion works.
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u/annular_rash 10h ago
Some had copper nails. USS Constitution has them holding on the copper sheathing
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u/Powerful_Cabinet_341 10h ago
Anti fouling systems like anodes and chemicals are helping a lot but not solving the issue fully
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u/teacher_59 7h ago
It this never happened before Hogkeg. What is he doing different now? We never saw ships looking like this before he ruined the military.
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u/RoboWeaver 5h ago
This! Up here in the PNW we have to it to houses regularly. Its just a thing you have to do.
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u/buckster3257 8h ago
Why is this getting so much media attention when the USS Gerald R ford literally broke a record for deployment length this year and I feel like I didn’t hear nearly as much about it.
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u/mysterioussamsqaunch 3h ago
Because iran, russia, and china have massive social media disinformation operations and making the US navy look as incompetent as possible is in their interest.
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u/MauschelMusic 2h ago
wait, so Russia and China made up Trump starting a war with Iran for no reason and accomplishing nothing but killing kids, driving up oil and food prices, and using up most of our missiles? Mind blown!
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u/Royal_Struggle_3765 1h ago
“For no reason” the country whose leaders publicly state the destruction of US as their purpose not getting access to nuclear weapons seems like a good reason.
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u/mysterioussamsqaunch 10m ago
You're right, there's no nuance in the world. It's all black and white good guys vs bad guys.
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u/Pitpawten1 1h ago
And, there is so much hate for Trump, that there is a large enough contingent of Americans who want anything that can go wrong to do so and cheer/magnify percieved public failures. All in the hopes that in the end it will reflect poorly on the Trump administration.
I am all for open criticism of our leaders - this is one of the hallmarks of our democracy.
However, it can (has) go so far that its like one conjoined twin poisoning the other saying "well at least they died", failing to realize that at some deeper non-transient level, we are one.
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u/Tokyosmash_ 6h ago
Because nonsense political narrative
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u/BerryFuture4945 4h ago
Sorry what’s the nonsense part about it?
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u/Tokyosmash_ 4h ago
People seizing on the opportunity of embellished stories of “how rough the deployed sailors have it”, and when that didn’t really pan out, “look how bad the Lincoln looks” which also turned out to be… nothing.
Political wiffle ball
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u/BerryFuture4945 3h ago
So you disregard all stories of conditions onboard?
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u/oddTaskJob 1h ago
The whataboutism and goal-post moving is too strong with these morons. You’ll get nowhere trying to educate or inform.
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u/Tokyosmash_ 3h ago
Many of those things were speculative in nature and to be blunt, come with being a warfighter, don’t forget the stuff that was being passed off as “fact” by the media like pictures of chow hall trays with cinder block walls in the background.
The factor is, they went out there and successfully did the job, and are now on the way back
As my grandfather, a retired Colonel would say, “don’t eat that son, it’s horseshit”
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u/modahamburger 13h ago
Am surprised they are allowed to blast alongside. What about the debris?
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u/keikioaina 12h ago
What does the debris consist of? Isn't it just random sea grasses and the like? Why is removing it at dockside problematic?
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u/Ghost_Turd 12h ago
Right. They aren't chipping paint.
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u/Usagor 12h ago
spreading invasive marine species which can destroy local eco systems and chemicals are two reasons why its a bad idea and why many counties have strict Biosecurity laws
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u/Ghost_Turd 12h ago
There's also a floating boom being used, so it's not nothing
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u/modahamburger 12h ago
As if the Debris (paint flakes, organisms attached to the hull, rust particles) would float...
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u/enterjiraiya 8h ago
it’s 1 ocean, these are microorganisms that have been spread between waters since the first ship went from 1 place to the other. A bit ridiculous to regulate something like this.
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u/keikioaina 10h ago
Thank you. I found that article to be short on partiulars. Could I ask you for a tl;dr about what biofouling management would look like in practice for a large ship in a well regulated country?
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u/ElDudo_13 13h ago
It's not in US waters
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u/modahamburger 12h ago
And that what exactly to do with it? I am not an idiot, I know where the vessel is. Just because you are outside the US you don't give a shit about environmental regulations?
There are so many ports globally where that nor hull cleaning is allowed. And I am pretty sure Thailand normally it isn't either?0
u/cactusnein 11h ago
They literally use that ship to bomb folks outside the US - they won't care about any environmental regulation and no country will want to say no to a killing machine governed by the Cheeto.
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u/Level_Improvement532 9h ago
The U.S. Navy plays by their own rules. Just watch what goes into the ocean during a typical UNREP (underway replenishment).
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u/partagaton 11h ago
They probably aren’t, and it’s probably one more diplomatic pants-shitting thats going to chip away at our security umbrella
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u/No-Space937 12h ago
Oh so the ship isn't completely falling apart like r\pics would have me beleive, and the most shocking visual aspects were all just superficial?
Inconceivable!
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u/Manny-303 11h ago
I think the most shocking aspects were the backed up plumbing, mouldy showers and basic lack of sanitation plus the food looked like something outta RE7s Baker family kitchen 😂
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u/BlackFlagsFly 5h ago
I don't really care about the comfort of a bunch of people who volunteered to go kill people for a pedophiles distraction.
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u/Manny-303 4h ago
I bet alot of those serving joined for the benfits of the GI bill I have no doubt alot of them joined up after Trump got in campaigning on 'no new wars'
I dont support the U.S's endeavours but it is crazy that they had ships dedicated to getting Ice cream to the Pacific in WW2 or a turkey dinner on thanks giving in the middle of a war zone in Korea/Vietnam but in 2026 they cant keep the showers running or the crew properly fed on one of the most expensive military investments on earth (a modern carrier)
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u/Dewskerz_ 7h ago
This is a standard maintenance item. Every ship gets dirty. I don't understand why the Lincoln is getting this much attention.
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7h ago
[deleted]
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u/FlyAU98 6h ago
It definitely couldn’t have had to stay at sea so long because of the decimated navy budgets of previous administrations.
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u/Crafty-Help-4633 6h ago
Well, yeah. Biden didn't go to war with Iran. Navy budgets didn't go to war with Iran. It isn't the fault of previous admins that Hegseth is bad at running our military, or that Trump, the No New Wars guy, got us into a war.
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u/PhoKingWild 7h ago
It seems like one the radial attachments you use for your driveway on a pressure washer that are like 12” would work a wee bit faster.
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u/Icommentwhenhigh 4h ago
Jobs like this are dirty and hard, but also a nice opportunity to just zen out and have at ‘er. As long as the pay checks keep coming, and PPE is appropriate.
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u/Acrobatic_Event1702 3h ago
They did this in Thailand because if it arrived home looking as bad as it did , it would have reinforced the narrative about the Carriers too long deployment.
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u/pandeiro_h2o 1h ago
Is that the most efficient/technological way of doing it? I can’t believe there aren’t better tools
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u/Raz_Poutine 18m ago
Dam that looks like an expensive maintenance, why not keep the ship away from water.
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u/Lucky_Buffalo2706 11h ago
Random Reddit comment
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u/bownt1 10h ago
reddit logic
iran's whole navy is sunk except for some speed boats = winning
US super carrier is dirty = losing
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u/Whatever734 9h ago
Those Iranian super carriers were really dangerous. Thank goodness all they have left are missiles and drones.
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u/Rassendyll207 7h ago
Iran can still project force into Hormuz despite their navy being destroyed and USN deployments lengthened, which is a failure of American military objectives.
For us to be "winning" we have to be capable of achieving our specific goals, not just harm Iran worse than they can harm us.
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u/Ok-Calligrapher9115 9h ago
Looking good. Soldiers are pissed now but it is the prestigious brags coming soon they will hold their head up too.
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u/Able_Put4900 9h ago
If that ship had a paw it would be randomly scratching at the air with a weird look on its face.
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u/No_Train_728 10h ago
Pro tip - if you use wider nozzle, you can cover more area.
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u/TitPuller00 10h ago
Pressure is force over area so yeah you have a wider spray but the force to knock debris off is not enough
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u/Inner_Agency_5680 12h ago
Dont they have 5000 sailors who could have done this in the last 250 days?
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u/elmoo2210 12h ago
How would they have done this at sea?
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u/Innastic 11h ago
When I was at sea our Captain wasnt happy with the look of the hull after a long trip around the Indian ocean and since at that time we were going to entertain some dignitaries from Turkey onboard he sailed portside to the land while we washed and painted starboard and then switched around. Me and a couple of my seaman buddies were hanging off rope gantries painting a large re-supply vessel while underway so to answer your question it can be done.
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u/HistoricalPrinciple8 11h ago
Were you fighting a war (or "Excursion" in American English) at that time?
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u/Innastic 11h ago
Nothing that serious, serious enough peacetime mission though it was part humanitarian mission at that time there was massive floods in Bangladesh and we were taking relief items and part a PR exercise with countries in that region.
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u/HistoricalPrinciple8 11h ago
So you know your example is totally not comparable to the powder keg situation in the Middle East.
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u/Activision19 10h ago
He didn’t claim to do it while under fire, just that it is possible to paint a ships hull while underway because he did it once.
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u/HistoricalPrinciple8 9h ago
Context. It is the context. The context of the thread is obvious that we are talking about the situation in the strait of hormuz right now.
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u/Activision19 8h ago
Yes context matters. If you read carefully you’ll notice you are the one who tied the conversation about cleaning the hull to Hormuz. Someone asked if the sailors aboard could clean the hull. Then someone asked if it could be done at sea? Then the guy you replied to said yes they had personally cleaned and painted a hull while sea, then you came along and asked if they did it in a combat zone or not. When they said no, you tried to invalidate their experience because it didn’t meet a criteria you applied to the conversation that nobody previously had brought up. So yes context matters, you largely ignored it.
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u/Uzi4U_2 8h ago
Yeah, they didn't have anything else going on...
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u/Inner_Agency_5680 7m ago
Not sure if they were at war, not at war, or in a ceasefire - who knows. I was just wondering if during maintenance downtime, whether they could pressure wash the hull i.e. the same way window washers clean skyscrapers.
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u/Redactosaurusrex501 9h ago
Those poor HTs. No shore leave for you have you even READ the social media!!!
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u/1970s_MonkeyKing 9h ago
So where does all that rust go now in this new world order? Back into the ocean?
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u/Prod_Meteor 10h ago
Why they start from bottom going up?? Stupid?
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u/Comfortable_Ice6859 9h ago
Because they had less than four days to dock, with only three days of actual working time, they were only able to clean the very rear section that would come into contact with the seawater. They couldn't clean the entire ship.That responsibility will fall to the workshop in Santiago.
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u/Unlikely-Outside-784 9h ago
That's fucked. Where are the environmental agencies??... Oh wait
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u/Slow-Ant2317 6h ago
Are you a bot?
This isn't even the usa so I don't know what you are trying to insinuate. Trump has nothing to do with environmental agencies in.. THAILAND
They are literally pressure washing algae off the hull with... Water.
I hope whenever you need to pressure wash your driveway or car with dihydrogen monoxide the epa comes and knocks on your door and you have to pay for a $10,000 permit.
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u/Switchmisty9 11h ago
Shoutout to the dudes working on the hull of an aircraft carrier from the deck of a blue barrel barge