The English vice-admiral Sir Francis Drake used fire shipsaging hulks set ablaze and allowed to float freely into the Armadato devastating effect, forcing the Spanish ships to break formation.
More than 400 years later, however, and fire is still one of the gravest threats to shipboard life.
Old threat, new technology
Shipboard procedures such as fire drills, on-board alarms and locking fire doors may have gone a long way to mitigating the danger of fire at sea, but the US Navy is looking at new technology to help it battle the threat.
Its latest solution is to send fire-resistant metal men into the smoky, red-hot holds of its fire-stricken warships, throwing fire retarding grenades and assessing damage with a camera that can see through smoke.
–
“By taking on these time-consuming tasks, SAFFiR could free up sailors for jobs that more fully take advantage of their training and technical skillsets.”
Read more from Make, Create, Innovate:
Will you soon be able to ‘swallow the doctor’?
Meet the world’s first 1,000 mph car
Out of juice? Try a cardboard battery
