Jul,Aug-Sep, Nov-Dec 1965-Jan 1966 - Navy League of Australia

Scientists are Winning Barnacle Battlem+0++++++*++++++-*++++++*++++'*++-++++-Scientists. Navy men and paintmanufacturers are winning the waragainst the barnacle.The destroyer Vampire returnedto Sydney after 16 months at sea.mostly in South-East Asian waters.The Navy had planned to dry-dockit for periodical maintenance, includingscraping of the hull. Butdivers who examined the ship belowwatcrline reported that the hull wasexceptionally free from fouling.Garden Island dockyard officialsthen postponed the docking for severalmonths.Navy ships can now stay out ofdock longer as a result of co-operativeefforts between Navy personnel,paint manufacturers and scientists.Most of the Vampires hull iscoated with a conventional anticorrosionsystem. But there are twoareas, each of 250 square feet, coatedwith experimental systems aimed3y Dr. W. C COLVIN *—****+**+**+0m**mm*mm*o«0*0m*mm&at obtaining several years' foulingprotection and many years' corrosionprotection. Successful performanceof these special systemswould bring about a major revolutionin docking policies, ultimatelysaving shipowners millions ofpounds in fuel and maintenancecosts.One of the systems has a coat-tarepoxy resin for corrosion protection.The other has a solvent-lessepoxy resin followed by a thicklayer of soluble matrix anti-foulingpaint.Mr. B. Wisely, a senior researchscientist at the CommonwealthScientific and Industrial ResearchOrganisation, division of fisheriesand oceanography at CronuSla. suggestedthe latter system after eightyears of research.He has been working on the interactionsof young fouling organisms,anti-fouling and anti-corrosionsystem? and ships' hulls. He saidthe effectiveness of the experimentalsystems could not be answered untilthey had been properly examined indry dock, but the performance sofar was ver> encouraging. The areaon the Vampire had been coatedunder experimental conditions. Furtherwork would be necessary to developsatisfactory application techniquesunder normal dry-dock conditions.Research into fouling preventiongoes hack to about 412 B.C.. whenthe ancients pasted arsenic, sulphurand oil on their ships' sides. Marineborers were hampering the Phoenicians'boats as they sailed aroundAfrica or over to Britain for a toadof tin. They ravaged the classicalgalleys of Greece and Rome. SirFrances Drake's Golden Hind, andeven threatened Holland by attackingthe retaining timbers of thedykes.THE V.I.P/s AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE N.S.W.DIVISION OF THE LEAGUEp—#^—