Reply #15: Why In Hell Would They Use Freon? [View All]

[The Shadow]

In my first post on this the information that I read indicated that they had a fire onboard. My mistake.But why would they use freon for firefighting apparatus? As you said, a confined space like a sub. It makes no sense, unless this system was designed to be used as a last resort, ie; if a fire were to become out of control, particular spaces could be evacuated, isolated, then the system could be activated in order to save the ship. Other than that it makes no sense. It's bad enough that most ships utilize freon refrigeration systems and occasionally use freon for flushing certain system's piping. Even our own navy has a long history of freon related deaths. Back in the 1980's we had a freon fatality onboard one of the subs we were repairing. My younger brother and I had spent our entire shift in the auxiliary machinery space where this occurred. Less than a half hour into the next shift, a fitting failed and filled the entire compartment with freon in a matter of minutes overcoming several sailors and a civilian. The civilian worker did not survive, but through his heroic efforts the sailors did. Something that does puzzle me however, is whether everyone onboard was issued an emergency breathing apparatus, and if so why weren't they used? Emergency breathing apparatus's have been in use in most modern navies for many years, including the Russian navy.