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Installations

1. Hull Installation Work:

The term “installation or fitting out work” means the combination of very wide range of different operations included in equipping and fitting out ships, performed after the principle hull structures have been assembled and welded. This work includes: the installation of light partitions, bulkheads and various types of bracing, the painting and insulation of the ship, the installation of the machinery, systems and devices, the equipment of the accommodation and quarters, etc.

The first stage in the work of installation on a ship is installing fittings in the sections. This enables the work to be carried out by parallel method, with the installation work commenced at an early stage in building the ship.

With modern methods of shipbuilding the installation of fittings (rudder, anchor and hoisting equipment, boat handling gear, towing and mooring equipment, handrails, etc.) begins while sections are being fitted up and welded, and the most of the work is performed on the building berth.

Installing of the systems on a ship includes piping, machinery and instruments for moving liquids, steam or air, and controlling their temperature, pressure and so on. For that there are many different technologies (depending on the purpose and location of the systems), so the general sequence of the operations may be established as following:

1. cutting of holes and installation of unions and sleeves;

2. the construction of distance pieces, dismantling, washing, assembly and testing;

3. installing the machinery, instruments and connecting sections of piping from the main line;

4. testing the system as a whole.

The rigging and sailmaking work is done by the rigging shop as follows: making and installing the standing and running rigging, stepping the masts, assembling the anchor fittings and installing the rigging of the boat handing gear. The shop also prepares and assembles the launching devices, and carries out all loading and unloading work.

The sailmaking work consists of producing awnings, tarpaulins and sails (for sailing vessels and life-boats), covers for deck machinery, gear and instruments, flags, life-jacket cases, stair carpets, curtains, etc., and installing all these on board ship. The sailmaking work can also include the preparation of materials for insulating piping.

When all metal parts have been assembled, welded and fitted they are specially treated to protect them against corrosion.

2. Electrical Installation:

Every year the amount of electrical equipment on all types of ship, and the amount of electrical installation work performed during their construction, are increasing. Automatic control and mechanization are developing rapidly, and there are excellent prospects for using electric drives on a large scale and for the complete electrification of machinery and fittings on ships.

Tens of kilometers, and in large ships hundreds of kilometers, of cable are used for connecting up the great number of different types of plant, apparatus, receiving and transmitting devices and instruments at different points on board ship. Immense numbers of adapters, bridges, panels, brackets, packing boxes, cable boxes and pipes, installation frameworks, and different types of fastening device have to be made and installed for the purpose of laying the cables. A great numbers of foundations, frames, brackets, supports, outlets, etc., also have to be made and installed to take the different types of plant, apparatus, receiving and transmitting devices and instruments. Tens of thousands of cable ends have to be separated, marked, fixed, channeled, insulated and earthed in order to create the closed electrical circuits. The total amount of work involved in installing the electrical equipment now amounts to about 10% of all the work in building a ship.

The work of installing all the electrical equipment on ships is carried out by the main shops at the shipyard, and by shops at special undertakings called electrical installation undertakings.

The work of equipping a ship electrically is subdivided into the following periods or stages:

(1) Preparatory work in the shops;

(2) preparatory work on board ship;

(3) external assembly of electrical equipment;

(4) internal assembly of electrical equipment;

(5) protection of wireless receiving stations from interference, and their earthing;

(6) preparation of electrical circuits for handover;

(7) handover tests.