U.S. Navy Ship Mooring Practices - Design, Construction, Inspection, Maintenance

The U.S. Navy has several hundred major ships in active service. A number of others are in reserve status. There are a variety of support and service craft and some older ships that serve as museums. Often, many ships spend a significant portion of time in port, and, consequently, are especially vulnerable to severe storms when they are under repair or permanently moored. These ships are each extremely valuable (some larger ships cost billions of dollars to construct), usually manned and could provide a significant hazard if they broke away from their moorings. Therefore, practical standards are required to ensure that facilities, ship mooring fittings and mooring lines are adequate to safely moor ship during these events. This paper gives a broad perspective of planning issues, design criteria, analytical methods, construction inspection and testing, and periodic maintenance inspection and repair to ensure safe mooring of U.S. Navy ships.