NSPAD Tested, Boon for Navy
This project was originally proposed to NSRP as the Improved Advanced Watertight Door, with a goal of promoting a successful developmental door design to full commercial availability as an option to use on surface ships in place of the existing Navy Standard Watertight Door (NSWD).
The NSWD, designed in the 1950s, is heavy and prone to corrosion, and possesses a complex dogging mechanism consisting of many separate parts that fall out of adjustment and suffer wear, making these doors expensive to maintain over the ship’s life cycle. The majority of NSWDs suffer loss of watertight integrity during the course of a typical deployment.
The door addressed in this project—renamed the Navy Standard Pressure-Actuated Door (NSPAD) by technical authorities in anticipation of its eventual inclusion in the Navy supply system—employs corrosion-resistant stainless steel, advanced laser-based fabrication methodology, a new hydraulically-actuated seal system, and a distortion-reducing plug-in-hole frame. It is over 25% lighter than the NSWD, and significant maintenance cost reductions have been confirmed through at-sea test installations.
The NSPAD has passed hydrostatic, cyclic, vibration and shock tests and is well on its way to commercial production.