"Environmental safety of weapons and military equipment is their property to ensure the prevention / reduction of harmful effects … on the environment and humans at all stages of the life cycle, excluding their combat use, under the established state of organizational and technical measures to ensure environmental safety."
A modern submarine is not only a warship (a weapon carrier and a combat unit itself) of the navy, but also a complex engineering structure floating both in the surface and in the submerged position, which is a multi-level technical system that includes no less complex subsystems and elements.
Combat and everyday tasks solved by a submarine on water and under water, due to their diversity, require in each individual case the implementation of one or another property, the combination of which ultimately constitutes the quality (or potential efficiency) of the submarine, which makes it necessary for in accordance with the functional purpose. It is obvious that the system of properties of a submarine is formed by the properties of its individual subsystems, namely the hull, power plant, weapons, technical means, etc.
The complex, and in some places a crisis, ecological situation in many areas of the World Ocean, in the coastal and inland seas of the Russian Federation and in almost all ports and bases makes us urgently solve the problem of protecting the natural environment, including in the navy. Along with others, one of the areas of activity in this area is to improve the environmental safety of all warships, including submarines. This, in our opinion, presupposes the formation of such a new and important property of the submarine as environmental safety. The objective need for the formation of the property of "environmental safety" in submarines is, in addition, due to the provisions of the currently implemented concept of reforming the Russian Navy, aimed at improving the quality parameters of military equipment.
Unfortunately, for a long time, during the development of the combat and operational properties of submarines both abroad and in our country, due attention was not paid to improving their environmental safety, which led not only to an increase in the harmful effect of submarines on the natural environment, especially in their places basing, repair and disposal, but also to the deterioration of the environmental situation inside the ship's premises. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that environmental safety as a property of a submarine has nevertheless developed mainly on the basis of considerations of ensuring secrecy, combat stability, efficiency and security of personnel.
Environmental safety, as you know, is a property of a specific product of social labor[3], in this regard, the property "environmental safety" of a submarine is significantly different from the similar property of a surface ship[4]… Each submarine, in turn, due to structural differences and technical condition, also has different environmental safety.
It should be recalled that the subject of ecology is not actually the pollution itself, deformation or degradation of the surrounding natural or anthropogenic environment, but the consequences (results) of this pollution, deformation or degradation for the preservation of the human environment. That is why, in ecology, a submarine can be considered from three points of view. First, as an object artificially created by human hands, an anthropogenic or technogenic element of a higher-level ecosystem - the environment, through which a person carries out his official and other activities, exerting a direct and indirect impact on the state of the natural balance. Secondly, as an independent anthropogenic (technogenic) ecological system, which, in turn, is an artificial habitat and life activity for personnel and is represented by a closed space, consisting of a complex of autonomous compartments and rooms of various functional purposes with varying degrees of habitability. And, finally, as a product of social labor, specially created for armed impact on natural and artificial ecosystems or on their individual elements and components in order to destroy or destroy them. In this connection, it is pertinent to speak about the environmental safety of submarines, like all warships, only when they are used during peacetime.
The fundamental difference between a submarine and a surface ship, which is essential for understanding the essence of the "ecological safety" property, is the environment (space) of its functioning. On the surface, a submarine, like a surface ship, realizes its properties in the environment, represented by the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. At the same time, in a submerged position, a submarine is used in a natural space, represented exclusively by the hydrosphere, in connection with which it is appropriate to assume that, with all equal environmental characteristics, a submarine is still more environmentally hazardous than a surface ship in relation to the natural environment. This is due to the use of a submarine, and, consequently, its effect on a wider range of natural environments (on the upper and deep layers of the seas and oceans), in which it practically realizes its functions. Structurally, this fundamental difference between a submarine and a surface ship is reflected in such an important subsystem as the hull. The hull of a submarine, in contrast to the hull of a surface ship, as a rule, consists of two obligatory rigidly connected elements: a light hull and a strong hull, while the strong hull is located inside the light one. A light hull, being a shell of a solid hull, from the point of view of ecology, is an open, uninhabited artificial ecosystem, which has a constant and rather intensive exchange with the surrounding natural environment (the atmosphere and the hydrosphere on the surface and with the hydrosphere - in the underwater) substance, mass and energy. The robust housing is an insulated, habitable (with a high degree of isolation), artificial ecological system of a closed type with a given level of autonomy from the surrounding natural environment, which practically reduces to a minimum the exchange of matter, mass and energy with the external environment.
Environmental safety (or environmental cleanliness) should be understood as a complex complex property of a submarine, its subsystems, combat and technical means, manifested in the ability not to violate the quality of the natural (natural) and anthropogenic (artificial) environment, as well as to eliminate or reduce to a minimum negative consequences its impact on the state of natural balance in all environments of its functioning during the entire life cycle.
In the system of other properties of a submarine (see Fig. 1), environmental safety should be attributed to the group of so-called border, or related, properties that are mandatory for it as a carrier of weapons (combat unit) and a complex floating engineering structure. According to the authors, this group of properties also includes survivability, reliability, habitability, controllability, etc. all those properties that "in their pure form" do not relate to either combat or operational and are realized (manifested) in all operating environments in the process of combat and everyday use of the submarine.
Environmental safety of a submarine is a special property. The special place of environmental safety in the system of other properties of the submarine is due to a number of objective reasons. Firstly, because this property manifests itself at almost all stages of the life cycle: construction, operation (use, repair, conservation) and disposal. Secondly, because it is realized in the surface and submerged positions when performing the absolute majority of tasks (parking at the base or at the point, surfacing and diving, crossing by sea, performing specific tasks inherent in it), as well as when restoring combat effectiveness, fighting for survivability, rendering assistance to other submarines, ships and vessels in distress, etc. Thirdly, because this property of a submarine, like no other, is very closely related to its other properties (for example, stealth, combat stability, habitability, efficiency, security), improving or worsening them, and, consequently, the property "environmental safety" changes the quality (complex of properties) of the submarine as a whole. Indeed, gas and thermal pollution, noise, vibration, radiation of various nature worsen the living environment of the submarine's internal compartments and premises and cause changes in the working and rest conditions of the personnel, which has a significant impact on the crew's ability to perform their duties efficiently. The same gas and thermal pollution, noise, vibration and radiation reduce the stealth and combat stability of the submarine. And, finally, a significant difference between "environmental safety" from other properties of a submarine is its twofold nature. On the one hand, this is external environmental safety, determined by the quality of the external ecological system "submarine - environment" and manifested in the ability not to disturb the state of the natural balance at all stages of the life cycle. On the other hand, it is internal ecological safety, which is characterized by the state of the artificial habitat, the so-called internal ecosystem "man - submarine". Internal environmental safety of a submarine, in turn, being artificially created and close to natural, is expressed in the ability not to violate the quality of the artificial environment of the personnel and is manifested through the health of the people who make up the boat's crew. It should be noted here that the internal environmental safety of a submarine should not be equated with its habitability, since environmental safety is a much broader concept. Habitability, as you know, reflects the ship's ability to create and maintain a range of favorable comfortable conditions for the life of the crew members, while internal environmental safety shows the limits of human survival, and the "difference" between habitability and internal environmental safety determines the margin of tolerance (tolerance) of the human body in extreme conditions of functioning, which, in fact, is the subject of study of the science of ecology. The conditional division of the environmental safety of a submarine into external and internal is mandatory, since in the process of conducting hostilities, violating the state of the environment with weapons (the balance of the external ecosystem), it is required to ensure (or maintain) the environmental safety of the internal compartments and premises of the submarine (the quality of the internal ecosystems). The twofold essence of the "ecological safety" property of a submarine (the quality of the internal ecosystem) must be taken into account in its formation, maintenance and provision.
Thus, ignoring or underestimating environmental safety as an obligatory and necessary property of a submarine can ultimately lead not only to a decrease in its combat effectiveness, but to an increase in the likelihood of detection and destruction of the submarine itself by enemy combat assets.
The currently valid guidelines define that environmental safety as a complex complex property of a submarine can include up to 18 elements (types) (Fig. 2), which, in turn, are separate independent and no less complex properties of the submarine itself. or its subsystems[5]… Moreover, each of these elements (individual properties) is characterized by its own qualitative characteristics and quantitative indicators that determine the state of the natural and artificial (anthropogenic) habitat.
In turn, the significance of these individual properties, and, consequently, their ranking according to the degree of environmental safety (hazard) in certain conditions depends primarily on the type and amount of environmental pollutants, on the degree of their negative impact on humans, animals and plants. the world, from the type, quantity, concentration and power of pollution sources, as well as the time of their action, from the technical condition of the submarine, its individual subsystems and technical means. So, on a nuclear submarine, the most important are such types of environmental safety as radiation and nuclear. At the same time, on a diesel submarine, the specified elements (types) that make up the environmental safety of a nuclear submarine may be absent altogether, and the protection of the environment from pollution by ship waters, including oily waters, is important. In real conditions of operation of a submarine, one has to deal with complex environmental pollution, pollutants of various origins. This means that almost all types (components) of environmental safety are present on a diesel submarine (Fig. 3) and on a nuclear submarine (Fig. 4), but their impact on humans, flora and fauna and the environment in general is extremely different.
Functioning for its intended purpose, any submarine is a powerful source of indignation of inanimate nature, irritation and excitement of wildlife, as well as a source of pollution of the natural media used by it: the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. Perturbation is any process that leads to compression and rarefaction of the environment and its deviation from a state of rest. Irritation is a process of direct or indirect influence of the external or internal environment on living organisms, causing their response in the form of excitement. Excitation, in turn, is any physiological process that occurs in any living organism under the irritating effect of the environment. Since, in comparison with air, water is a denser and more elastic medium, the processes of perturbation, irritation and excitement prevail in the submerged position, including the submersion and ascent of the submarine. While pollution, i.e.the process of introducing into the environment uncharacteristic, uncharacteristic agents, leading to a change in its quality, is observed both in the underwater and surface positions of the submarine, including when performing the dive-ascent maneuver.
Perturbations, irritations, excitements and pollution arising from the operation of a submarine (Fig. 5) have different origins, physical nature and affect the external and internal environment in different ways. The limits of action for indignation, irritation and excitement are their threshold values, and for pollution - the maximum permissible concentration. After the termination of the action of the reasons that caused the disturbance, irritation and excitement, the environment independently returns to its original state, and the pollution must be localized and eliminated directly by humans.
Environmental safety, like any other property of a submarine, is formed during its design and is implemented in the process of construction, repair and modernization on the basis of existing environmental (environmental) requirements. This property is maintained at a given level during the entire life cycle of the boat by the crew.
The work on the formation of the "ecological safety" property of the submarine is at the very beginning, since the tightening of environmental requirements for military equipment, one way or another, makes it necessary to turn to the solution of environmental problems, including in the armed forces. This work is difficult and time-consuming, since it solves a new task for the Navy, therefore it requires the involvement of highly qualified specialists in various fields of human activity.
Environmental problems of the Navy, including the formation of the property of "environmental safety" of marine technology should be solved quickly and professionally. Our country, unlike most countries in Europe, Asia and America, has begun to address environmental problems with a significant delay, so we should hurry up, because tomorrow it may be too late. Time is the most important, scarce and irreplaceable resource, it cannot be accumulated, transferred, and most importantly, it (time) is irreversible and passes irrevocably.
