Ship Survivability

Warships are designed to perform missions (e.g. Anti Air Warfare, Anti Submarine Warfare etc.). During a mission, the warship acts under threat conditions. Missions can only be successfully performed if the ship is able to survive the hostile environment.

Survivability is the capability of the ship to withstand external weapon attacks and maintain its operational effectiveness; while Vulnerability is the degree of inability of the ship withstand attacks and complete her mission.

Vulnerability reduction measures (on board systems arrangement / redundancy / protection / hardening and damage containment), together with susceptibility reduction measures, contribute to the survivability of the vessel.

CETENA has been working on vulnerability assessment for a number of years, building up know how thanks to close cooperation with the Italian Navy and regular inovlevment in NATO working groups.

Cooperation with the Italian Navy has led to the development of the software program S.A.V.I.U.S. (Sistema per l'Analisi della Vulnerabilità Integrato per le Unità di Superficie / Integrated System for the Vulnerability Analysis of Surface Vessels), a tool for the assessment of the vulnerability of a surface ship.

A S.A.V.I.U.S. analysis allows, from the preliminary design stage on, the evaluation of the naval vessel vulnerability with respect to:

• surface threats (internal and external blast, fragmentation)
• underwater threats (shock and whipping)

You will find details on S.A.V.I.U.S. and its applications in our ‘Publications' section.