Mold and mildew within Navy ships is a significant issue across the fleet. In 2021 a program was initiated to characterize the extent of the issues and develop mold remediation and preventative processes and technologies. This paper will review the findings of ship inspections performed to determine the extent of mold issues across the Navy and present data on the development and testing of Navy interior coatings with fungistatic additives. In this effort, 26 ships were inspected and sampled across 6 naval bases. The ship inspections determined the most common ship spaces for mold growth, recorded environmental contributors to growth, and non-destructively tested coating characteristics of mold affected ship areas. Additionally, mold samples were taken for laboratory DNA analysis. The findings of the DNA analysis will be presented including common mold genera and species, differences between geographic locations, and the presence of molds that can be considered respiratory hazards. Using this data, the team is working alongside industry partners to develop fungistatic additives for common Navy interior coatings. Fungal inhibition testing of the new coating is ongoing with additional testing to be performed in the future. Additionally, ship demonstrations of the new technology are planned for completion in 2023.
Mold and mildew growth within Navy ships is a significant issue across the fleet. To investigate this issue the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) funded an investigation into the prevalence of mold in the fleet, with the end goal of developing solutions to remediate and prevent future mold growth. Thus far, mold and coating data was collected from 26 ships across 6 geographic locations. These mold samples have been analyzed to determine the most common species and highlight those that are toxigenic. From this analysis, industry partners have been working to develop a mold inhibiting additive to be included in a currently qualified MIL-PRF-24596 Navy interior coating.1 Laboratory testing is ongoing to determine the effectiveness of the additive and coating at preventing mold growth. Future testing will also ensure coating conformance to the specification requirements and evaluate effective cleaners for mold removal in currently affected spaces. This is an important addition as Ships’ Force currently does not have any effective mold removal cleaning solutions at their disposal. Finally, ship demonstrations of these new coating technologies are currently being planned for completion in 2023. Successful laboratory testing and demonstrations of the developed mold inhibiting solution and tested cleaning methods will be a major win for the Navy.
