Adaptation of Crew Performance, Stress and Mood Aboard a SWATH and MONOHULL Vessel
Abstract
In the Spring of 1978, a study was conducted to measure the effects of vessel motions characteristic to a 89' Navy Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) vessel, a 95' Coast Guard Patrol Boat and a 378' Coast Guard High Endurance Cutter upon various psychomotor and cognitive performance tasks and physiological and psychological indexes of stress. These measures were repeatedly sampled from eighteen Coast Guardsmen who were exposed to each vessel at sea for an eight hour period. During the eight hours the vessels steamed two octagonal patterns through sea state three seas in a side-by-side manner. Motions experienced aboard the patrol boat led to severe motion sickness, stress, deterioration in mood and decrements in the majority of performance tests administered. The SWATH vessel's subdued motion environment, equivalent to that of the much large High Endurance Cutter, did not produce such out-comes. These finding, however, were bounded by the briefness of exposures, the lack of measurable adaptation to the everchanging motion environments brought about by frequent course changes, and the inability to separate the contributions of motion sickness and vessel dynamics towards performance decrement and stress responses.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 16, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA102086
Entities
People
- Ross L. Pepper
- Steven F. Wiker