SUMMARY
The challenges associated with the maintenance of a naval ship start right from the conceptual stage of the ship building up until the disposal of the ships. The selection of the most appropriate maintenance strategy for the life cycle of the ship plays a key role in optimizing the maintenance efforts and reducing the overall cost of the ship’s maintenance.
Unlike the commercial ships, the range of expertise and skills required for maintaining a naval ship and equipment onboard is very large. The inherent complexities and the risks associated with the naval ship systems make the task of determining the best maintenance strategy for them very effortful. The enhanced operational demands of the naval forces due to the current political scenarios across the world make it difficult for the authorities to make the ship available for the maintenance in accordance with its upkeep plan. Another key factor which makes the naval ship maintenance quite challenging is the varied age of the ships in any leading naval force, which normally ranges from the newly commissioned ships to those which have completed more than 20 years in service.
Maintenance of a naval ship not only involves the design of an efficient Maintenance Management System but also the selection and implementation of the right combination of maintenance strategies. This paper is an attempt to identify the challenges associated with the maintenance of naval ships in order to negotiate them for optimizing the maintenance efforts.
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