by dhx | 2025-06-12 16:06:09+00:00
Perhaps the oven in question may be an electric Rational AG (German multinational company) combination oven, possibly the iCombi Pro.[1] If this is correct, the manual[2] and service reference guide[3] for the iCombi Pro shows it is quite complex compared to what a ship galley would have used 20 years ago. It's a self-cleaning steam oven, has a touchscreen interface with some significant functionality for commercial kitchens (eg. scheduling/planning of oven use and functions, real time notifications, recording of temperature/humidity measurements for food safety compliance/auditing, etc) and may have WiFi/wired Ethernet connectivity depending on model.

Rational AG's maritime division state they provide:

"...training to show your on-board technicians to identify, repair, and diagnose problems at sea, maintenance programs to ensure smooth operation, and the special RATIONAL marine service app with user’s manuals, wiring diagrams, and key information for quick troubleshooting."

The "RATIONAL marine service app" referred to is probably [5] and screenshots show an ability to order spare parts, view technician manuals, view electrical schematics, etc. This app does however appear to just be a front end for a web browser session back to a vendor website.

Rational AG publish a US RRP list for spare parts.[6]

Rational AG also appear to have servicing locations in Dubai (AE), Genoa (IT), Hamburg (DE), Miami (US), Nantes (FR), Shanghai (CN), Singapore (SG) and Turku (FI).[4]

Seemingly these ovens (or ones similar to this) are used successfully on cruise ships with double the number of mouths to feed. Is this an oven manufacturer problem or an operator problem?

If it's an oven manufacturer problem, are there _any_ marine galley steam ovens on the market (and thus subsidised in price by the cruise ship industry) that are more reliable? Or are all such ovens now so complex compared to 20 years ago that there are 10 times the number of failure modes no matter which oven is chosen?

If it's an operator problem, consider that the Gerald R Ford class now only has 2 galleys (one gets used only when an air wing is present) down from 5 galleys on the Nimitz class. This change would appear to be a very large loss of galley redundancy. At least the main galley, and most likely the second galley too, on the Gerald R Ford class is going to be used 24/7 for at least the 3-8 weeks between port calls that carriers typically achieve. Disconnecting, disassembling and repairing a complex machine in a tight space of a galley operating 24/7 does not sound particularly viable. If the entire galley could be closed for a day (such as at a port call) then maybe repair of ovens is OK to complete if spare parts have been ordered ahead of time and are waiting for installation, no specialised tools are needed for installation or they've also been planned ahead of time to be present, and there is enough space in the galley to disconnect and disassemble an oven. Navy would have to train dozens of their own technicians to repair a particular type of oven on a particular class of ship. And due to the lack of real world repair experience those technicians will be exposed to, they're much more likely to make mistakes or take longer to complete repairs.

There's some further possible problems to self-repair though:

- The Gerald R Ford class galleys could have had ovens installed into a tight configuration that requires half the galley to be disconnected and relocated just to gain access and space to disconnect and disassemble an oven.

- If a replacement oven is needed, maybe half the galley needs to be removed first, and maybe lots of other equipment, conduits, doorways, etc need to be removed to get an oven off the ship, and a replacement oven installed back in the galley. It depends on how easily accessible the Gerald R Ford class galleys are to the exterior of the ship. It's not uncommon for ship repairs/upgrades for heavy equipment to have to be removed by cutting through the hull and removing interior compartments that might be in the way.

[1] https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_N6279324P0006_970...

[2] https://www.rational-online.com/en_us/customercare/downloads...

[3] https://www.keelingcatering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05...

[4] https://www.rational-online.com/en_us/industry/marine/

[5] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apprologic...

[6] https://www.rational-online.com/media/downloads/service-part...