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kaimusailing · 14-01-2012, 19:43

Ships need room and they don't encroach land unless they have to. We have to wait for the full information to come out, but my guess is that something happened that impaired the ship, either equipment malfunction, or a terrible crew misjudgement, and it came up on the island and had to take the course it did and the result was a ruptured hull and calamity for those aboard.
I always joke that I am an excellent navigator, I always find land. This navigator may have inherited a bad situation from his crew and made the best of it what he could, with a big ship, and land imminent.

S/V Alchemy · 14-01-2012, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by markpierce

I've been in a hurricane or two on cruise ships. Considered them highlights of the trip rather than terror.

The captain of the Norwegian Dream was fired after his ship rammed a barge in broad daylight in the Montevideo channel. At the time, he was in his cabin and allegedly intoxicated.

You're not really convincing me to go on a cruise...

S/V Alchemy · 14-01-2012, 19:59

If they had a power outage severe enough to affect steering and nav, maybe they should have got out a handheld GPS, a paper chart and DROPPED ANCHOR at the 30 m depth contour. Wait for a tow or repair...don't just blunder on hoping to beach a 300 metre behemoth.

I agree, it'll all come out in the Incident Report, but I am very curious to learn if this is another "Air France 747 drops 30,000 feet into the South Atlantic due to people trusting frozen instruments" situation.

MacG · 14-01-2012, 20:07

I am afraid it is. I am also familiar with the true reasons of the AF stall.
Point is that from now on there will be a screen of silence.

kaimusailing · 14-01-2012, 20:22

I've done that, trying to figure out why my display wasn't agreeing with my first hand viusal input. It was a stupid basic serial line failure that left my display more or less frozen, I could look at buoys and follow the channel, and when I found out the problem, it updated and moved ahead, around an island and sesnsitive submarine port. Navigation at night shouldn't be done close to shore. Most of us cruising navigators stand off till dawn, if we can.

Rakuflames · 14-01-2012, 20:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaimusailing

Ships need room and they don't encroach land unless they have to. We have to wait for the full information to come out, but my guess is that something happened that impaired the ship, either equipment malfunction, or a terrible crew misjudgement, and it came up on the island and had to take the course it did and the result was a ruptured hull and calamity for those aboard.
I always joke that I am an excellent navigator, I always find land. This navigator may have inherited a bad situation from his crew and made the best of it what he could, with a big ship, and land imminent.

Once the boat lost power, how would they steer? It wasn't a sailboat, after all ...

I don't understand how it started but I'm not ready to fault them for where they ended up. The loss of life is tragic but could have been much worse given how rapidly the boat listed significantly.

I bet their nav systems had backup battery power, but it's hard to imagine enough backup battery power to steer the boat, esp. if the engines were out. It may be incredibly good luck that they ended up in shallow water. They could have drifted out to deeper water with greater loss of life.

xymotic · 14-01-2012, 20:27

personally, I think they lost power when one of the main Gen's went under water.

red_sky · 14-01-2012, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by xymotic

Not too sure about that. They did get the guy after all. I just don't know how they could convict two sets of people for the exact same crime using an entirely different set of facts.

"Phfft! Facts. You can use them to prove anything. -- Homer Simpson

capcook · 14-01-2012, 20:30

So I am curious.... how would one go about righting this vessel and perhaps getting it afloat again? Or is the only thing to do now is just cut her up and haul it off? This vessel was just launched in 2006 so pretty new... seems they will have to try an salvage her...but how ? Can you put some kind of inflatables around her? Geeze, besides the human side which is tragic enough, this is a god awful mess...

Astrid · 14-01-2012, 20:45

I think eventually, when the accident report is finally published, the cause of the accident will become a matter of public record for those who wish to seek it out. It is possible that there was a problem with the navigation system. Back in 2009 the USS Port Royal, a Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser of 9,800 tons, ran aground off of Honolulu, Hawaii. It would appear that there was some problem with the navigation system on that occasion, either an outright failure or the various systems were giving conflicting results. Apparently no one aboard bothered to look out and attempt to visually fix the ship´s true position, something that could have been done quickly with an old-fashioned sounding sextant if one had been aboard. In the event, the captain was relieved of his command and, along with the XO and three sailors, was disciplined for dereliction of duty and improperly hazarding a vessel.

xymotic · 14-01-2012, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by capcook

So I am curious.... how would one go about righting this vessel and perhaps getting it afloat again? Or is the only thing to do now is just cut her up and haul it off? This vessel was just launched in 2006 so pretty new... seems they will have to try an salvage her...but how ? Can you put some kind of inflatables around her? Geeze, besides the human side which is tragic enough, this is a god awful mess...

Well, I think they will pull up a barge/crane and pull out the rock

Then weld a patch on, which really should not be that hard relatively speaking, the way it's lying will help a lot with that.

Then I guess it all depends on what the other side looks like but I bet they can dewater it and it'll prolly right itself and tow it off with a few tugs.

Astrid · 14-01-2012, 21:13

Yes, temporarily patch the damaged areas of the hull, attempt to close off all topside areas which would admit water, pump out fuel oil and fresh water, then dewater the hull. I am sure it can be done, but it will be an enormous and costly effort. I suppose it will come down to how much the salvage effort repairs would cost. Counting water damage on the inside, the repair alone would be considerable. If it comes close to the £372,000 it took to build her and put her in service, the insurance underwriters might opt to scrap her instead.

xymotic · 14-01-2012, 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astrid

Yes, temporarily patch the damaged areas of the hull, attempt to close off all topside areas which would admit water, pump out fuel oil and fresh water, then dewater the hull. I am sure it can be done, but it will be an enormous and costly effort. I suppose it will come down to how much the salvage effort repairs would cost. Counting water damage on the inside, the repair alone would be considerable. If it comes close to the £372,000 it took to build her and put her in service, the insurance underwriters might opt to scrap her instead.

you're missing a few Zero's there...

But she'll have to be moved regardless.