Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia makes landfall?

[HenrikOlsen]

What is a sat diver? A person who goes scuba diving on Saturdays?

I'd guess it's saturation diver.

Another place the fire department can't just sent people to help.

[danscope]

It's one of the trickiest professions. Breathing mixed gases , helium , and staying in a dedicated habitat for extended
periods and doing heavy work at depth is a risky artform. I salute your courage.

[captain swoop]

One of my ex shipmates worked asa Sat Diver for years on North Sea Oil Rigs.

Helium is substituted for the Nitrogen in the air as you are pressured down to your working depth.
Because the helium molecules are so small they get through the seals on divers watches so when they are depressurised the crystals can blow out.
They buy watches with special Helium relief Valves to let the pressure out.

[Extravoice]

The Discovery Channel had a program about the Costa Concordia last evening, but I missed the beginning. It was obviously put together pretty quickly, but included interviews with survivors, video taken during the disaster, and an analysis by experts (I didn't catch their credentials).

From what I could tell it was very harrowing, especially for people who were supposed to board lifeboats on the port side. The ship listed so much that many couldn't be launched, and people actually had to abandon the boats and re-board the ship. Then, they had to cross to the other side of the ship and try to board lifeboats that were cycling back and forth from shore. Finally, many jumped and swam because the ship kept rolling over and the boat deck was going under.

I think they said the count was around 30 people dead or missing at the time the show was recorded. The experts concluded that it could have been a whole lot worse with over a thousand dead if the ship had not run aground, and done so close to shore.

[geonuc]

HMS Sheffield wasn't sunk by the warhead of the Exocet missile, it didn't detonate. It was sunk by fires started by the rocket motor as it made it's way through the ship into the main machinery space, then from the fuel itself. Her fire main was fractured losing pressure, electrical power was lost and diesel fuel in the engine room 'ready use' tanks started to burn. Twenty crewmen were killed by the fires and she sank 5 days later under tow after being abandoned.
Board of enquiry laid partial blame at the design of the firemain and pump systems and also the type and ammount of firefighting equipment.

Very interesting, as always. I find your contributions to the various sea-faring threads to be informative, expert and relevant.

[Extravoice]

This will probably hinder the investigation:

Crucial data that might explain why the cruise ship the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy is missing, an Italian newspaper says.

Documents leaked to the Corriere delle Sera have raised doubts over whether the black box data recorder was working at the time of the disaster in January.

(emphasis added)

Link to BBC story.

[swampyankee]

HMS Sheffield wasn't sunk by the warhead of the Exocet missile, it didn't detonate. It was sunk by fires started by the rocket motor as it made it's way through the ship into the main machinery space, then from the fuel itself. Her fire main was fractured losing pressure, electrical power was lost and diesel fuel in the engine room 'ready use' tanks started to burn. Twenty crewmen were killed by the fires and she sank 5 days later under tow after being abandoned.
Board of enquiry laid partial blame at the design of the firemain and pump systems and also the type and ammount of firefighting equipment.

A friend -- USN(retired) -- told me that one problem adding HMS Sheffield's troubles was that the missile hit took out the damage control center.

[captain swoop]

Loss of the fire main, power and the widespread nature of the fires was the main problem. I don't think a small phone switchboard and a few pinboards and plans of the ship would have made any difference. (That's all a 'damage control centre' ammounts to.

[NEOWatcher]

I don't see anything about the salvage operation since the bids went out in Feb.
Apparently, the salvage effort has been pushed back, and they are estimating late spring 2013.
Pushed back from what? I don' know. The article that I read said basically nothing.

[Laguna]

The salvage operation has begun in may as far as I know.
The contract went to Titan Salvage. They are trying to recover it in one piece.
According to german news the operation is likely to take more than a year to complete.

[danscope]

They'll have some fun removing that gigantic boulder which is lodged in the hull. Better get John Henry for that one.

[Laguna]

They are building cranes to raise it upright.

http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/image...F605FC.jpg.jpg

[Laguna]

They'll have some fun removing that gigantic boulder which is lodged in the hull. Better get John Henry for that one.

Thats the first thing they plan to do. To cut it into pieces and then remove it.
Then they plan to cut away the chimney and the water slides.

[Moose]

They are building cranes to raise it upright.

Heh, I soooo misread that to mean they were looking to stand her on end (!) for some reason.

[Van Rijn]

I found this, with pictures with some added material to show the salvage plan as of May:

http://gcaptain.com/costa-concordia-...plan-revealed/

Apparently more detail and updates were just presented a few days ago. This article mentions that, but doesn't get into any of the details:

http://www.crowley.com/News-and-Medi...orio-Yesterday

[danscope]

Thanks for the link, Van . Very interesting.

[Van Rijn]

You're welcome. Glad you liked it.

[DoggerDan]

Couldn't they just do this? Or is the ship too large?

Oops! I see that it is. The USS Cole at 505 ft came in at around 8,000 tons, while the Costa Condordia at 952 ft is more than 14 times as heavy.

[NEOWatcher]

Couldn't they just do this?

Even if the ship weren't too large, they would have to float it first.

[Ara Pacis]

Even if the ship weren't too large, they would have to float it first.

Where are the Mythbusters and ping-pong balls when you need them?

[NEOWatcher]

Where are the Mythbusters and ping-pong balls when you need them?

Can the ping-pong ball manufacturing infrastructure even handle a project like that in a timely manner.

I don't even know if that's the answer. I'm sure filling it with ping pong balls would keep it afloat, but don't we still have to get it off the rocks first?

[danscope]

It would be more practical to install and inflate individual air bags in many compartments to gradually equalize pressure on the ground and float the weight enough so that parbuckling will pull the ship upright. All this after the side hull damage is "fixed" (holding water).
Then, de-watering is a progressive process. These sort of things take a good deal of time. The hull damage will be "repaired" once she has been into floating drydock and re-built to specification. That is an entirely different matter. Everything runs into money.

[Moose]

It would be more practical to install and inflate individual air bags in many compartments

Scuba divers consider entering a wreck to be an exceptionally dangerous thing. Too many things can go wrong.

[danscope]

I agree, it is quite hazardous, which is why they get the big money. Like I said, that side has to be solid before they can de water such a collossus, and they certainly don't want the hull slipping off the ledge into very deep water. They will need and welcome any positive floatation they can obtain. It will be interesting watching their progress. That's what they call
" A major job" . This isn't for amateurs.

[Trebuchet]

Scuba divers consider entering a wreck to be an exceptionally dangerous thing. Too many things can go wrong.

They've been entering it for some time, of course, first looking for victims and later as part of the de-fueling process.

[Moose]

Have they? Well, they know what they're doing.

[danscope]

They spent weeks finding trapped bodies inside. No easy job there.

[DoggerDan]

They spent weeks finding trapped bodies inside. No easy job there.

I've had the unfortunate duty of doing this. It's not fun. It's very somber. My heart prays for their souls.

[Laguna]

The hull damage will be "repaired" once she has been into floating drydock and re-built to specification. That is an entirely different matter. Everything runs into money.

AFAIK the Costa Concordia is considered a total loss. It will not be re-built.
According to italian media, they are going to make it afloat, then tow it to Parlermo or Livorno to scrap it.

[danscope]

Hi, That doesn't surprise me. You'd have to strip it down to a bare hull and replace all of what you pull. Just re-wiring it is a nightmare. It's all a mess. It spells scrap, I think.