Last voyage for Costa Concordia cruise ship

[Gian Milan]

all was perfect.

[Yobarnacle]

AIS track indicates drifting to ultimate grounding at 7 tenths of a knot. Another post shows NEly breeze at 12 knots. Puts the wind on aft port quarter. She'd "sail" or drift to starboard and headreach, or forward momentum, which is what she did.

[Boston]

yikes although they did manage to get 4000+ people off the ship it still looks like one pathetic error after another.

[DCockey]

Originally Posted by DaVikes

.....
Also, I'm wondering about the pivot turn. Yobarnacle mentioned in an earlier post that it would be impossible without bow thrusters. I'm wondering if they did it by dropping anchor and letting the stern swing around based on it's own momentum. I could easily do this on a small boat, but I don't know if its possible in a large ship. It's been reported that the anchor went out and in again, and was up where she finally beached. If the pilot had full steerage with bow thrusters and forward propulsion, I can't make sense of where he beached. I would have headed as far into the harbor as I could get. But if he didn't have steerage, but only forward propulsion, he couldn't really choose is spot. Or perhaps he drifted there. Does the AIS data indicate speed after the pivot turn? Drifting would have been very slow. By the size of the hole, and it being towards the stern, I would have to think the engine/genset room was at least somewhat compromised.

Obviously this all speculation on my part, and I've never sailed anything larger than 35'. Thanks to Yobarnacle, Dcockey, and many others with relevant experience for shedding a lot of light on this tragedy.

Lastly, not doing safety drills is inexcusable. We occasionally sailed on Lake Superior with groups of friends. We did man overboard drills within 30 minutes of leaving the dock.

Have a look at the animation video I posted a link to above. It includes heading and speed information and a scaled icon of the ship. The scaled icon helps considerably with understanding what happened. It's clear that the sharp pivot was accomplished with the bow sweeping around and the stern moving considerably less. Also the speed was very slow as the turn commenced.

[DaVikes]

Wow, I didn't realize that it drifted in to shore. If there had been no wind the ship would have stayed at the pivot point. Presumably they would have anchored if they were drifting further to sea. They got really lucky there.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not the ship would have stayed afloat if it hadn't beached?

[DCockey]

Originally Posted by DaVikes

......

Lastly, not doing safety drills is inexcusable. We occasionally sailed on Lake Superior with groups of friends. We did man overboard drills within 30 minutes of leaving the dock.

My understanding is the rules are the safety drill is required within 24 hours of the beginning of the cruise.

I've never been on a cruise ship but have sailed on overnight ferries in Canada and Europe. While there were safety announcements at the commencement of each trip none had safety drills. I did check where the lifeboats were, etc.

[DaVikes]

Thanks, David for providing the link to the video (again). Seeing how she hit stern first and then was pinned to the rock on the starboard side makes me think she might have another hole there. That, plus the wind from the NE, would help explain why she listed to starboard rather than port.

[Leo Lazauskas]

Originally Posted by DCockey

Have a look at the animation video I posted a link to above. It includes heading and speed information and a scaled icon of the ship. The scaled icon helps considerably with understanding what happened. It's clear that the sharp pivot was accomplished with the bow sweeping around and the stern moving considerably less. Also the speed was very slow as the turn commenced.

Thanks.

At 5:30 into the video, the commentator mentioned the ship should have
slowed down approaching the island, but it actually increased to 16 knots
for a short time.

Was this was deliberate, or was it due to finite-depth effects?
e.g. the ship strayed a little into the super-critical range with a consequent
reduction in wave resistance, and hence it sped up a little.

[Gian Milan]

23:02 20 GEN 2012

(AGI) - Grosseto, 20 gen. - Al momento del'impatto della Costa Concordia con gli scogli affioranti in prossimita' dell'Isola del Giglio, il comandante Francesco Schettino era in plancia con altri 5 ufficiali dell'equipaggio. E' lo stesso Schettino a dirlo - si apprende da indiscrezioni - nell'interrogatorio di garanzia cui e' stato sottoposto martedi' davanti al Gip di Grosseto. Una dichiarazione che lascia quindi fuori figure estranee alla catena di comando della nave, a cominciare dalla giovane moldava che durante la sera era stata notata in compagnia del comandante. Sebbene non vi sia conferma, e' presumibile che i 5 ufficiali indicati da Schettino siano stati ascoltati dagli inquirenti per verificare l'attendibilita' della dichiarazione dello stesso.

LA PRIMA TELEFONATA: "HO FATTO UN GUAIO"
"Ho fatto un guaio, sono passato sotto al Giglio, abbiamo dato un urto e ti informo di tutto dicendo la verita'". Sono le prime parole che Francesco Schettino ha pronunciato al telefono la sera di venerdi' 13 parlando con Roberto Ferrarini, manager Operazioni Marittime e responsabile dell'unita' di crisi della Compagnia di navigazione Costa, dandogli notizia di quanto accaduto, l'impatto con gli scogli. Parole contenute - apprende l'AGI - nel verbale di interrogatorio di garanzia a cui e' stato sottoposto Schettino martedi' dal gip di Grosseto.
Sono stati diversi i colloqui al telefono quella sera tra Schettino e l'unita' di crisi, il comandante - si apprende poi in ambienti della sua difesa - ha avvertito la societa', come doveva fare, di quanto accaduto.

[Gian Milan]

Gip is the Judge for Preliminary Investigations.
Check the work of the Prosecutor of the Republic (Shark, on TV) during the preliminary investigation.
He ensure the rights of the accused.

[hoytedow]

from http://www.ilgiornale.it/il_naufragi...e=0-comments=1

[Gian Milan]

FROM A FROM A COMMUNIST WITHOUT GOD OF FINANCIAL TIME:

The Costa Concordia: Should captains always go down with the ship?
The ill-fated cruise liner's captain has been vilified for leaving in a lifeboat before some of his passengers. Is that fair?
POSTED ON JANUARY 20, 2012, AT 5:30 PM

http://theweek.com/article/index/223...-with-the-ship

[Arch99]

Regardng post about usual cruise ship practice on safety drills, I have been on several lines including Carnival. All of them had the drill before leaving the dock, and required finding, wearing life jackets and going to muster station on boat deck or elsewhere to check in for head count-- and to learn the process and remember it. The problem with Costa is that (as complained about in cruise web sites) this route operates like a bus line; there is no starting point for a round trip, just passengers embarking or disembarking at every port every day. Thus they seem to do an actual drill only once per cruise, with briefings on other days ( which passengers say was mostly a sales pitch for shore excursions). Sloppy operations and low regard for safety all around by Costa. I found it a healthy thing to stand under the life boat and being required to at least think about 'what would I do if..'. Other lines also use the boats as tenders, so passengers get to know them, and when in port the crew takes them out for training and to exercise them.

Like the Dutch captains posted above, I want to be the first one at the rail on the boat deck in warm clothing when bad things are clearly happening.

[Gian Milan]

Allow me to say my opinion.
Europeans and Americans are losing their political and economic control of the world.
I think it is right.
Where people of a nation has lost sense of honor, has lost the ability to understand what is good and bad, what right has to be of guidance to others? No one.

Who wants to stop being a man at all costs, become equal to a farm animal.
is right that he has to pull a wagon and take a whipping.

PS
I want you to paste a copy of the latest news.
is not allowed without the permission of the publisher! If you tell me how to legally circumvent the problem, I will continue to send fresh news.
If it interests.

[Yobarnacle]

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=4719

This is legal I think