Costa Concordia, 80 deg list, really scary !!

Starting to look like the damage, reportedly 5 compartments, exceeded the damaged stability case, reportedly 3 compartments.

 

I have seen a few steel ships hit reefs. Seldom do the ships sink or get beyond their crews ability to handle the water. Mostly the reef is destroyed. The ship didn't sink, it capsized because of being top heavy. Once the captain realize that ship was listing he should have try to run it aground perpendicular to shore to try to keep it from sinking. But I guess he didn't think it could sink and was unaware of how unstable his ship really was.

 

Evidence suggests that all power was lost and the ship simply drifted and was blown ashore. Ironic, if true: lives were saved by the combination of all that superstructure and a reported 12kt breeze.

Earl

 

I'm no expert about cruise ships, but I think they should be built more durable. Warships are made to much higher standards so technically it can be done, just some additional cash required. Many WWII era carriers and battleships required multiple torpedo or bomb hits to send them to the bottom. If Costa Concordia had double hull, more durable framing and outer skin then damage would have been less severe, probably only outer hull serously damaged.
I know it may seem like overkill to build cruise ships like warships, but given how many people they carry, especially the newer biggest ones with 6000+ people aboard and how hard and dangerous the evacuation process would be in bad weather those ships should be built as resistant to sinking and capsize as technicaly possible.
This time it was close call only because of luck. What if next time it is real emergency involving similary designed ship in remote area where it is impossible to quickly mount massive rescue operation?

I bet if Costa Concordia would have capsized in deep water with thousands dead everyone would be screaming how flawed the design is.

 

It all boils down to How many pounds is a life worth?

Right now ferrous metal scrap is only about 9 cents per pound. Thicker hulls wouldn't be that much more expensive, compared to a human life. We're not even talking about torpedoes here, just rock at a lot lower energy on impact.

 

I believe that she lost all propulsion power in the first few minutes given the location and extent of the damage. For lighting and fire fighting, the emergency gens (up high) would kick on and run until their sumps went dry or they lost fuel suction (somewhere between 45 and 60 degrees I bet). After that it would only be emergeny lighting on batteries.

You can't build a hull thick enough. People who don't work with steel hull structure often have a disportionate view of the strength of large expanses of steel and a lack of appreciation of the forces involved. FWIW given a DWT of ~50,000 and a speed of 12 knots the impact energy is 1.9 giga Joules (almost enough to send someone "back to the future" in a second). That would punch a 1 m^2 square hole through 900mm of A36 plate provided the ship structure was stiff enough to handle the load. If you have ever seen any pictures of the USS San Francisco post grounding, then you can see the extreme damage that can be done with about 1/10 the impact energy on much thicker HY-80 steel plate.

 

Concordia. Proposed salvage Plans by Smit

Salvage plan scenario at:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/17/graphic-salvaging-the-costa-concordia-cruise-liner/

Source: National Post

 

My apologies for the low-res picture.

My apologies for the low-res picture.
Looks like the boulder is right smack in the engine rooms and beyond. Which explain the nice white paint seen through the breech.
No wing tanks to protect those vital compartments ?.
No wonder it was all flooded down there ! Any collision with a rock, a ship, an iceberg and we are back to 1912 !
Good old Harry Benford would have given me a C- if this had been my final design project.

If you find the tank & machinery arrangement plans on the internet can you please post them.

P.S.
We are not trying to be 'Doom & Gloom' as posted by some. We want more of these really amazing vessels built (more work for us) but if the damage stability is not improved, the tourists are going to wise up. Granted we can always turn them into much improved prison ships and anchor them off Alcatraz !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_ship

 

Look, the ship cost 400 millions to build... Considering it size... that was cheap. My boat is better designed than that. And most importantly my CG is lower, all the time.

As someone noted before, they were dam lucky the wind blew them back to shore and ship didn't sink in deeper water or out in ocean. Very few people would have survived..

 

I would like to see the Costa Concordia's CG on a drawing.

 

Except for the mistakes by the Captain they were damn lucky with every thing . . .

If there had been no ridge on which the ship has landed they would have slid down a few meters from the island . .

Cheers,
Angel

 

BPL:
" I would like to see the Costa Concordia's CG on a drawing. "

A good 'educated' guess shouldn't be that hard to come up with for some of the smart dudes on this forum !

What is your best guess for the GM ?

Angelique: ...........
Guillermo: ..........
Hardiman: ...........
Netersheim: .........

Any other:

30% off on the next cruise, for the winner

 

Count me out, I'm just an interested bystander who tries to get education here by reading and asking questions . .

Thanks for what I've learned so far

Cheers,
Angel

 

Considering propulsion and power was lost so soon after the collision, I thought the use of the bow thruster to keep the ship beam on to wind and current until she was grounded was decent seamanship. I doubt that maneuver is often practiced on a ship simulator. If they had run her straight into shore - assuming there was steering available to do that - at the speed she was still doing so soon after the first impact she would probably have broken her back and far more passengers and crew might have been lost.

Obviously this does not excuse the incompetence shown leading up to the first impact with the rock.

 

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