[NA]Huge ship/barge[NA]

I don't know if that's seriously cool or seriously wrong.
Whatever it is, I bet someone is really proud of their toy when the customers have no one else in the world to call.
 
Some of those loads look awfully topheavy. I'd hate to get into high seas with those loads.
 
They don't. The weather has to be forecast as very good to a relatively high percentage of confidence before they go out.

They keep their utilization up by primarily operating it littoral waters I believe.

--Carlos V.
 
Unbeliever said:
They don't. The weather has to be forecast as very good to a relatively high percentage of confidence before they go out.

They keep their utilization up by primarily operating it littoral waters I believe
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While not disputing your contention, Thunder Horse was delivered as an ocean transport.

Stability is, to me anyway, surprisingly complicated. Sure, it looks like a problem but when the numbers are run, well, not so much so.

A company I worked for used Blue Marlin as a dry dock for repairs to a jack-up drilling rig. The Naval Architect had to do the calcs for a both a barge and the jack-up (the barge was a spacer off the deck) and it was basically no big deal from a stability point of view. The transport ships are rather wide (>120') and draw about 33 feet so it really takes a lot to get them out of a stable region.

Well, all that and stay out of the north Atlantic in winter and a lot of stability problems go away. Those ships are really capable when one asks about what they can do.
 
Holy crap that is cool stuff.

I'll say it can sink. Wow. Just. Wow!
 
Clark1961 said:
Ya wanna pull deck maintenance after one of those evolutions? I sure don't.
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Are you kidding? I'd be in the lifeboat, screaming like a baby, praying for my life!!!!!!!!!!
 
That's incredible stuff; thanks for sharing, and all the additional links, too.

Look at the guys on the catwalks (upper decks) of the sea based X-band radar going into Pearl Harbor. Puts some scale on this behemoth...
 
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Unbeliever said:
They don't. The weather has to be forecast as very good to a relatively high percentage of confidence before they go out.

They keep their utilization up by primarily operating it littoral waters I believe.

--Carlos V.
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No such thing, they spend their days on trans oceanic passages and are highly utilized. Some of them have side ballast units which can drop down and give them over 70' of draft. Satellite communications and advanced weather prediction combined with a speed over 18 kts allows them to avoid the worst of weather situations when they are on rig moves and transporting container cranes (one of the first times I saw one was in LA st it came under the Vincent Thomas bridge. I was on one of the assist tugs for docking maneuvers, and they had to submerge the ship to within 2' of the bottom to get the crane to clear under the bridge), and they had weathered a pretty decent storm with 18'-22' seas while in transit. Ships stability is a pretty interesting and complex thing to calculate and you'd be amazed at what can be done with a properly engineered vessel. Heck, a cruise ship is scarier to me than one of those.
 
Henning said:
Yet they keep schedule even through major seas:
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They'll try, but they pad their schedule for weather or other problems. I was on the Norwegian Star going to Hawaii and we took green water over the bow- I wish I had my camera out since you don't see those pictures in the cruise brochure. I noticed the captain backed it down by about 10 knots (by GPS) and we still arrived on time. They'll also slow a ship down if they are ahead of schedule (from skipping a port due to weather, for example, and going on to the next).

The ship in the video was a small ship.

The Oasis of the Seas- I'd like to see how that one handles in a sea (from a distance- new really large ship).
 
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Henning said:
Heck, a cruise ship is scarier to me than one of those.
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Me, too. I hope to never set foot on one of those "modern" ships that look like a floating Clorox bottle.

Now the Norway (ex- France) was built as trans-atlantic transportation. She doesn't need to duck the weather, although for passenger comfort I am sure she does now that she is also a cruise liner.

-Skip
 
Henning said:
Yet they keep schedule even through major seas:
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Just a wild guess however my first assumption is that the onboard entertainment that day wasn't watching The Poseidon Adventure.
 
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Skip Miller said:
Me, too. I hope to never set foot on one of those "modern" ships that look like a floating Clorox bottle.

Now the Norway (ex- France) was built as trans-atlantic transportation. She doesn't need to duck the weather, although for passenger comfort I am sure she does now that she is also a cruise liner.

-Skip
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She can't duck anything now that she is a big pile of scrap metal.:nonod:

I sailed on her when she was the SS France (and still had all her engines). Last year of scheduled trans-Atlantic service. She was something. Just beautiful. I always wanted to take a cruise on Norway for old times sake. Never got around to it, and now I never will.:nonod:

http://www.maritimematters.com/norway.html
Sad photos of a great vessel at the end.
 
flyersfan31 said:
I imagine it's designed to do that, but :yikes::yikes::yikes:!!!!
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Its gotta be. I learned the other day that in the Civil War Scalding by steam was on of the big causes of death on Naval Ships. The shudder of the artillery strike and rough seas would crack steam pipes. Horrifying.
 
AdamZ said:
Its gotta be. I learned the other day that in the Civil War Scalding by steam was on of the big causes of death on Naval Ships. The shudder of the artillery strike and rough seas would crack steam pipes. Horrifying.
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And, before that, it was from splinters. It wasn't the shot that got you - it was the splinters from the impact.
 
Henning said:
No such thing,
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*sigh* I guess my sources were wrong. Considering Henning's reputation, I'll take Capt. Heinemann's word over my guy's.

Appreciate being corrected. <scratches one source off my list>

--Carlos V.
 
If no one noticed.. One of the pictures had the the USS Cole coming back to be rebuilt after the terrorist attack blew the hole in the side.
 
flyersfan31 said:
I'm not a nervous sailor, but I think I'dve been (ahem) highly concerned had I been on that boat.:yikes::yikes::yikes:
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Nah, she had a bunch of reserve stability left. What you pay attention to is the speed at which she comes back upright. Even when still on the face of the wave she's already righting herself. It's when they lay down and come back very slowly is when you start to worry. If she's not upright or past by the time the next wave hits, that's when you have to do something. As she was, it's just hang on and lash stuff down to keep it from flying. Anything that makes it to the floor stays there for the duration.
 
Henning said:
Nah, she had a bunch of reserve stability left. What you pay attention to is the speed at which she comes back upright. Even when still on the face of the wave she's already righting herself. It's when they lay down and come back very slowly is when you start to worry. If she's not upright or past by the time the next wave hits, that's when you have to do something. As she was, it's just hang on and lash stuff down to keep it from flying. Anything that makes it to the floor stays there for the duration.
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See, I know that stuff about airplanes, which is why turbulence doesn't really bother me at all. I don't know that stuff about ships, which is why it would bother me.

Although, now I know a little more.

Thanks.:D
 
flyersfan31 said:
See, I know that stuff about airplanes, which is why turbulence doesn't really bother me at all. I don't know that stuff about ships, which is why it would bother me.

Although, now I know a little more.

Thanks.:D
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I used to run these:
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We used to have to follow the "tv route" (close enough to shore and in shallow enough water to jack up at any time) as when jacked down and running with the legs all the way up you were limited to a max wave height of 5'. If the top of the leg ever made it past the extended vertical centerline, she'd roll, so you always had to be in a position to jack up.
 
Yeah, nothing a Series VII U-Boat couldn't take care of.
 
Henning said:
I used to run these:
We used to have to follow the "tv route" (close enough to shore and in shallow enough water to jack up at any time) as when jacked down and running with the legs all the way up you were limited to a max wave height of 5'. If the top of the leg ever made it past the extended vertical centerline, she'd roll, so you always had to be in a position to jack up.
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Electric jacks? Looks like it to me but I never worked the small platforms.

Never liked the chance of dropping it if the barge went in the dark while jacking. Of course the brakes were supposed to be able to hold it...
 
Clark1961 said:
Electric jacks? Looks like it to me but I never worked the small platforms.

Never liked the chance of dropping it if the barge went in the dark while jacking. Of course the brakes were supposed to be able to hold it...
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Hydraulic with planetary gear drives, 6 per leg, and counter balance valves. No way she drops on her own even if you lose all the hydraulic lines.
 
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