Anyone Interested in Ships

[jjb1970]

One of the Viking anchor handlers, they've had this high viz black/yellow look for decades, eye catching if a bit garish. You can see a couple of characteristics of AHTSS, the low freeboard aft and stern roller, essential for bringing anchors on deck. 

 

[jjb1970]

In contrast, a platform supply vessel (PSV), note the higher freeboard aft and different stern arrangement. These carry cargo on deck as well as bulk fluids such as fuel oil, drill water, potable water, brine, base oil, mud and dry bulk powder which are stored in tanks and transferred to offshore structures via hose. These tend to have about half (or less) the power of an AHTSS.

 

 

[jjb1970]

One of MSC's finest......

 

[jjb1970]

The SRR Endeavour alongside Vivocity today. Endeavour is an Endurance class landing platform dock, as LPDs go they are small but quite useful little ships. Something very apparent is how much darker the grey used by the RSN is compared to many other naval shades.

 

[jjb1970]

Joyrides around the harbour in the landing craft.

[jjb1970]

Out of interest, I took a shot of Pasir Panjang, which is in the background of the bottom of the landing craft pictures (you can see the cranes far in the distance). Considering this is taken with my mobile phone camera with the 10x zoom lens at something like 27x zoom (i.e. very heavy digital zooming) I thought this amazingly passable. Smartphone cameras are very impressive these days.

 

[jjb1970]

A big lady, 24,376TEU, MSC Michel Cappellini.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by jjb1970

[jjb1970]

A big COSCO semi-sub heavy lift ship.

 

[jjb1970]

And a EUKOR vehicle carrier.

 

[jjb1970]

Still at anchor, some pics in slightly better lighting. The heavy lift ship is quite an impressive beast, 30,000T capacity float on/float off or 20,000T roll on. In case people are not familiar with this ship type, to load cargo float on/off it will ballast down so most of the ship is submerged with just the funnel tops and focsle deck and above above water. The load is positioned and then the ballasts is pumped out so it takes the load on the cargo deck.

The MSC boat was the biggest box boat in the world for a while I believe, however that no longer has much cachet as it's a steady stream of ships which up it by a handful of TEU and are basically the same size.

 

[APOLLO]

Being an ex Gas engineer I'm not very nautical, and working for 20 years in Warrington MSC always stood for Manchester Ship Canal !!

 

A little tale. Back in the 70's we had two cast iron gas mains that went under the MSC via shafts and a tunnel at Stockton Heath. Just before every Christmas we had to ask MSC to put the pumps on and clear the shafts etc (water built up to canal level) so we could inspect the mains and drain any water ingress at the syphons (drain points). A mucky, somewhat risky job down & up a 80 odd foot cast iron ladder with electricity & post office cables impeding but we were young and daft then pre HSE days !!. The reason we did it in December is that one Christmas they flooded and cut gas to the area south of the canal off causing havoc. The boss liked his turkey & stuffing, so December was always inspection time. !!!!!

 

Anyway down in the tunnel one year a Manchester Liners ship & tug went overhead, we could hear it, a bit like being a submarine commander !!. Couple of years later the safety officer visited and banned us from entry - a VERY expensive re routing of gas supply over the railway bridge below was carried out and these old mains cut off. No more fun.

 

 

On a lighter note the most pleasant trip on a boat I (and family) have ever had was a cruise down the Chao Phraya River in Thailand from Ayutthaya to Bangkok which included a superb Thai buffet lunch. A million miles from Warrington on a frosty December day.

 

 

Brit15

[drmditch]

32 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Still at anchor, some pics in slightly better lighting. The heavy lift ship is quite an impressive beast, 30,000T capacity float on/float off or 20,000T roll on. In case people are not familiar with this ship type, to load cargo float on/off it will ballast down so most of the ship is submerged with just the funnel tops and focsle deck and above above water. The load is positioned and then the ballasts is pumped out so it takes the load on the cargo deck.

The MSC boat was the biggest box boat in the world for a while I believe, however that no longer has much cachet as it's a steady stream of ships which up it by a handful of TEU and are basically the same size.

 

 

 

 

 

When you say 'funnel tops' to what are you referring?

 

 

[jjb1970]

1 minute ago, drmditch said:

 

When you say 'funnel tops' to what are you referring?

 

 

 

Good point, they're not funnels, the two large structures aft. On some designs they route uptakes through them.

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

The heavy lift ship is quite an impressive beast, 30,000T capacity float on/float off or 20,000T roll on. In case people are not familiar with this ship type, to load cargo float on/off it will ballast down so most of the ship is submerged with just the funnel tops and focsle deck and above above water. The load is positioned and then the ballasts is pumped out so it takes the load on the cargo deck.

 

That operation must be an impressive sight.

[Mol_PMB]

Australian and New Zealand naval logistics vessels at Honiara, Solomon Islands last week:

Note the bulbous tanks which have been craned off the distant vessel and are being brought into the harbour by launches. Fuel or drinking water bowsers perhaps? 

[The Johnster]

6 hours ago, APOLLO said:

 

Anyway down in the tunnel one year a Manchester Liners ship & tug went overhead, we could hear it, a bit like being a submarine commander !!.

 

Once upon a time Cardiff and Penarth were connected by a pedestrian tunnel beneath the mouth of the River Ely; actually, they still are but the tunnel is long abandoned and buried in river mud.  It ran from Ely Harbour to the Penarth Dock sea lock, and closed in the early 70s IIRC.

 

When I say pedestrian, I mean it was for people on foot, not that it was in any way ordinary; that it certainly was not!  Not for the faint-hearted either; it leaked profusely, and the lighting was bare filament bulbs on a cable, so there was always a good bit of fizzing and sparking, as well as a high rate of bulb failures resulting in proper spooky dark stretches.  The coastal tankers (Esso Poole & Esso Ipswich were the usual suspects) servicing the tank farm at Ely Harbour passed over it at high water.  This allowed a very realistic 'submarine under attack' experience, especially as the tunnel was tubular in form and lined with corrugated iron that ensured good echoey sound fx.  A gas main ran through it as well, and in case you needed reminding of the situation, there was the ever-present background chug-chug noise of the pump and the quivering hose at your feet...

 

My father, a Cardiff Pilot, reckoned he'd scraped the top of it on at least one occasion; like I said, it wasn't for the nervous!  Mostly forgotten now, but it's still there, and the brick terminal buildings (square box with a door in it)  also there for many years after it closed.

[APOLLO]

15 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

 

Once upon a time Cardiff and Penarth were connected by a pedestrian tunnel beneath the mouth of the River Ely; actually, they still are but the tunnel is long abandoned and buried in river mud.  It ran from Ely Harbour to the Penarth Dock sea lock, and closed in the early 70s IIRC.

 

When I say pedestrian, I mean it was for people on foot, not that it was in any way ordinary; that it certainly was not!  Not for the faint-hearted either; it leaked profusely, and the lighting was bare filament bulbs on a cable, so there was always a good bit of fizzing and sparking, as well as a high rate of bulb failures resulting in proper spooky dark stretches.  The coastal tankers (Esso Poole & Esso Ipswich were the usual suspects) servicing the tank farm at Ely Harbour passed over it at high water.  This allowed a very realistic 'submarine under attack' experience, especially as the tunnel was tubular in form and lined with corrugated iron that ensured good echoey sound fx.  A gas main ran through it as well, and in case you needed reminding of the situation, there was the ever-present background chug-chug noise of the pump and the quivering hose at your feet...

 

My father, a Cardiff Pilot, reckoned he'd scraped the top of it on at least one occasion; like I said, it wasn't for the nervous!  Mostly forgotten now, but it's still there, and the brick terminal buildings (square box with a door in it)  also there for many years after it closed.

 

Very interesting, found this online, worth a look, 

 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-penarth-tunnel-history-secret-20848504

 

Brit15

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

8 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 ...snip...

 

 

It looks more like "they' forgot something when "they" built her! 🙃

[KeithMacdonald]

On 23/11/2023 at 06:14, jjb1970 said:

A big COSCO semi-sub heavy lift ship.

 

Haven't found any video yet, but here's a picture of a sister ship in the fleet carrying a drilling rig!

 

https://coscoht.com/cosco-shipping-specializeds-xin-guang-hua-loaded-with-a-semi-sub-drilling-rig-in-the-north-sea/

 

[jjb1970]

I did a couple of jobs with semi-sub heavy lift ships when I was on offshore vessels, moving rigs, and it is impressive to see them in action. They move all sorts, they're the tool of choice when a frigate or destroyer has a prang and needs to be shipped back home for repairs. Also big blocks for new ships under construction as well as large construction projects. 

I'm wondering if this one is waiting to take more of the old container cranes out of Tanjong Pagar as in recent weeks I've seen two of these big semi-sub jobs being loaded with container cranes. For that job it is roll on/off rather than float on/off.

[burgundy]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

They move all sorts, they're the tool of choice when a frigate or destroyer has a prang and needs to be shipped back home for repairs.

Which is how HMS Nottingham returned from Australia in 2002. 

Best wishes 

Eric

[KeithMacdonald]

3 hours ago, burgundy said:

Which is how HMS Nottingham returned from Australia in 2002. 

 

I'd forgotten that one.

 

Quote

The £300m vessel was ripped open from bow to bridge in the accident on the well-charted Wolf Rock. She was eventually towed back to Britain welded to a Dutch-registered heavy lifting vessel at a cost of £3m. HMS Nottingham's Commander Richard Farrington was reprimanded for neglecting his duties over the accident at a court martial in Portsmouth in September 2003. Second-in-command Lieutenant Commander John Lea and officer of the watch Lieutenant James Denney were dismissed from their duties, while navigator Lieutenant Andrew Ingham was severely reprimanded.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3648281.stm

 

More pictures here

https://davidarkwrightnavynewsandphotos.wordpress.com/2022/07/07/on-this-day-20-years-ago-in-2002-destroyer-hms-nottingham-grounded-on-wolf-rock-off-australia-first-rate-royal-navy-damage-control-training-combined-with-bravery-of-the-crew-support-from-austr/

 

Along with a caption that makes me think : "You what?"

 

Quote

First rate Royal Navy damage control training combined with bravery of the crew & support from Australian Navy and then RNZN saved the ship.

 

Seems like most are too polite to ask the obvious question :

How did they actual make such a basic bloody awful mistake.

Answer here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nottingham_(D91)#2002_grounding

 

Edit.

It cost £3 million to get the ship from Oz to UK, £39 million to repair it.

Just five years later in 2008, it was mothballed (a state of "extended readiness").

2010, decomissioned.

2011, sold for scrap.

 

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by KeithMacdonald
Extra info.

[J. S. Bach]

9 hours ago, burgundy said:

Which is how HMS Nottingham returned from Australia in 2002. 

Best wishes 

Eric

And the U. S. S. COLE  (DDG-67) after a suicide-bombing attack in Aden. The heavy-lift ship MV BLUE MARTIN brought her back to the US. There is a photo partway down showing the COLE on the BLUE MARTIN.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_(DDG-67)

[WessexEclectic]

On 24/11/2023 at 11:35, jjb1970 said:

 

Good point, they're not funnels, the two large structures aft. On some designs they route uptakes through them.

From memory they are used for line handling when positioning cargo for float on / float off. They also provide visual indication of where the stern is when submerged. IIRC some designs had the option to move them to accommodate differing cargoes.

[admiles]

On 23/11/2023 at 06:12, jjb1970 said:

A big lady, 24,376TEU, MSC Michel Cappellini.

 

 

 

Bit of a contrast to the MSC Fortune F pictured up thread....