Costa Concordia SINKING

[pspercy]

When KAL007 was shot down by soviet fighters in 1983, it was substantially off course due to an issue with the electronic navigation systems,

Seem to remember the crew "fat fingered" entering waypoint coordinates.

[JLC@SD]

Here's the thing that truly has me puzzled.

 

Take a look at the following two photos, and pay particular attention to where the damage is to the hull.

 

 

 

 

What I can't figure out is...

If the ship was moving in the forward direction, how the heck did they do all that damage to the back end of the vessel without damaging that stabilizer and the hull towards the front of the ship?!?!

 

In both photos, the bow of the ship is at the left of the photo.

 

If you imagine the Titanic accident, the iceberg ripped a hole in the hull from the front of the vessel and then down along the side... from front to back. But in these photos of the Concordia, the front looks untouched and it's the back that has the huge gash. How is that possible if the ship was moving forward? Maybe all that visible damage happened long after the initial incident and evacuation... with the ship drifting without power, being pushed by the tide on to the shore.

 

I think the reports were that there were calm seas at the time.......and if so, the stabilizers may not have been out. Perhaps they were deployed to stabilize the ship as it sailed to shallower water

[tntornadox]

She must have spun around trying to get the ship closer inland? :confused:

 

Precisely, and a high speed crash turn with water pouring in means the water shifted to the other side of the ship causing it to list that way, water keeps pouring in while it's moving, eventually you can't stabilize the vessel anymore and it ends up capsizing on the side without the gash. That's my theory, anyway.

 

I think the reports were that there were calm seas at the time.......and if so, the stabilizers may not have been out. Perhaps they were deployed to stabilize the ship as it sailed to shallower water

 

If I was a betting man, I'd say the stabilizers automatically deployed when the ship was doing a 'crash turn' to go inland. Trying to keep the ship stable during such a turn.

[chuchelo]

All I can and am doing is a prayer for the victims and their families.

May God have mercy on them all.

 

Lord, have mercy & deliver us from evil! Amen!

[Isklaar]

Deckofficer:

 

Truth is: WE can ALL be involved in an accident. That is a fact of our professions. We learn from them, we NEVER blame to blame and do it better next time.

 

In Italy, any master/Captain involved in an accident risks arrest due to local law. This has happened several times already, also when human errors were not a cause.

 

Very well said, Despegue.

 

I am disgusted by the xenophobic comments and blame and the trumpeting of their own apparent superiority that some posters are writing.

 

Thank you also for the clarification about Italian law, I believe it is the same thing here too. Not just for a ship Captain but anyone in charge of a mode of public transport.

[deckofficer]

Deckofficer:

 

Cum Laude graduate Antwerp Maritime College

STCW AII 2 (Ocean Unlimited Tonnage)

 

Also: ATPL TRI B737

Captain B747-400

 

never worked for Costa as I'm not Italian;)

 

your posts are quite insulting to any Mariner as they show ignorance. Jumping to conclusions is THE most dangerous thing on the bridge. I am sure you know this and I assume your post read differently than you meant. I am aware that it is very easy to draw conclusions, to shout out "disgrace" and "this would never have happened with me". Truth is: WE can ALL be involved in an accident. That is a fact of our professions. We learn from them, we NEVER blame to blame and do it better next time.

 

In Italy, any master/Captain involved in an accident risks arrest due to local law. This has happened several times already, also when human errors were not a cause.

 

And is the reason most of us insure our license (earnings) with Lloyds, because as the Master you lose it, your fault directly or not, and with the loss of license so goes your of pay. Yes, it was rash and insensitive for me to infer that a Dutch or US flagged ship is safer, but you have to admit during your days at the Maritime Academy the subject of "flags of convenience" had many discussions as to who benefits from the lesser regulations, and is of course the bottom line of the shipping company. Did you ever sail under one of those flags? If so, weren't you at least a little put off by the wages paid?

 

BTW, congrats on being both a ship's Captain and an Airline Captain.

[wild4cruisin]

Photo of the Coast Guard removing the black box recorder from Costa Concordia. This should answer some questions.

 

 

Photo courtesy of:

http://mikeyscruiseblog.com/2012/01/13/costaconcordia/

[SakeDad]

This is a GREAT read about the course the Concordia took vs what she SHOULD have been on. Great charts as well.

http://www.seanews.com.tr/article/ACCIDENTS/74284/Costa-Concordia-accident-navigational-error/

[CruiseAdict218]

Precisely, and a high speed crash turn with water pouring in means the water shifted to the other side of the ship causing it to list that way, water keeps pouring in while it's moving, eventually you can't stabilize the vessel anymore and it ends up capsizing on the side without the gash. That's my theory, anyway.

 

Which would explain why the damage is in the back, she hit the rock from the back, captain is alerted and trys to get close to land turns the ship around and in the process like you said the water moves which cause the list in the opposite direct. Jee I hope that makes sense :D

[outerspaceguy]

Do the safes work on house power? If so, we are SOL. If not, we can access them with no problem.

 

I had a safe in my cabin once that would not close because the batteries were low.

 

4 D batteries inside that thick safe door got replaced and then it worked again.

[EVALUATOR]

Thats what I've thinking, but no one else mentioned it so I thought I must have it wrong.:confused:

 

I mentioned it earlier when some mentioned a possible ship navigation problem.

 

I think they tried to sail between the two islands and there was not enough room and they hit bottom. No power failure, no hidden reef. They shouldn't have been anywhere near where they were.

 

If you look at the rock, it is just below the waterline. They didn't nick the rock at the very bottom of the ship. I can't imagine why they would sail between those two islands shown on the SeaNews Turkey.

 

If they had problems 8 miles from shore, as some say, at 20 knots they had a half hour to stop or alter the course.

[tntornadox]

Carnival Corporation has issued a statement regarding the Concordia incident:

 

MIAMI, Jan. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 3:45pm EST -- This statement is from Carnival Corporation & plc in Miami, FL. Carnival Corporation & plc is the parent company of Costa Cruises.

 

On January 13, 2012, Costa Cruises' vessel, the Costa Concordia, departed from Civitavecchia, Italy with approximately 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on a seven-day voyage. At approximately 10:00pm CET, the vessel struck rock off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Italy and sustained significant damage causing the ship to list severely. The order was given to abandon ship and deploy the lifeboats.

 

Tragically, there are reports of some deaths and injuries. This is a terrible tragedy and we are deeply saddened. Carnival Corporation & plc offers our sympathies and heartfelt condolences to all of the Costa Concordia guests, crew members and their families. Carnival Corporation & plc and Costa Cruises are committing our full resources to provide assistance and ensure that all guests and crew are looked after.

 

We want to express our deep gratitude to the Italian Coast Guard and local authorities and community members who have gone to extraordinary lengths to assist in the evacuation of the ship and provide support for our guests and crew.

 

We are working to fully understand the cause of what occurred. The safety of our guests and crew members remains the number one priority of Carnival Corporation & plc and all of our cruise lines.

 

Costa Concordia was sailing on a Mediterranean cruise from Civitavecchia (Rome) with scheduled calls at Savona, Italy; Marseille, France; Barcelona, Spain; Palma de Mallorca; Cagliari and Palermo, Italy.

 

Friends and family members may use the following country-specific contact numbers to reach Costa Cruises:

 

Italy 848505050

 

U.S. 800-462-6782

 

Austria 00438109006565

 

Germany +4940570121314

 

France +33155475554

 

Spain +34934875685

 

Portugal +34914185951

 

UK 08453510552

 

Carnival Corporation & plc is the parent company of ten cruise lines including Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Ibero Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and P&O Cruises (Australia).

Link:http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/prnewswire/press_releases/Florida/2012/01/14/CL35997

[CruiseAdict218]

This is a GREAT read about the course the Concordia took vs what she SHOULD have been on. Great charts as well.

http://www.seanews.com.tr/article/ACCIDENTS/74284/Costa-Concordia-accident-navigational-error/

 

Now that is interesting

[judybee]

fox is also reporting that obama may have had something to do with the ship running aground...

 

 

lol!!:)

[ddakrt]

I mentioned it earlier when some mentioned a possible ship navigation problem.

 

I think they tried to sail between the two islands and there was not enough room and they hit bottom. No power failure, no hidden reef. They shouldn't have been anywhere near where they were.

 

If you look at the rock, it is just below the waterline. They didn't nick the rock at the very bottom of the ship. I can't imagine why they would sail between those two islands shown on the SeaNews Turkey.

 

If they had problems 8 miles from shore, as some say, at 20 knots they had a half hour to stop or alter the course.

 

The problem with this assumption is that it doesn't match the timeline passengers had been reporting.

 

People mentioned that they hit during dinner, around 8pm. While out in open (relatively) seas, the Concordia didn't arrive to Giglio until later.

 

It's my personal opinion that she hit twice, and what we see on the aft port side is the results of trying to navigate between the two islands while there is also a breach somewhere else that we're not seeing because it's still under water.

Then again there's that video with the Concordia sailing really close to Giglio back in August. Why the heck was it there??

 

Edit: my assumption is obviously based on the time passengers reported when they felt the impact, if those are incorrect then the whole scenario would be off base as well.

In fact according to Carnival's press release, they said the Concordia hit at 10pm. This along with he August video (perhaps the crew wanted to give passengers a nice view? Whatever the case they might have made the initial turn toward Giglio as part of the itinerary and not a result of hitting something in open seas) makes it seem like navigation error and the crew sailed far closer to Giglio than they wanted to and made the last ditch effort to steer between the islands, turned hard to starboard and hit. With how close the port/harbour of Giglio was the captain swing the ship around, water shifted over to starboard and the Concordia listed and capsized.

[tomc]

outerspaceguy:

 

Quote: Originally Posted by tomc: Do the safes work on house power? If so, we are SOL. If not, we can access them with no problem.

 

Reply: I had a safe in my cabin once that would not close because the batteries were low. 4 D batteries inside that thick safe door got replaced and then it worked again.

 

Comment: Thank you for the information. I won't have to sleep with all my $$ under the pillow; makes it hard to relax. But as Dolly Levi once said, "And on those cold winter nights, Horace, you can snuggle up to your cash register. It's a little lumpy, but it rings!"

[jancy]

You have to wonder about Costa... A couple of years ago we were on a 14 day Costa cruise which we picked up at Singapore - no lifeboat drill until Day 7!:(

[STLPilot]

The problem with this assumption is that it doesn't match the timeline passengers had been reporting.

 

People mentioned that they hit during dinner, around 8pm. While out in open (relatively) seas, the Concordia didn't arrive to Giglio until later.

 

It's my personal opinion that she hit twice, and what we see on the aft port side is the results of trying to navigate between the two islands while there is also a breach somewhere else that we're not seeing because it's still under water.

Then again there's that video with the Concordia sailing really close to Giglio back in August. Why the heck was it there??

If they hit in open waters and started taking on water, alarms would have sounded immediately. You don't wait til you hit a rocky coast before you sound alarms, anyone below water line must be altered.

 

And then hit twice? Woops ... I hit an "uncharted" reef, more than 100' below sea level, head 8 miles towards that island and smash into the coast, let's do it again!

[chriskwarren]

I am not sure how anyone can determine how/why the ship sank based on the pictures shown in this thread. It does seem that from multiple media reports that the captain changed the course of the ship AFTER she struck something. That means the current orientation of the ship tells us little of what happened.

 

This means that ALL of the photos we have limited access to could be, and probably are, misleading.

 

Multiple reasons why this could have happened in the first place too: human error, electrical problem as the crew claimed at first (affecting radar/sonar, etc etc)

 

But really, who knows.

 

If you want to make a guess, I would wager that there was some malfunction in the navigational equipment, causing an error in route. A small but unlikely reason would be that something shifted on the ocean floor that was not charted.

 

It is not likely that the captain and other senior crew decided to take a totally novel route unintended for their ship. We can look at navigational charts and say 'he was headed right for the island and rocks', but how often do ships of that size take that route?

 

Too little info, and too little training for us to know what happened.

[boogs]

This video on YouTube gives an indication of what was happening on board.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93FshRIFr6Q&feature=share

 

I saw this video over a year ago! It was taken aboard a ship in rough weather conditions. Someone is trying to interject false information into an already difficult and confusing accident. Besides, how would a video taken by the ship's internal camera system be available to download onto youtube in just a few hours time? Whoever posted this false info should be ashamed of themselves.

[littlesteelo]

Just watched a BBC News report on it, where some 'industry professional' was going on about how the ships were 'purely designed for revenue generation, not for safety', and how they are 'putting safety at risk'. I knew stuff like this would happen. This will not be good for the cruise industry.

[Texas Teen]

Speculation is the captain tried to turn hard to port into the harbor, which caused the list to starboard when the water shifted.

 

Very strange ...

 

FOX is also reporting that Obama may have had something to do with the ship running aground...

 

Really? You've got to bring unrelated politics and jokes into this?

 

Thats what I've thinking, but no one else mentioned it so I thought I must have it wrong.:confused:

 

I still haven't heard any news about her facing the opposite direction on TV. I wonder if they've noticed yet.

[dzcruisers]

This is probably fairly standard procedure - they will want to question him, so arresting him is perfectly appropriate - its not the same thing as CHARGING him!

 

And the Italian legal system is completely different from ours!

 

PRAYERS FOR ALL INVOLVED!

[crusinpeg]

I think all of us on these boards should take a minute or two to say a prayer for all those (and there families) involved in this tragedy. Being caught up in this wonderful world of cruising... it is hard to imagine that something so tragic could happen. Let's just pray that whatever caused this will come out and be prevented so it can never happen to one of us.

[BugsyCruiser]

Well, in fairness, Bush IS to blame for everything.

 

In Fairness, NO he is not to blame for everything. But I see where this one is going... Obama is doing just such a wonderful job isn't he? I know.... Bush, bad. Obama, perfect. Yeah I've heard that so many times, I've run out of tylenol for the headaches that follow...