UPDATE: R/V Petrel | Current Situation | Ownership by US Navy | How it Happened | Salvage Plans

[@josephscoon8409]

I am a certified dock master here in the states, this is my biggest fear seeing something like this. that is why it is important to do your calculations. There is calculations to do to account for wind force and how much support you need to support those winds. So it makes you wonder what happened. and why the appropriate steps weren't taken to prevent this. As a fellow ship builder and dock master I hope all is well.

[@puposbela]

after the ship toppled 3 of my colleagues took on the role of the first responders and went on to help people of the unfortunate ship. Catalin Octavian Petcu ,mechanic. He teamed up with a crane operator whose name I don't remember and get into the basket despite of the strong wind then helped others to get off the ship. Marius Novac and Andrei Craciun ,painters they both got a cherry picker and helped others .. these people had every reason to stay on key side and they weren't on the ship when it toppled, but they didn't. they just jumped in and did whatever they possibly could up to the point the official first responders arrived to the scene.

[@stephenmathewes5159]

I'm a journeyman shipyard rigger. I've set many keel and side blocks in different dry docks. A proper docking plan using keel and side blocks will securely support any hull form, including a submarine hull with a round cross section. It's labor intensive, but it won't encourage a shipwreck. Everything on that ship has been dropped, thrown, or shock loaded. Nothing from main propulsion units to water tight doors can be assumed to be in alignment, sealed, or reliable. No money was saved there.

[@seanworkman431]

I can understand the time saving as far as getting the vessels into the dock but once dry I would think it imperative to place blocking under the hull. Your correct, no money was saved.

[@ianmcwhirter5552]

I am from leith and I served my time as an apprentice engineer in that dry dock with that company, the vast majority of what you said is spot on, as well as fixing the ships propulsion systems I also took part on docking and undocking the ships, whilst it’s true the wind had a major effect in the accident the state of the shores holding the ships upright always worried me, the blue ones holding up scotia for example are hollow extendable rusty poles, they had two or four lugs that would lock into the outer part of the shore and a 10/20mm hook that locks them into the desired length. I was a member of the team that removed one of the diesel engines from petrel which effectively blew up before she was laid up, that might the reason for dry docking her in leith since the company that removed the damaged engine has a dry dock.

[@SteamCrane]

Very interesting information!

[@ianmcwhirter5552]

@Michael Cohen I was a mechanical engineer at dales, luckily not a structural engineer. Served my time and moved on to an easier and safer way of life. Yeah you’re completely correct. Just wanted to give some insider information on the topic. I’ve seen ships come in the dry dock with the C of G being completely off, i.e listing over due to water ballast or fuel. Put simply most of the crews don’t have experience in dry dock. Bit easier getting away with a list while it’s floating 😂 I’ve also been thinking about the position of the ship in the dry dock, on petrel’s starboard side (the side she’s now resting on) there is a part of the dock itself that doesn’t have angled steps for the shores to be placed on. It’s a straight vertical wall from the dock bottom to the hand rail. That would normally cause dales to place the shores somewhere else further aft ( where less support would be needed) I think that, along with the poor load bearing strength of the shores are to blame for this serious accident. That’s the worst I’ve seen from them. And I had an anchor drop 5 meters away from me while I was driving a forklift on the dock bottom 😂😂

[@BobBob-nr1zt]

Checking historical weather from Tuesday March 14 onwards, I find wind speed did not exceed 27 km/h, until the morning of the accident Wednesday March 22, when wind was WSW at 47km/h. Checking google maps, I see the port side was facing SW.

[@BobBob-nr1zt]

​@Michael Cohen Oh I'm not thinking by any means that wind will be the root cause any more than the tsunami was the root cause of the Fukushima mess. I also don't intend to imply that I have inappropriate confidence in my unqualified ponderings. Still, when individuals work with heavy steel systems long enough, they may develop some helpful intuitions, despite not being a qualified engineer. Your explanation is helpful in reminding us that the behavior of some systems may well be counter to our more common intuitions. Ian's above description of the brace system as 'rusty' does not inspire confidence either. I wonder if the braces might have had adequate safety factor but for inadequate compressive tension. If the strain on each brace was plotted in real time, I suppose we might see, induced by the wind, "waves" of strain moving from bow to stern as the ship "flutters" in the wind. Could an unlucky distribution of braces, with some braces being in more tension than others, combined with an unlucky frequency of wind gusts, have set up some resonance in the system? I dunno. I imagine that to the extent any ships are capable of "fluttering," different ships will "flutter" at different frequencies.

[@bigdmac33]

Here's my tuppence worth : I agree with your assessment of refloating the ship in order to reposition her. Any other method ( cranes etc ) would present significant difficulty in correctly aligning the ship's keel on the blocks. As for why she tipped, I think that there are a few factors worth considering : 1. As you noted [ 9:11 ], the amount of hull / superstructure above the dry dock is significant because it means that the placing of braces lower down on the hull would leave considerable structure and weight above the bracing which then means that the lateral forces acting on the bracing would be much, much greater. 3. The accommodation / ops block and machinery ( eg, the crane ) coupled with point 1 surely meant a higher C of G. 4. If Petrel had been defueled, this too would have affected her C of G. 5. As the ship's natural C of G would have been dependent on her being in water, taking points 1 to 4 into consideration, to put it crudely, once in dry dock, did Petrel become top heavy, only teetering on a relatively thin line of blocks? 6. High winds would not normally have given cause for concern as it should have been taken into consideration. However, because of points 1 to 4, the significance of wind would have become much greater. 7. The sharp sweep of the bow and aft sections of hull would have caused significant issues for bracing as these areas represent approximately 50% off vertical. Which means that only about 50% of Petrel's hull would have provided sufficient vertical surface in which to brace against the vertical dry dock walls. I'm glad that you are taking a continuing interest in this accident. I'm sure the MAIB report will be worth a read.

[@wgowshipping]

I too will be looking forward to the MAIB report.

[@BLUESKY-zt1nv]

You need to get enough people underneath the hull and push it upright while the others place the supports back ,that is the best way , using cranes could cause more damage to the boat.

[@silmarian]

@@BLUESKY-zt1nv h….how? She’s like 1500 tons. The safety implications alone of having people underneath an unstable ship as thousands of others tried to push her upright are just mind boggling.

[@williamorton7600]

If you think the ship is top heavy...reflooding the dock won't work. Either have to heavy lift, or jack the ship back up onto the blocks.

[@josephhobbs3009]

I guess I should have read your reply first you basically covered in much deeper description that I did! I totally agree with you

[@dougietamson]

I'm at next door at Newhaven Harbour, Edinburgh where in 1507 the 'Great Michael' was laid down, at launch the largest ship afloat in the world! There were some strong gusts that morning. At the turn of the 20th century, the Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland launched 1/5th of the worlds shipping.

[@AshleyMcivor-jk6bo]

I am a time served shipwright, who has worked in the shirepair all my life ,we used to use side shores ,but now we put ships on blocks using a docking plan provided by shipping company hope they get this sorted

[@benmac940]

All my experience in dry docks is using side shoring but that was a small dock dealing predominantly in naval ships. But yes there is always a docking plan specific for every ship. One thing I do remember is it would be difficult at best to fully support some ships that aren't flat bottomed on blocks. And also note the other purpose of the shores is to prevent transverse sagging which can occur if the vessel is only sitting on keel block

[@brianmackenzie5692]

Also a now retired Shipwright/Boatbuilder - the use of side blocks has been the normal process for some time in the graving dock that I did my time at. I would suggest the decision to use side shores rather than side blocks was one of cost.

[@peterfrazer1943]

Well said Ash, I laughed when an Edinburgh Councillor said it had an blown over.

[@benmac940]

@HVAC Quality Assurance as I said I'd imagine this would have been organized by the previous owner. But the blocking must be in accordance with the ships docking plan

[@johncharley9791]

As stated, this practice is very common in the ship repair industry and bearing in mind the dock master would be very familiar with the weather conditions across the area for this time of year. The ship repair authority has docked many rig support vessels, cable layers and vessels of the same configuration so this is not new to them. Using a single line of keel blocks is custom and practice but what is extremely important is the ships docking condition prior to entering the dock, the vessel must be in the correct condition for docking and the correct docking plan used with any updates to design and weight changes (many ships get modified during lifeline), these, if any, must be calculated for the docking condition and docking plan. Getting the ship centre line on the blocks can be very challenging with risk and must be checked, the width of the vessel at extremes must be measured against side shore brace lengths to total resting width of the vessel. As a precaution (and at extra cost) dock bottom shore posts can be placed on load points on the ships hull, approximately 4 each side, these must be accurately measured and set in using a series of wedges, they then apply the side shore braces (again they must be strong enough and sufficient in number down each side of the final resting point to hold the ship upright. One thing to note, whilst the ship is in dock, liquids must not be transferred around the ship or heavy loads moved that may cause stress to the vertical known as moments of movement. If the whole process had been risk assessed with all the unknowns factored then maybe we wouldn't be talking about it now. Second point, the only way to right this ship is by controlled flood up and securities fastened to the ship to prevent slipping off the blocks and over rolling to the port when close to vertical. It will be interesting to see how they propose to perform this delicate operation.

[@redparrot9489]

As always - loving the maritime education I get as you unpack and discuss real-world events. Such a fascinating and expansive realm.

[@cayboy420]

Good info. I can see this boat from my apartment in LEITH :-)

[@scottn7cy]

As someone of Scottish decent I think you should know the Scots are always angry about everything so don't sweat the grief you got over the name.

[@wgowshipping]

Thanks!

[@seangimbel]

Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland.

[@scottn7cy]

@MrAbletospeak descent

[@bigmastif]

@@MrAbletospeak probably as in his grannys, next door neighbours cats dug was born in the states but he was scottish 2 times removed on his 3rd cousins side..........oh aye we are always angry about something, but our sense of humour surpases the angry bit. 👍

[@EIGYRO]

That would be 'Scottish deScent', as in going down, like your spelling. 😁 Yeah, I know, I'm a pedantic a--hole.

[@robertf3479]

Sal, thank you for taking such an interest in Petrel, you answered a number of my questions. I was wondering how they would try to right her and had considered flooding the dock as a means to get her up and upright again. The important thing is that no one was killed and the injured are on the mend. Metal can be fixed, human bodies not so easily.

[@hideoutdodge01]

At least 1 man is paralyzed from neck down and actually died on the operating table but was successfully revived by the Doctors.

[@royale4318]

Since you've been hearing from lots of Scots regarding incorrect pronunciation of 'Edinburgh,' I think it's only fair that you hear from one acknowledging and appreciating your willingness to correct the small error! 👍

[@wgowshipping]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I do appreciate that!

[@hideoutdodge01]

3 of those hospitalized are friends/coworkers of mine. 2 of which actually finally made it home within the last 1 and 2 weeks. The 3rd is still not cleared for travel. There is a lot of speculation here about how to right her, however you have to take into account all the interior damage and how safe it is for workers to even enter the vessel in this unsound condition. Heck, one of the engines was actually suspended by hoists when she fell over. Huge hydraulic rams were brought in to hold her in place for the investigation but they are not submersible so they will have to be replaced at some point if they plan on flooding the dry dock.

[@geraldineaherne9763]

Thanks, Sal, very informative. Hope everyone recovers soon. Stay safe and healthy.

[@darrellyoung9586]

I have been in the Merchant Marine all my life and served on every type of ship. I have been in shipyards at many places around the world, but the ship has always been supported by blocks from the drydock floor. Good luck refloating the Petrel.

[@sequoiasemperviren3163]

Why wouldn't reflooding the dry dock work?

[@harrynikken]

The keel looks damaged to me while still pressed against the center blocks. Interesting to see what they'll do. btw. I am also a master mariner and after 42 years at sea this is the first time I see these (vulnerable looking) side supports. But then I only sailed on larger flatbottomed vessels.

[@davidelliott5843]

Flood the dry dock. Hold her level with ropes and reposition her onto blocks as the dry dock is drained. The damage can then be safely evaluated for potential repairs.

[@hammyh1165]

They're blaming it on the wind but it was only 45mph , that's common in our area at this time of year . I live 15miles away from the docks.

[@twothreefour234]

I find it hard to believe if it was properly blocked up it would have been fine. I'm not a shipbuilder, just auto, but always give it a shake to double check. How that translates to ships? My guess, Somebody screwed the pooch, I doubt we ever get the truth.

[@SocialContractActual]

​@@twothreefour234 yea someone missed the bump test on this dingy for sure.

[@malcolmyoung7866]

@@twothreefour234 In the UK every industrail accident is investgated thoroughly, must the same as OSHA(?) would do. The 'shi7' will hit the fan and the cause of the accident will be released so that it 'doesn't happen again' etc. Leith Dock's will carry the can thats for sure. Heads will roll...if any negligence is found. Comments on here regards 'blocking' ships may indicate a failing but as mentioned this procedure is used around the globe for various reasons. Its also worth noting that the other vessel in the dry dock is secured in the same fashion and remains upright. There maybe specific reasons as to whether Petrel should have been secured with full blocking on the hull. Or not. One thing is for sure that there is a serious lesson in the accident to be learnt. Hoping the remain 5 in hospital recover fully as with those who have aready been released.

[@tedmoss]

@@malcolmyoung7866 I still wonder if the Navy had control, they should have specified how to block the ship.

[@roderickcampbell2105]

Wow, that was a blast. I had friends that worked on a "Petrel". Research ship but a different vessel and purpose. But needless to say the title sure caught my attention. My thoughts with those who were hurt.

[@ThePlebicide]

I think the reason it's in Scotland is because they have a lot of experience servicing the north sea oil industry, and I expect the sort of work, underwater pipe inspection is right in their wheelhouse.

[@Simon-ho6ly]

As i understand it was more convenient for where it was when they needed a secure long term mooring and safe place for it to stay a while, could be wrong there.. i work just up hill from it

[@ckm-mkc]

It's where it was refit after Allen bought it.....

[@benmac940]

If it was just brought by the us then it could be being docked as part of the sales contract to be prepared for handover and that is usually organized by the seller who would normally go with a yard that's one close and two one they've dealt with before

[@lesterjohnston8888]

Good comments

[@louiswilliamhicks]

I am looking at Topaz right now. She is outside my apartment window, but on the Birkenhead side of the Liverpool dock front. I wondered what it was!!! When I saw the photo in the video, I thought, why is that so familiar. Then I looked out the window. Haha. RFA Tiderace is also here right now, and recently we had Type 45 destroyers in the dry docks too.

[@wgowshipping]

Lucky view! That would fire me up every morning looking out the window that those ships.

[@louiswilliamhicks]

@What is Going on With Shipping? It does. I spend some mornings standing in the window with a coffee just staring out and watching the traffic. I've seen some pretty good size LNG ships and some Royal Navy ships pass through. I missed the Queen Elizabeth carrier a while back though. I wish I'd been here for that. I did see Ark Royal before she was decommissioned, and many years ago, there was a Nimitz Class here. I got to see it from the Birkenhead side that time while in New Brighton. I recently moved home from the US after 11 years. Its nice to be back, and I had to be on the river.

[@holdthepin565]

Well done Mark, finally someone knowledgeable, appreciate your comments. In old fashioned parlance ‘it’s a cock up’.

[@cheesemuncher6138]

Thank you for the update and education, never a dull moment in the maritime world! If this event had happened one day later it would have coincided with the anniversary of the Evergiven! 😳 All the best from the UK.

[@CopiousDarth]

I've been under hundreds of ships and boats in drydock, this is the only time I've never seen keel only blocks supporting a vessel. This is wild!

[@steveobrien4141]

same here ---was in the merchant navy for years , drydock block plans were on every ship i went on , blocks covering almost all of the hull , not just keel blocks.

[@keithbarron3654]

It's not that hard to set cribbing, the naval architect would laid up schedule for blocks, have seen side braces setup on frames, not just to hull plating. I wonder if the hull would sag from no support, we had hulls buckled from wrongful placed cribbing during 3 month drydock and would hog after we got back underway. How much equipment got deranged from shift and refloating is best,ballows hull to reset itself.

[@brucelytle1144]

That is the way we drydocked SSN's all the time. We had to have maximum exposed surface for cleaning and painting for one, and access to exterior tanks/void spaces...

[@Jacob-W-5570]

@@keithbarron3654 what on earth is wrong with your ship if you drydock it for 3 months?! 4 to 5 days for clean blast and paint. in that time you can overhaul all the hull vavles too. and out again.

[@snowgorilla9789]

​@@brucelytle1144 it is called "block spotting" refloat the ship and move it fore or aft enough to clear the blocks and re dock her. It is done on a regular basis. Much safer

[@barriewright2857]

From the UK thank you for the explanation of the possible reasons for the accident. Just hope everyone is OK and not to badly affected by this terrible accident.

[@bobjoatmon1993]

Hmmmm Back when I worked at Todd Shipyards Galveston in the '70s we'd set up a cruciform block arrangement for vessels with sweeping bow and stern lines. The main block line along the keel then some blocks at the midline where the bottom flares out on each side of the keel blocks. Of course, every vessel had a set of prints that the marine architect draws up, wonder what Petrel required and if it's what they did. Of course, no ship goes into the shipyard without insurance, I can see this one being in court for years with finger pointing all around.

[@tedmoss]

I will bet the same as you.

[@martyspargur5281]

Hardhat 42?

[@peterfrazer1943]

Looking at this vid, there is plenty of area forward, where they could have used side blocks. Then as an extra put Shores aft where the Hull sweeps upwards. The weight of the Ship is always going to want to go down through the centre of gravity, side blocks will always protect against tipping and won't fail like shores. Best wishes to the lads who were hurt. I spent 35 years in Ship Repair yards and can't imagine what it must be like if an accident like this happens.

[@daviddoran3673]

CNN said Putin did this...with help from China, Syria, Iran and Venezuela...

[@inspector4133]

A little surprised that no yard surveillance video of the actual incident, has surfaced. The UK is covered with cameras, hard to believe that they do not have any in a shipyard?

[@ifv2089]

Russians turned them off 😂

[@user-iy5ud7lk4n]

hi i am a retired boatbuilder having lots of experience on slipping and docking following the comments from a previous follower about the blocking up. once the ship was docked and dry it should have had sets of bilge blocks for extra support. normally you would put in more bilge blocks than needed so these were removed one at a time by the shipwrights for the painting crew , also looking at the still of the dock bottom it appears a large section of keel blocks missing this must have been done as part of the docking plan. best wishes to all concerned get well soon

[@AllNighterHeider]

Glad there were no deaths reported. Thanks Sal

[@kyleroth1025]

Hey Dr. Sal. I'm part of the general public watching your channel. Thank you for mentioning the Petrel's Azipod. I was going to comment asking where are the rudders.

[@GMR2185]

Petrel has been in dry dock a couple of weeks, they recently flooded the dry dock to bring Scotia in. Something could have shifted or changed in the process of doing this. This in combination with the high winds that day could have contributed to this incident. I delivered to Dales Marine just before Scotia was brought in.

[@joefin5900]

Bilge blocks are what we always went with, Braswell Shipyards Boston.

[@steveobrien4141]

I was in the merchant navy for years , drydock block plans were on every ship i went on , blocks covering almost all of the hull , not just keel blocks.

[@tedmoss]

Smart.

[@Markycarandbikestuff]

Every ship has instructions on how it should be dry docked ?, would never have known that.

[@ramblingrob4693]

@@Markycarandbikestuff I didn't

[@peperpimenta]

Thanks for clarifying ownership, great job explaining the dry dock procedures, this highlights to me that there were possible cost saving measures when it comes to bracing ... for sure if the hull integrity is ok, flooding the DD will be the best solution to get he back on ShipRight 😊

[@r.markclayton4821]

Righting the ship fairly easy. Caulk up any holes gaps in the hull. Temporarily fit some flotation devices (aka water wings). This will inhibit it dipping the deck under water. Refill the dock. Ship will refloat and right itself. If dry dock work still required, try and position the ship for dry dock work again.

[@benwilson6145]

The vessel is in a drydock, caulking has not been done for a hundred years, better to repair the holes with fabricated steel.

[@r.markclayton4821]

@@benwilson6145 I used caulking generically. What I meant was whatever was necessary tř)ol?

[@Murph9000]

Leith used to be a separate town, but it has been considered a district within the City of Edinburgh for quite a long time. There's no distinct boundary between Edinburgh and Leith these days.

[@TheSubHunter1]

Going to be a interesting recovery for sure

[@sailronin]

Good information. I agree with the refloating method as best option for righting her. The vessel had been laid up in Leith which is why she went just across the fairway to Dale's Shipyard for her refit work.

[@wgowshipping]

Thanks for sharing!

[@bmused55]

Keel only blocks in a dry dock that is in an area known for high winds at this time of year? Asking for trouble, imo. I live a few miles away. The winds were really strong, but not uncommonly so. They really should have known the wind would be a hazard

[@stanbrow]

Please keep us up to date on this, thank you.

[@sequoiasemperviren3163]

Retired professional civil engineer here. There is a photo showing whitecaps in the channel just off the dry dock. It is highly likely wind gusts caused the ship to shift to port whereupon the starboard braces broke loose and collapsed.

[@chris52386]

The bracing beams might be cheap. But they're not so cheap now 😂 A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 living in 🇮🇪

[@Stuart_Cox1969]

Hahaha nice start to the video, I live in South Edinburgh and the wind was really, really bad that night, our house is being done up and has scaffolding all around it, the scaffolding shook and rattled and clunked all night, of course we then got told the wind had nothing to do with the collapse of the vessel, but yeah the wind was very, very strong all night, and i think it would have been heavy enough to dislodge some of the supports as you say.

[@stephenrickstrew7237]

Congratulations on the 75k subscribers…! I saw on the Duluth Minnesota Harbor Cam that they have reopened that harbor.. it’s a interesting watching them break out of the ice ..

[@charlesstorrs194]

Wind can set up vibrations between the two sides and work the bracing loose.

[@lynschultz513]

Hope you will keep us posted on this one. Thanks Sal!

[@kevinstonerock3158]

While it would depend upon dry docking specifications, if I had my druthers, I think I’d lay keel blocks either side of the keel and attach them together with slings so that as the ship settles onto them the blocks are pulled together where it cradles the hull. Course you’d have to tie the bases of the blocks together so they don’t kick out away from each other. You’d also have the single line of blocks along the keel at the stern. Since one of the commenters who dry docks ships says there’s little confidence that the internal structure hasn’t been compromised. Having a double row of blocks will distribute the load more. Having a single row of blocks just allows the wind to blow the bow to starboard pivoting the keel on a couple blocks with the stern pivoting to port since there’s little wind loading on the stern. Every time the wind blows the side braces has the potential to slip further out of place.

[@jvaneck8991]

Judging by the immaculate hull paint, all fresh and clean, plus the neat rows of silvery zincs, the reason it was keel-blocked and side beams was to offer unobstructed hull for painting and zincing. Also, it looks like the keel did kick out a bit, so before re-floating I suspect the yard will install cross beams (braced against the dock wall) at the keel level port-side to keep the ship from slipping off the keel blocks as the water level comes up. That will force the ship to rotate CCW on the keel and line up; if the ship slides off those keel blocks then you will end up with hull plate damage, gets expensive to fix.

[@arthurhughes42]

That seems like the perfect solution to the re floating problem. I live about 60 miles away and at the time of the incident a very strong wind blew and my suspicion is that this put enormous stress on the starboard braces while slackening off the port braces.

[@digger8180]

From the picks you can see the skeg before the Azimuth pods is breached, the plating has prated due to torsional stress, this is a void space. It is regular practice to use stays to sheer up a boat in dock, it would appear that one or more of the stays has failed?, an AMIB investigation will be underway. Unfortunately in my opinion the vessel will be scrapped as engines, shaft bearings, the whole structure or skeleton has been affected, like your car getting hit side on. I may be wrong and I hope I am. My best wishes go out to the people working that day. A Marine Engineer.

[@gregorymckee5242]

Thanks! I just love being able to tell my wife about all of the things that are going on that she'll never hear about on her news programs. Keep up the good work....kudos from Alamance Co.

[@wgowshipping]

Thanks Gregory!

[@jeebus6263]

that's pretty much anything that matters

[@JoeK.-md5dk]

R/V Petrel actually has three Azipods. Two on the stern and one retractable just aft of the bow thrusters.

[@wgowshipping]

Great piece of info. Thanks Joe!

[@aljohnson125]

yes one can see the"Step" in the keel just aft of the bow thrusters that is where the 3rd Azi" is.

[@ivekuukkeli2156]

Azipod could be also openly in the bow. Azipod can work in ice. Actually the first (1.) Azipod was in a small icebreaking ship, ms. Seili

[@timd1833]

Saw the USS Saratoga (CV-60) in drydock at Norfolk, Va in 1973. I was ship's company. Now that was some serious block support!!!

[@oddvardmyrnes9040]

The hull & superstructure was made in Romania by then Aker Yards. She was outfitted in Norway. I think Haugesund Verft was the yard she was outfitted by. But don't quote me on that. It is a while back.

[@ruger8412]

That ship is about as nice as it gets sad to see such a asset on its side. Hopefully it rights ok & isn't to damaged. Thanks for sharing 👍 😊

[@66moonraker]

Great channel Sal. thank you. I like the gift from your offspring in your office "I'm glad that you're my Dad". I hope that an NTSB type of investigation will result in methodologies for future prevention of such incidents. I applaud your research and delivery of information that seems to elucidate facts and not bias or ulterior motive.

[@rocketman48]

l have been totally ignorant of ships and how they work.i have had small boats and a shetland but this is with the big boys.great info thanks.

[@BobBob-nr1zt]

Checking historical weather from Tuesday March 14 onwards, I find wind speed did not exceed 27 km/h, until the morning of the accident Wednesday March 22, when wind was WSW at 47 km/h. Checking google maps, I see the port side was facing SW.

[@jeebus6263]

~7:00 wow, i'm really surprised the blocks underneath haven't displaced.

[@SteamCrane]

...and worry about the blocks moving during the refloat!

[@robertjune1221]

Some additional topics to address: If you are going to flood the dry dock and float the Petrel upright, when would you do it? How would this affect the other ship, if the work on it isn't done? What about the work that was to be done on the Petra? I think there are going to be quite a number of interesting videos from this incident and I'm looking forward to them.

[@Lizard72]

Anything needing to be plugged or patched would be done so they could flood.

[@seymourpro6097]

When the owner isn't the original purchaser is there any hope that the dry dock block positioning papers have been kept? Every vessel has it's own unique blocking needs.

[@sailronin]

Yes, complete docking plans are normally supplied with the technical documents package upon sale of a large vessel.

[@stephenchaiser5082]

I hope you guys get back up and running soon! I’m loving all the ww2 wrecks y’all found!

[@markholly5961]

I am a retired engineer, but no experience with no marine architecture. That being said, braces look pretty skinny. I also think they would ned to be pre-loaded to prevent falling if wind from the side off-loads one side.

[@sparty94]

online data on the ship is showing the builder is Brattvaag Verft of Norway.

[@markchisholm2657]

And here is the actual probable cause. Firstly, most ships don't use or need side shores. The RV Petrel probably does but not always. It's actually the Acergy Petrel a DSV which I was present for the naming ceremony years ago built for offshore construction work. The reason it might have needed side shores is because clearly they were working on the drop down thruster. Working on a drop-down is not easy because keel blocks are much too low to access the prop. You either need very high blocks which is dangerous or a pit. Typically docks didn't have pits but more now do. When I used to deal with docks and contracts there was always an argument over this but we alway insisted on a pit being dug not using high keep blocks because you would need around 2.5m to 3m which isn't considered safe. In this case clearly the dock have persuaded the owners to use high blocks which was dumb and shows lack of experience on the owners behalf. The other issue is the design. Look at the knuckle boom crane - heavy and on the stbd side. The ROV launch system is also on the stbd side. Offshore construction ships are load biased to stbd which is a docking problem. The Petrel when run by offshore construction guys used to park the crane thwartships to counter some of this load when docking Wind has cock all to do with this. The blocks were too high and the ship unstable.

[@peterfinucane8122]

Is that a Roll On Roll Over type of vessel??

[@royalscot4116]

What about the possible damage to the hull when the starboard side met with the dry dock concrete wall? I expect that the U.S. Navy will be hard to convince that the R/V Petrel can be restored as good as new. This is not your average family cruiser.

[@s.a.efarming5857]

I live locally and there was very strong winds at the time. During the morning when the incident happened, the winds were much stronger than usual

[@alanj9391]

I live up-river, and while the windspeeds quoted for the time of the failure were higher than normal, they certainly weren't unknown in this neck of the woods.

[@paulschrum4727]

Somewhere there is a Registered Professional Engineer (Structures) or the GB equivalent who is calling his barrister.

[@benwilson6145]

Think your maritime knowledge is missing. The vessel owner approves the docking plan!

[@paulschrum4727]

@@benwilson6145 You discern correctly. I know very little about maritime standards and practices. But the vessel owner should have used a Chartered Engineer either in their employ or contract consulting. And multiple parties likely have standing to seek damages. And the CE (or her employer) are only liable if their approved plans were according to standards. But the liability must fall somewhere.

[@PlanetFrosty]

Thanks, Sal, from the update. Very interesting to see the hull configuration.

[@wgowshipping]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@stuartpaty51]

10:25 the ship has been in leith for some time. It was in the furthest basin tied up.

[@YellowRambler]

Definitely a candidate for this year picture titled “I had a bad day”.

[@jeffbangkok]

A good afternoon at the mango farm with Sal

[@selvarajanc6106]

Check the ship's Chief officer if someone shifted water from any FWTs or BWTs for any reason. Or else did they continuously used Freshwater from one side only causing it to lose the equilibrium.

[@rubusroo68]

I hope everyone makes a full recovery ❤

[@martineastburn3679]

I don't see safety blocks that touch the belly if it shifts. It easily so it seems over powered the pistons and fall over.

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

Best option, assuming there is room, parbukling. Pull it upright slowly. Into braces preset to hold it at vertical

[@wgowshipping]

I was going to mention parbukling but that is a long term and most expensive option. I think for the size of this ship they will use braces on the port side, but instead of lifting, they will flood the dock and float her upright while tightening the braces.

[@janhalvarson1041]

The helipad may be like a kite in high winds.

[@glenmartin2437]

Thank you. I am glad I do not have to deal with this!

[@wgowshipping]

Me neither

[@kevinhoffman8214]

great show , I also wanted to thank you for introducing me to the maritime history magazine ! thanks

[@wgowshipping]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@SteamCrane]

Very interesting that there seem to be no photos of the starboard side leaning against the drydock wall. Looks like the point of contact may the lower superstructure, rather than the hull. Seems the best way of righting would be to flood the dock, but *slowly*, with a lot of righting control. Perform lots of stability calculations at various water levels first! Looks like the keel could kick off the blocks if not done very carefully. However, huge air bags have also become popular for work like this.

[@will5286]

Great details-thanks---surprised that the keel blocks didn't kick out more. Re: Shores (braces). I'm a mostly retired yacht (sailboat) rigger and have moved and set up for storage (in and out of the water) alot of (admittedly much smaller) boats. I have something of an understanding of the forces at play. IMHO, this failure wasn't the result of one or several shores failing followed by a cascade of events, but rather, I suspect that the entire shoring setup was inadequate in this situation. Shoring was either incorrectly placed, which would surprise me, or, more likely, that measures to account for the additional wind loads, that you mentioned, were inadequate. Adequate number of, and proper placement of the shores against the hull is critical-as is ADEQUATE TENSION against the hull to counter excessive wind loads. Since every ship is different, errors are possible and it may be that only the strong winds caused an OK setup to fail when under duress.

[@Simon-ho6ly]

I dont buy the wind load arguement as we have had much bigger and stronger wind storms since shes been parked in that drydock including quite recently

[@wgowshipping]

Will...great detail. Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

[@tedmoss]

@@Simon-ho6ly Well somebody screwed up.

[@will5286]

@@Simon-ho6ly You might, of course be correct. Perhaps you have detailed information about all the wind events relative to their directions, wind-speeds and pulse (gust) intensities and patterns. The details are important. Looking forward to the findings.

[@Simon-ho6ly]

@@will5286 I dont have exact information, just from being local to leith and the event and while the night before was windy, it wasnt remarkable for edinburgh in the slightest and should be a well known risk for the yard

[@TheHateSpeechChannel]

Just before the incident the ship was heard saying "look a penny!"

[@rdembow]

The ship has too be vertical on point for the shoring to be effective .It just doesn’t look they used many side shoring beams as shown by the existing port side photo. It just appears to be a very weak system for shoring. Considering the immense weight once off center,a beefy hydraulic side shoring with large rubber pads would be ideal for a dry dock setup.

[@ijnfleetadmiral]

Speaking as a fan of what Petrel accomplished in terms of wreck hunting, seeing her like this hurts.

[@howardjohnson2138]

Thank you

[@wgowshipping]

You're welcome

[@falcon127]

NAVFAC,... THAT EXPLAINS (EVERYTHING) I WORKED FOR NAVFAC AS A CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEE FOR 5 YEARS! NAVFAC HAS CHALLENGES! NAVFAC IS THE "SPECIAL OLYMPICS" OF GOVERNMENT SERVICES.

[@ibbylancaster8981]

Yeaaahhhhh Brooughh!😂😅. Get it right Sal, yer one of them there college Perfessers🤣😂. Much love from right down the road in Raeford 🤙🤙

[@wgowshipping]

🤙

[@jobinglobin]

Your shirt and your mood both seem muted today. Don’t let anyone get you down! Love your episode today as always!!

[@thearab59]

Excellent video. The local reporting, here in Scotland, has been very poor on this story. Your analysis has been very helpful. Thank you. Leith is part of Edinburgh btw, and has been since 1920.

[@wgowshipping]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@BobBob-nr1zt]

@@wgowshipping Checking historical weather from Tuesday March 14 onwards, I find wind speed did not exceed 27 km/h, until the morning of the accident Wednesday March 22, when wind was WSW at 47 km/h. Checking google maps, I see the port side was facing SW.

[@ibbylancaster8981]

It looks like they could flood that dock and refloat it. But I’m just playing armchair qb. I said this before you gave your assessment. Score one for me😉🤙

[@mikedo6]

Hope all recover. Sad this happened to a ship which has made so many great discoveries.

[@RicktheRecorder]

I would say it was unusual for the bilge keels not to be blocked.

[@warrenjones744]

Oh boy what a mess, no matter what how they salvage it is going be expensive to sort that out.

[@almirria6753]

I have a very bad feeling that the US taxpayers are going to be footing the bills for the repairs to this ship & the dry dock But once again you bring a very clear & concise thought process to this & all shipping issues. BTW the Mississippi River is heading into flood conditions again.

[@HaddaClu]

Nah this looks like negligence pure and simple on the shipyards part. The insurance for the shipyard will take care of paying for the repairs.

[@thomashengel6623]

the ship yard will eat this cost of repairs

[@willbee6785]

Looking at the hanging braces on the Scotia and comments saying this is standard practice in the industry is a bit frightening. The first thing, the braces should be triangulated and horizontally tied to stop brace movement just like scaffolding. If they are hung and the ship moves, they’re useless, they could rise and slide up on one side of the ship or sway and slide to the side. It was the first thing that caught our attention when initially aired on t.v. The weather was very windy that day and gusts would have had positive and negative effects on the ship’s structure. This weather was clearly predicted on many weather apps.

[@lairdcummings9092]

I've been drydocked a good number of times while in the USN. Every time, in the US. Every time, the contract (or procedure, for USN-owned drydocks) specified cribbing as well as keelson blocks. Yes, that's a belt-and-suspenders approach, but not one of the ships I was drydocked with suffered even a hint of instability - not even during earthquakes in quake-prone California. Not even during the huge Loma Prieta quake. A few more thousand dollars spent on cribbing would have prevented this event quite easily. Cheap insurance, at the price. Drydocks in question: Mare Island Naval Shipyard, NASSCO San Diego, ARDM-5 ARCO (floating drydock, SUBASE San Diego).

[@tedmoss]

Considering the loss, a very good idea.

[@benwilson6145]

This is a commercial drydock! The drydock operator will as part of the quote supply the owner with a list of options and costs, the owner chooses what they want to pay for. This is what they paid for.

[@lairdcummings9092]

@@benwilson6145 NASSCO, mentioned above? Commercial. USN contracts in both places. You'll note, despite your apparent outrage, that i didn't blame thee shipyard - only pointed out that in my rather extensive experience in drydock, the lack of a call for cribbing is unusual. Also, that had there *been* cribbing, we would not be having this conversation. Now, go be angry elsewhere.

[@benwilson6145]

@@lairdcummings9092 Maybe thow needs to return to thy Bible, and calling a shipyard thee is not correct. Maybe thow calls NASSCO thee?

[@lairdcummings9092]

@@benwilson6145 are you having a stroke? That made exactly zero sense.

[@madaknevarski6478]

it's no EdinBRA either, that's the west coast pronunciation. its EdinBURRA . that's straight from an Edinburgh lifelong resident.

[@wgowshipping]

I am just not going to win on this one issue.

[@jimw1615]

Finally, someone who shares their knowledge of the issue. Thanks.

[@SteamCrane]

@@wgowshipping Next we can talk about East Palesteen!

[@phensriwood8081]

Yachts are scary to prop up, the vibrations from the mast and rigging can really get going on a windy day.

[@jadams3427]

A proper dock plan should have been followed. Horizontal opposing struts can only come loose with thermal expansions and contractions of the ship. They should have rigging to prevent this. It is a pretty silly, unnecessary event.

[@tedmoss]

In hindsight, I agree.

[@benwilson6145]

This is a commercial drydock! The drydock operator will as part of the quote supply the owner with a list of options and costs, the owner chooses what they want to pay for. You go cheap, this is the result.

[@philtucker1224]

As far as I know the Scottish shipyards traditionally carry out maintenance for many countries Navy fleets.

[@iainsanders4775]

It was trying to do a Poseidon but the dockside got in the way..