Transatlantic Pipe Break Incident (21-22 May 2002 engine room flooding)

[highlander0108]

For those who may not have heard about this "little" event that happened onboard May 21/22, 2002, this is facinating if not done right horrifying read on just how close the ship came to being in serious peril and how the ingenuity of the ship's engineers averted a serious incident. Was anyone here onboard during this crossing?

http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources/qe2.pdf

[Andrew W]

That's really interesting. Shows you that there are some really resourceful people around. It's good to see that the investigators praised the QE2 engineers so heartily.

[KEV]

Don't recall this being a very public story at the time. Sounds like parallels to a seagoing version of Apollo 13-rigging up ingenious bladder repair kits with the bits available on board. The statement on P25 if the flange had detached makes one shudder to think. The important moral of the story and incident to me is no matter how well designed and  built a ship (and QE2 is surely one of the best) or any other engineering masterpiece is it can only take one relatively small part to fail and have serious consequences. Constant vigilance using the latest techniques (x ray-/ultrasound?) whatever the cost aswell as regular (2.5 years seems a long gap) good old fashioned visible inspections where possible to reduce the risk is the only way to go. Let's rejoice that everyone did  a great job on board and nothing worse happened

[Andrew W]

It is amazing when you consider the story of the Oceanos cruise ship off South Africa. The same thing happened - the pipe for one of teh evaporators to one of the sea boxes broke due to corrosion. On that occasion, the crew were not as resourceful as the QE2 engineering staff and the water rose, the engines, generators and pumps stopped and the ship sank slowly. The crew and officers were evidently not steeped in maritime law and got the bit about the captain going down with his ship wrong as he and most of the crew baled out in the life boats leaving the passengers in the hands of the entertainment staff. Finally they were all (but one I think) rescued by the helicopters of the South African airforce.

[Waverley]

Ship leaking at pipe. Water entering engineroom at a rate of 39000 gallons per hour.

http://www.professionalmariner.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=420C4D38DC9C4E3A903315CDDC65AD72&nm=Archives&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=A7C83B66944C4A6AAB4A375A379B107A

[highlander0108]

I posted the full report here (see initial post)  The full read is downright frightening what could have happened.  Ken

https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,216.0.html

[Malcolm]

I wasn't about when you posted the link originally. I'm interested to have seen it now though.

We must be grateful that what could have happened didn't happen because of the skill of the crew. I wonder if a similar thing could happen again or is current practice id ship design would prevent it?

[Waverley]

Good job that it did not reach the possible stage reported on page 25 of the report "Safety of the vessel"

http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/qe2.pdf

[Scott Ebersold]

this is really fascinating.  Where'd you find it?

[Jem]

Many thanks for that. Just goes to show what excellent engineers were onboard.

[Beardy Rich]

Have to agree with Jem, whoever thought of using a bladder filled with compressed air to stem the water ingress into the engine room was very clever. Can you imagine having to deal with a situation like this? Very scary to say the least.
Does anyone know whos idea it was that saved the ship from further damage? Nice to see that the MAIB also recognised the ingenious nature of repairing the hole and the resourcefulness of the engineers.

[Twynkle]

 
Did many floods take place on QE2?
It's almost incredible to think that any ship doesn't flood,
given both the conditions under which the piping joins etc need to remain in tact
and the fact that there's so much piping etc?
I wonder - what constitutes a flood
and might it (only) come to the attention of the engineering crew via readings on the gauges etc?
Then - on from there - how serious does the leak have to be, before it gets reported to say,
the owners, or the MAIB, or Lloyd's Register et al, or the insurers?
Was there always a surveyor on board on QE2?

Having seen a small quickly-dealt-with flood (quite extensive, and quite impressive) on another ship,
I wondered at the time, when or if it becomes 'reportable', as opposed to simply put in the log!

[Beardy Rich]

Floods weren't uncommon Rosie. Fortunately, most were minor and were quickly dealt with by ships services staff (in crew or passenger accommodation). Flood alerts were put out over the tannoy system with the words "Niagara, Niagara, Niagara".
Any floods in the machinery spaces were dealt with by the engineers.

[pete cain]

Rosie, I bet it becomes 'reportable ' when, quite a few passengers sorry customers have seen it , unfortunately that's the usal way of things

[Lynda Bradford]

Highlander's initial post with the report investigating the break in the pipe makes interesting reading and as mentioned before as it had not been for the ingenious action taken by engineers the safety of QE2 was in question. 

http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources/qe2.pdf