I mentioned the damage sustained in 1992. When QE2 was drydocked in Boston this is what the damage assessment discovered:
• Pieces of granite rock embedded in the hull cracks.
• The hull was dented for a length of about 300-feet and, in several places, there were small cracks a few inches thick.
• On the starboard side of the keel plate was a 21.34 (70-feet) fracture between frames 175 and 206 and a 5.49 metres (18-feet) fracture between frames 172 and 178.
• Five smaller fractures, 0.41 metres – 1.62 metres (16 – 24 feet) were found forward of the major fractures on the keel plate between frames 207 and 220.
• Two areas of damage were found on the starboard side to the bottom strakes ‘B’ (frames 210 – 236), ‘C’ (frames 141 – 221) and ‘D’ (frames 178 – 203).
• The bottom of the shell plating, together with the internal structure, was upset, deformed and damaged.
• One area of damage was found on the portside with ‘D’ strake at frames 178 – 193 being upset approximately 7 – 1 centimetres (3 – 4 inches) together with the attendant internal structural framing.
• The port bilge keel was heavily deformed over approximately 6.1 metres (20-feet between frames 151 and 163.
• There was evidence of paint scrapes due to contact starting at the bulbous bow and extending aft over a length of 400 feet aft and covering a width of 80 feet over the keel and either side of it and consisted of indents – some up to 240 feet in length and 14 inches deep – gouges and fractures. Paint scrapes and minor indents were noted on both sides as high as about two-feet above the keel plates (vertical measurement). The paint scrapes gradually transitioned into shallow upsets in the plate and then into large fractures on the flat keel.
• Twenty inner bottom tanks – mostly empty or carrying fresh water – had been damaged to some extent although one, No 10, an empty fuel tank, was the only tank to have leaked a small amount of oil residue at the time. The fractures in way of some of the indents were from 10 to 70 feet long and a 32 foot length of the port bilge keel had been severely damaged during the grounding.
• Internally some of the transverse floors and longitudinals (both structurally important upright ‘walls’ the comprise a ships cellular double bottom) were damaged by bucking and only in No 3 cargo hold was the deck bulging inboard, possible as a result of the flooding.
The fractures and damage ended abruptly just forward of amidships at approximately frame 172.
Rumours that the keel had been bent proved to be unfounded.
A thorough internal examination was undertaken and, fortunately, there was no damage to the stern, the propellers or the steering equipment.
