How could an fire in one of two engine rooms do sufficient damage to the electrical distribution system on the Carnival Splendor to completely disable the ship? The answer isn’t obvious. The Carnival Splendor is diesel electric powered, which is to say, instead of the ship’s engines connecting to the propellers by shafts, each of her two propellers is driven by an electric motor. Diesel engines connected to generators provide the power to drive the propellers, as well as to make the ice cubes, heat the hot tubs, and provide all the other electricity needed by this small city at sea.
According to Carnival, the ship has a forward and an aft engine room with three engines in each. Each engine room is connected to a switchboard. As reported in USA Today: A generator for an engine caught fire in the aft engine room 6 a.m. Monday, damaging a switchboard and “preventing the transmission of electricity to other machinery, including the propulsion motors,” said Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva.
Why would a fire in the aft engine room knock out power distributed from the forward engine room? The fire appears to have revealed a significant design flaw somewhere in the system. It will be interesting to see what the US Coast Guard and the Panamanian authorities discover.
Antonov delivers Engine for Carnival Splendor
“The engine was flown out from the manufacturer Wartsila via Venice, Italy and greeted by Blue Water (www.bws.dk) representive Roy Applegate who is over seeing it’s Installation.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjcendak/5379933209/in/set-72157625899503788/
“Carnival Splendor is brought back to San Francisco for an engine replacement.”
Entire photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daver6/sets/72157625893480692/with/5434837535/
“Here we are at ground zero. This was the center of the problem, this drive shaft and the counter balance arms were what the pistons of the engine connected to before it so catastrophically failed.” Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daver6/5434837535/in/set-72157625893480692/
Rick, thanks for the links to the photos.
So one of the engines had a castatrophic failure and had to be replaced. Do you think this was the original problem or the result of some other problem such as out of phase generator?
Great photos, Rick. Thanks.
It appears to be a crankcase explosion which caused a fire which spread and did all the damage. What still doesn’t make sense is that crankcase explosions are nothing new on marine diesel engines. (A crankcase explosion on the Reina del Pacifico in 1947 killed 28 men.) There are or should be means of monitoring and preventing the sort of fire and/or explosion that appears to have crippled the Carnival Splendor. Oil mist detectors and explosion doors, among other devices, should have contained the problem. Obviously something went very badly wrong.
Maybe it was more of a seizure or breakage in the engine rather than an explosion. A stuck piston due to failure of the oiling system. Didn’t the QE2 lose the Echo engine to that cause. Looking at the pics I don’t see evidence of an explosion in the engine space. Dirt looks undisturbed, debris isn’t present.
Perhaps the engine failed, then the generators went out of phase and ruined two of them and the control system and wiring. Could a generator, brought online out of phase break an engine?
Also on the flikr photos, you can select the original large size. In this case they are very large sharp pics you can scan thru and see lot of detail in the engine room. Papers on the wall, wiring, ropes hanging. All of it looks relatively unscathed.
Without knowing any more of than we know now, it could have been some other sort of engine problem. Crankcase explosions are just the most common failure. The bearings typically overheat and cause an explosion in the oil mist in the crankcase. In the days before explosion doors, the explosion would blow off the crankcase doors, flooding the crankcase with oxygen resulting in a second much larger ignition of oxygen and oil mist that could sink the ship. It could be than an explosion in the crankcase may have resulted in a severed fuel line causing the fire when the fuel hit the red hot metal on the engine.
All just speculation until we know more.
Diesel engines coupled with gensets can be seriously damaged when run for long periods at low loads but I have never heard of an engine being damaged by an out of phase generator, but that may just demonstrate the limits of my knowledge of diesel electric plants.
“Carnival Splendor Resumes Service – Cause of Fire Remains Unexplained”
http://articles.maritimepropulsion.com/article/Carnival-Splendor-Resumes-Service-e28093-Cause-of-Fire-Remains-Unexplained37006.aspx
“The fire in the aft engine-room spread extensively by all accounts, suggesting that a thin spread of oil from #5 diesel, thrown out with explosive force over a wide area, had to be dealt with; an outcome typical of an un-contained crankcase explosion. If this much is true, statistics from a leading classification society add credibility.
“Carnival Splendor has a diesel-electric propulsion system with medium-speed diesel engines (in separate engine rooms) as prime movers. According to an eleven-year analysis of crankcase explosions in its classed fleet from 1990, Lloyds Register recorded that 85% of a total of 143 such incidents in that period occurred in that type of diesel engine (the small remainder in two-stroke engines). Lloyds Register found the causes were due to bearings (39 per cent), pistons (47 per cent) and others (14 per cent).
“It may be that the engine-room fire aboard Carnival Splendor last November was caused by a crankcase explosion through over-heating or mechanical failure of one of the internals mentioned above within #5 diesel engine, but we shall have to wait and see. Place your bets!”
In my opinion, much more important than the direct cause of the event (the initiating failure), are the following three questions:
1 – Why did whatever failed fail? Inadequate maintenance? A latent material defect? Improper operating practices? Acts of God just do not cause these events.
2 – Why did the damage result in the loss of both independent trains of propulsion and hotel power?
3 – What is the extent of condition and extent of cause relative to the answers to the two previous questions? This applies not only to the Splendor but every ship out there.
Those are excellent questions. I would only add, Why did the primary fighting system, the CO2 system also fail completely and how was that related, if at all, to your question #1?
co2 system fail for several raison
1 arm actionning CO2 valve fell down when action small bolt joining them fall down
2 CO2 system pushbutton panel were reversed port and starboard
3 when they switch manually valve to inject CO2 it was leaking at several joint
it is on Coastguard inspection report
I was out on the ocean at the time, within 50 miles of where this ship was disabled. That same morning an unidentified missile was seen emerging from the sea, presumably from a submarine, about 20 miles southwest of San Diego. The missile veered slightly south and west as it rose. Many others on my vessel witnessed this. Later that same day the reports started about the disabled cruise ship. My initial thought is still the best theory (in my mind): a Chinese submarine tested an EMP weapon on this unsuspecting cruise ship, and it was hugely successful. There has been a cover-up so as not to panic the maritime community and general public.
another cruse ship in Italy
first reports an electrical problem then it run aground near the Giglio island and then roll on side
i think cruse ship are not safe
curious to have more info