The Long Goodbye of the HMS Hermes/INS Viraat

Posted on by December 22, 2020

Ship scrapping is a slow and methodical process. A ship is typically run up on the scrapping ways, which can be a concrete platform or a sloping sandy beach.  As burners cut away the upper sections of the ship, it gets lighter and floats a little higher allowing winches to pull the ship a bit farther up the ways. As more steel is cut away the ship is pulled progressively farther ashore until the entire structure is reduced to scrap metal to be hauled away for resmelting in a local steel mill.

I recall years ago watching the ship breaking yard in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from a ship in drydock just up the harbor in China Shipbuilding. A ship being scrapped in the breaking yard looked like the carcass of some great beast being slowly but inexorably devoured by ants. 

For the past month, the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, ex HMS Hermes has been slowly cut up and dismantled at an  Alang shipbreaker’s yard in Gujarat, India. Breaking her up completely is likely to take a year.

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Halcyon Days in a Pandemic Year

Posted on by December 21, 2020

According to an ancient sailors’ legend, we are in the middle of the Halcyon days – seven days of calm on either side of the winter solstice. The legend says that the halcyon bird builds a floating nest on the sea on the winter solstice and has the ability to calm the seas so as to be undisturbed when laying its eggs. The halcyon is generally associated with the kingfisher.

The source of the belief in the bird’s power to calm the sea originated in a myth recorded by Ovid. The story goes that Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, had a daughter named Alcyone, who was married to Ceyx, the king of Thessaly. Ceyx was drowned at sea and Alcyone threw herself into the waves in a fit of grief. Instead of drowning, she was transformed into a bird and carried to her husband by the wind.

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WWI Anti-Submarine Warfare with Seagulls, Sacks and Hammers

Posted on by December 20, 2020

Anti-submarine warriors?

One of the great things about writing historical fiction is discovering odd sets of facts, often buried in the archives, that capture both the desperation and the madness of a given time. Often, as the cliche goes, you just can’t make this stuff up. Here is an account of how the Royal Navy attempted to fight back against German submarines in World War I using trained seagulls and hammers. The schemes worked about as well as one might expect.

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The Great Solstice Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn

Posted on by December 19, 2020

On Monday night, December 21, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer together in the night sky than they have on any night since March 4, 1226. At their closest alignment, the planets will be a tenth of a degree apart or roughly equivalent to the width of a dime held at arm’s length. Depending go the atmospheric conditions, the conjunction of the two planets may appear as a single bright object in the south-western sky, just after sunset.

The conjunction of the planets feels portentous. For skygazers with a clear horizon, it will be a once in a lifetime event. Given its relatively close proximity to the holiday, many are calling it the Christmas Star.  As the conjunction falls on the winter solstice, some astrologers are heralding it as the beginning of a time of rebirth. 

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Australian Beaches — Sea Foam, Sea Snakes and a Lost Dog

Posted on by December 18, 2020

Severe weather off the east coast of Australia has left beaches in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales and on the Gold and Sunshine coasts covered in a thick layer of sea foam, attracting crowds of curious locals, and, at least potentially, venomous sea snakes. 

News.com.au reports that the foam went viral across the globe after a local Byron Bay woman interrupted a live weather update to search for her missing dog, Hazel, who was later rescued from the mess. 

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Vendee Globe: Oscar and the Unidentified Floating Objects

Posted on by December 17, 2020

At roughly this point in the last sailing of the Vendee Globe in 2016-2017, 5 boats had been forced to retire after being damaged by collisions with UFOs, unidentified floating objects.

In this year’s race, 18 of the 33 boats competing are carrying a new high-tech collision avoidance package dubbed OSCAR. The electronics package, installed at the boat’s masthead, uses day and thermal cameras combined with artificial intelligence, to provide a second set of ‘eyes’ for the solo skipper both day and night. 

How well has OSCAR worked so far? It may still be too soon to judge. That being said, of the 4 racing boats damaged by UFOs in the current race, at least two had OSCAR units installed.

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Rotor Sails – Fixed, Rolling and Tilting

Posted on by December 16, 2020

Sail-assist propulsion on commercial ships is developing rapidly, featuring a range of technologies including rotor sails, rigid wing sails, ventilated turbo sails, and even conventional fabric sails.

One thing that all these rigs have in common, however, is that when they are not converting wind energy into power to propel the ship, they can interfere with operations, whether loading and discharging cargo or navigating under bridges. Now, in addition to fixed installations, engineers are designing rigs that can be moved or tilted out of the way.

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Steel Cut for National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) at Philly Shipyard

Posted on by December 15, 2020

Today, steel was cut for the first National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) at Philly Shipyard, Inc. The NSMV is designed to be a state-of-the-art training vessel for America’s state maritime academies. The ship will also be available to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. 

In May 2019, MARAD awarded TOTE Services, LLC, a company involved in ship management, marine operations, and vessel services, a contract to be the Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) for the NSMV program. In April 2020, TOTE Services awarded Philly Shipyard, Inc. a contract to construct up to five NSMVs.

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eConowind Sail Assist Successfully Tested on Container Barge

Posted on by December 14, 2020

A year ago we posted about the innovative ideas and products developed by the Dutch firm, eConowind. They have developed a Ventfoil, a fixed airfoil-shaped spar with an internal fan that uses boundary layer suction to generate thrust.  Ventfoils can be installed to provide sail-assisted propulsion on new ships, or retrofitted on existing vessels. There is also a modular version in which two Ventfoils can be deployed from inside a 40-foot container. The Ventfoils can be raised or lowered from the container in about 5 minutes.

Recently, an eCononwind Ventfoil container was installed on the TMA Logistics container barge Ms. Royaal, operating on the IJsselmeer and the Wadden Sea, between Harlingen and Amsterdam. The conditions were close to perfect. The route is typically very windy. That being said, the single eConowind container sail unit produced fuel savings of 10%, enough to justify further testing.

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Voyage of the Orphan Boys in the Vaccine Ship of 1803

Posted on by December 13, 2020

Today, the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have begun to be distributed in the United States. It seems like a good time to look back at the voyage of the orphan boys in the vaccine ship that sailed from Spain in 1803.

Now know as the Balmis Expedition, it was officially called the Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna (Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition) and was a three-year mission, from 1803 to 1806, to Spanish America and Asia led by Dr. Francisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of vaccinating millions against smallpox. It was the first large scale mass vaccination of its kind.

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A Video for a Pandemic Saturday : Jolie Brise – the Boat That Changed Tom Cunliffe’s Life

Posted on by December 12, 2020

This is a wonderful half-hour documentary hosted by Tom Cunliffe about Jolie Brise. Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter/racing yacht built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. Tom Cunliffe is a British yachting journalist, author, and broadcaster.

Here are his comments on the video: Here’s a ‘lock-down special’ released early for Christmas about one of the greatest cutters of them all, Jolie Brise. This boat truly changed my life. She deserves this professionally made, TV-quality show, so pour yourself a glass of the finest and shut the cabin door on the world for half an hour.

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MOL Signs Deal For New Wind Challenger Sail Assisted Collier

Posted on by December 11, 2020

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) has reached a coal transport deal with Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc., which will use a new 99,000 DWT collier equipped with a retractable wing sail propulsion system, known as the Wind Challenger. Construction of the vessel will start at Oshima Shipbuilding with the goal of going into service in 2022.

The new ship will feature a single retractable sail, mounted near the bow, which is expected to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by about 5% on the Japan-Australia route or about 8% on the Japan-North America West Coast route, in comparison with a conventional vessel of the same class.

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Captain Amy Bauernschmidt Picked as First Woman to Command a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

Posted on by December 10, 2020

The US Navy has selected Captain Amy Bauernschmidt as the first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Capt. Bauernschmidt was selected for the position by the fiscal year 2022 aviation major command screen board. It has not been announced which of the Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered carriers Bauernschmidt will command.

Other officers who were picked for nuclear aircraft carrier command include Capts. Colin Day, Gavin Duff, Brent Gaut, David Pollard, and Craig Sicola.

Capt. Bauernschmidt also made history, when, in 2016, she became the first female executive officer of a nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln.

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Humpback Whale in New York’s Inner Harbor

Posted on by December 9, 2020

Yesterday afternoon saw unusual traffic on the Hudson River in New York’s inner harbor.  A humpback whale was seen swimming in the Hudson, off Pier 84, on Monday afternoon. The whale is no stranger to New York waters. Gotham Whale‘s lead researcher Danielle M. Brown identified the whale as NYC0089, first spotted in 2018, and recently photographed on November 27th. For a slideshow of wonderful images taken by Bjoern Kils of New York Media Boat, click here.

 

What Happened on the Container Ship ONE Apus? A Glimpse at Parametric Rolling

Posted on by December 8, 2020

Last week, the container ship ONE Apus lost or had damaged over 1,900 containers in a storm in the Pacific. The lost or damaged containers representing close to 25% of the ship’s cargo. The casualty represents more containers than are typically lost in a year worldwide off all container ships, according to the World Shipping Council.

What happened on the ONE Apus? Why did so many boxes go over the side? It may be too soon to say. The ship just arrived in Kobe, Japan, and will be the subject of a detailed investigation as soon as the remaining damaged boxes are unloaded. That being said, one possible explanation is that ONE Apus experienced parametric rolling, a phenomenon that can induce violent rolling, particularly in large containerships.

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Radio Broadcasts Reporting Attack on Pearl Harbor 79 Years Ago Today

Posted on by December 7, 2020

An interrupted broadcast of a football game, a newsbreak during a performance by the New York Philharmonic, a weather report followed by an announcement from President Roosevelt that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Reports of attacks on the Philippines. Here is a compilation of news reports from Sunday, December 7th, 1941, seventy-eight years ago today.

Pearl Harbor Attacks – As It Happened – Radio Broadcasts

Container Ship ONE Apus Sets Record for Boxes Lost Over the Side at Over 1,900

Posted on by December 6, 2020

The one-year-old, 14,000 TEU capacity container ship, ONE Apus, has set a dubious new record. It encountered severe weather about 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii while sailing from Yantian in China to Long Beach, California. In the violent storm, it is believed to have lost or damaged over 1,900 containers, a record for boxes lost over the side. Of these, 40 are believed to be Dangerous Goods containers. Container News suggests that the ship may have lost up to 25% of its cargo. The ship was diverted to Kobe, Japan for assessment.

To put the scope of this casualty in context, the loss on the ONE Apus appears to be greater than the total yearly loss of containers from all ships worldwide. Continue reading →

Vendee Globe: Sam Davies “Out of the Game” With Plans to Keep Sailing

Posted on by December 5, 2020

On December 2, Initiatives-Coeur, being sailed by Sam Davies off South Africa in the Vendee Globe Race, came to a crashing halt. Davies describes the collision: “ It was as if I had run aground on a rock at the time. The boat speed went from 20kts to zero.”  Davies had struck an unidentified floating object (UFO) which shattered the longitudinal stiffeners that support the boat’s keel. Davies herself suffered bruised ribs but was fortunately not seriously injured.

After determining that the repairs necessary to make the boat safe to sail in the Southern Ocean could not be performed at sea, Davies pointed Initiatives-Coeur’s bow toward Cape Town.  Because the rules of the Vendee Globe require that the racers compete unassisted, Davies has retired from the race. She is not however giving up on the voyage. When and if the boat can be repaired she intends to continue sailing hors course or “out of the game,” no longer in the race, but still endeavoring to complete the circumnavigation.

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UFOs and the Vendee Globe — Plus ça Change, Plus C’est la Meme Chose

Posted on by December 4, 2020

Of the 33 IMOCAs which started the Vendee Globe Race, four have officially abandoned. Two, Hugo Boss and Arkea Paprec, were damaged after striking Unidentified Floating Objects (UFOs). A third boat, Sam Davies’ Initiatives Coeur was also damaged by a UFO collision. Davies is now evaluating whether she will be able to stay in the race. Corum L’Épargne, sailed by Nicolas Troussel, quit the race after dismasting, and PRB sank after an apparent structural failure.

In considering the status of the race, the French phrase, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, ( the more things change, the more they stay the same) comes to mind. Looking back at the 2016-2017 Vendee Globe Race, little seems to have changed. Four years ago, UFOs were the largest single cause of damage to the fleet.

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Vendee Globe: Sam Davies’ and Sébastien Simon’s Boats Damaged by UFOs

Posted on by December 3, 2020

Unidentified Floating Objects (UFOs) continue to take their toll on the Vendee Globe Race fleet.  Yesterday, Sam Davies, sailing Initiatives Coeur, and Sébastien Simon, sailing Arkea Paprec, each hit UFOs which seriously damaged their boats. 

Davies reports: “I was sailing at speeds between 15 and 22kts and I was actually just making a hot meal after the gybe and doing the stack and everything and it was just starting to get dark. I hit something. I did not see anything. I did not know what it was. It was pretty much dark when it happened. But it was as if I had run aground on a rock at the time. The boat speed went from 20kts to zero. The boat nosedived on the impact with the keel. I knew it was the keel. I heard a crack coming from there. I and everything else flew forwards, including my dinner which has repainted the entire inside of my boat. Everything moved. I went flying into a ring frame, luckily, because that could have been worse. It was really violent. But luckily, I have just hurt some ribs. It is not serious but really painful. But I stopped the boat, dropped the main, and went to check around the keel, the bearings, and the bulkhead. The bulkhead, the main bearing bulkheads (which support the keel box) are intact as far as I can see. The keel bearings are intact. The longitudinal structure around the keel box is all cracked. That has taken the shock of the impact of when the boat moved, that is cracked on both sides.”  Continue reading →