Posted on 01/20/2012 5:40:20 PM PST by BfloGuy
"What do you do with a 1,000-foot wreck that's full of fuel and half-submerged on a rocky ledge in the middle of an Italian marine sanctuary? Remove it. Very carefully. Stuck on a rocky shoal off the Tuscan island of Giglio, leaving the wreck where it is probably isn't an option but removing a massive ship that's run hard aground and incurred major damage to the hull involves logistical and environmental issues that are just as large. First there's the fuel. A half a million gallons of fuel could wreak havoc on the marine ecosystem — the ship is smack in the middle of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals. Engineers may need to go in from the side using a special drill to cut through the fuel tanks in a process called hot tapping. 'You fasten a flange with a valve on it, you drill through, access the tank, pull the drill back out, close the valve, and then attach a pumping apparatus to that,' says Tim Beaver, president of the American Salvage Association. 'It's a difficult task, but it's doable.' Then if it's determined that the Costa Concordia can be saved, engineers could try to refloat the ship and tug it back to dry dock for refurbishing. The job will likely require 'a combination of barges equipped with winches and cranes' to pull the cruise liner off its side then once the Concordia is off the rocks, 'they are going to have to fight to keep it afloat, just like you would a battle-damaged ship.' Another alternative is to cut the vessel into smaller, manageable parts using a giant cutting wire coated with a material as hard as diamonds called a cheese wire in a method was used to dismember the 55,000-ton Norwegian-flagged MV Tricolor. Regardless of how the Concordia is removed, it's going to be a difficult, expensive and drawn-out process. 'I don't see it taking much less than a year, and I think it could take longer,' says Bob Umbdenstock, director of planning at Resolve Marine Group."
That’ll buff out.
It’ll take some serious recurring for things like electrical that got submerged, but it’ll be repaired and back to sea. With, (ahem) a different captain.
Section 8 housing.
I would think one of the first things would be to weld plates on the damaged part of the hull.- Tom
recurring = refitting. Damn autocorrect.
Sell it to "The Pickers" or the Pawn Shop guys.........
I’ll take it sight unseen.
There are still something like 20 people missing. Is it possible they are deceased and in cabins that are submerged? I guess the only way to find out is to somehow float it upright. After that... I have no idea.
That's one option.
Or a location for "Occupy" folks on either coast.
Outstanding. Detonate in place.
the analogies to what he has done to the Country will resonate with many, as the Captain in both cases is OUT TO LUNCH.
Gingrich / Palin would win in a landslide of Epic proportions.
...have the captain coward live on it just the way it is for the rest of his life...let him search for food, he can set foot on land once a year for one hour
The keel is apparently snagged on the reef, keeping the ship from sinking but making it a bit difficult to put Bondo over the gash.
You’d think these ships would have an access pipe to the fuel tank(s) on the upper deck somewhere, to make it easy to drain the fuel if the worst happens.
I wonder if it’s possible to raise the ship back upright using cables from aircraft, then something could be placed over the gashed keel to make it possible to pump out the flooding and then tow the boat to drydock.
Target practice for some missiles. Or, possibly an artificial reef.
Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner.
If it was an unpopulated area of the coast such a thing might make sense. But the boat got where it did by the captain being a “hotdog,” swinging it close to land where a lot of people were going to be watching the dramatic sight. And they did watch a dramatic sight, but not what the captain had in mind.
I thought ships today esp. ocean liners had double hulls. I guess that rock broke through but even still, water tight compartments?? Sealing off where the water came in?
Not difficult at all. It is done all the time by using fittings from companies like TD Williamson.
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