Open hatch sank Port Authority's $500G boat (Face-palm alert!)

NY Post ^ | 09/24/2012 | PHILIP MESSING

[Ken H]

A $500,000 Port Authority patrol boat sank this month after a veteran police sergeant took the advice of a clueless civilian safety instructor — and opened a hatch while it was under water, The Post has learned.

“It was like opening a window during a carwash,” one PA insider lamented of the screw-up off Breezy Point, Queens, that left 11 people scrambling for their lives.

Nobody was seriously injured, but eight cops and three civilians had to either swim to safety or be rescued as the 37-foot M-2 model Moose Boats craft sank 40 feet to the ocean floor about 300 yards off shore.

[NEPA]

Dumb and dumber rise again

[fieldmarshaldj]

You broke it, you bought it, Sarge.

[tx_eggman]

You’ve got to be smarter than what you’re working with.

[saintgermaine]

A picture would be nice, of course one on top of the water.

[Nailbiter]

When someone else is footing the bill(taxpayers) this what we get

[ejonesie22]

An underwater hatch that can be opened from inside the boat...

Been on a lot of vessels but never seen such.

So it has to be a government contract, hell probably a design requirement. Fitting a Government slug would open it on the water.

[Alas Babylon!]

...eight cops and three civilians...

Eight cops ARE civilians! They're not military. So that would be 11 civilians.

[meatloaf]

“The 37-foot M-2 Moose Boat, equipped with firefighting hoses, nozzles, marine radios, radar, GPS, scuba gear and inflatable rafts, went under during routing rescue exercises after “vibrations” were felt coming from the ship’s engines. A civilian safety consultant from Ocean Rescue Systems, a Maine-based firm hired by the Port Authority to oversee the exercises, suggested the officer open the hatch to take a look.

The hatch, though, was under the water line, and should only have been opened in dry dock.”

Why would an interior hatch to the engine compartment be designed only to be opened in dry dock? I hope the builder had a warning on the hatch.

http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2012/09/after-500k-port-authority-boat-sinks-officer-faces-disciplinary-charges/

[driftdiver]

My guess is the scuba gear could be salvaged but they probably haven’t thought of salvage.

[gdzla]

Must have noticed all that water coming in so he opened the hatch to let it out.

[Reeses]

Eight cops ARE civilians! They're not military.

They're not military, but they are no longer normal civilians either. They are government employees that like to meet interesting people of ancient cultures and kill them. They want to the first cop in their precinct with a confirmed kill. They practice by shooting dogs.

[TXnMA]

The "port" that was opened is circled in red below:

The "Workboat" site says:

“The cause of the vessel’s sinking was a result of the crew removing the Hamilton Jet impeller inspection hatch in an attempt to cut free a suspected line caught in the impeller,” the letter reads. “The impeller inspection hatch is below the water line by several inches is only intended for servicing access with the vessel out of the water."

“The crew were unable to replace the impeller inspection hatch cover due to the large volume of the water entering the engine compartment through the open impeller inspection port. There were 10 personnel weighting the cockpit area thereby increasing the flow of the water into the hull. The watertight Freeman deck hatch on the swim grid may have remained removed creating a full flood condition of the hull as the buoyancy diminished resulting in the vessel sinking.”

[The Duke]

Screen doors, submarines .. yadda, yadda yadda...

[bmwcyle]

civilian government safety instructor

[Eye of Unk]

Hmmm, sounds like they should have ballasted down the bow to at least get the stern raised, just enough to keep that hatch above the waterline, but still that many people gawking in the area alone probably sank it.

I have ballasted boats to do welding on hulls.

[Pontiac]

The officer faces disciplinary charges and, according to the Post, “will likely lose vacation days for failing to maintain supervisory control and basically abdicating his command to a civilian.”

Not that I have a great deal of sympathy for this police sergeant but this is the price for going cheap on training.

As commander of this vessel he should be intimately familiar with every aspect of his vessel. He should know how and when maintenance is performed.

As a vessel that is intended to operate in near shore waters he certainly should know how a fowled impeller is cleared.

There is simply no excuse for this officer or any member of his crew not to have known that opening that hatch would sink the boat. This is more a fault of the Police Department’s training and qualification program than the fault of Sergeant.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Wins the dumbass award of the month.

[fella]

“I’m from the Government and I’m here to help”