The Italian maritime board of inquiry released it's final report on the loss of the Costa Concordia.
http://www.safety4sea.com/images/media/pdf/Costa_Concordia_-_Full_Investigation_Report.pdf
Not light reading. 181 pages for the main report. I did not try looking at the 56 annexes or any of the 18 appendices. Not surprising that the incompetence of the captain is the single major factor. Supported by a bridge team that would not speak up in the face of major violations of standard maritime navigation and imminent grounding. Also cited was the lax standards of training and readiness by the ships hotel and entertainment crew for their duties in emergency situations. Most of it is pretty boring, as it delves into the minutia of the damage and progressive flooding and the effects of this and external factors on the ships position and stability.
The part I found fascinating, despite the report writing this in as boring a way as possible is the operations of the electrical system and electricians from impact until final failure. There was an emergency diesel generator and power distribution switchboard. But due to an unexpected consequence of the damage, the main switch that connected the generator to the switchboard was being commanded to open up, which then would blackout the ship.
The electricians had to jam a screwdriver into the guts of this switch to hold it closed. This switch, by the way, was connecting three phase 440 volt power in excess of 1000 amps. wow. Big swinging brass ones. Oh yeah, while this was happening, the diesel generator cooling system had failed, and it was overheating and they had to shut it off every so often to cool off. They feared it would set itself on fire otherwise. Those folks will never need to pay for their drinks if I'm around.
This emergency power allowed stuck elevators to restart, delivering their passengers to the evacuation deck, kept the lights on while lifeboats were loading and lowering, and so on. How many more lives would have been lost without the power? Beats me, but probably lots.
Sobering reading. It's amazing that so few people died.
http://www.safety4sea.com/images/media/pdf/Costa_Concordia_-_Full_Investigation_Report.pdf
Not light reading. 181 pages for the main report. I did not try looking at the 56 annexes or any of the 18 appendices. Not surprising that the incompetence of the captain is the single major factor. Supported by a bridge team that would not speak up in the face of major violations of standard maritime navigation and imminent grounding. Also cited was the lax standards of training and readiness by the ships hotel and entertainment crew for their duties in emergency situations. Most of it is pretty boring, as it delves into the minutia of the damage and progressive flooding and the effects of this and external factors on the ships position and stability.
The part I found fascinating, despite the report writing this in as boring a way as possible is the operations of the electrical system and electricians from impact until final failure. There was an emergency diesel generator and power distribution switchboard. But due to an unexpected consequence of the damage, the main switch that connected the generator to the switchboard was being commanded to open up, which then would blackout the ship.
The electricians had to jam a screwdriver into the guts of this switch to hold it closed. This switch, by the way, was connecting three phase 440 volt power in excess of 1000 amps. wow. Big swinging brass ones. Oh yeah, while this was happening, the diesel generator cooling system had failed, and it was overheating and they had to shut it off every so often to cool off. They feared it would set itself on fire otherwise. Those folks will never need to pay for their drinks if I'm around.
This emergency power allowed stuck elevators to restart, delivering their passengers to the evacuation deck, kept the lights on while lifeboats were loading and lowering, and so on. How many more lives would have been lost without the power? Beats me, but probably lots.
Sobering reading. It's amazing that so few people died.