quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
That makes no sense at all. Unless the engineers on that ship are completely inept.

Here's the article on Fox news:

"The “direct cause” of the ship’s problems was an insufficient amount of lubricating oil reaching its engines, Lars Alvestad, the acting director general of the Norwegian Maritime Authority, said, according to The Associated Press.
CRUISE SHIP STRANDED OFF NORWAY’S COAST REACHES PORT AFTER HARROWING HELICOPTER RESCUES
“The heavy seas probably caused movements in the tanks so large that the supply to the lubricating oil pumps stopped,” Alvestad said. “This triggered an alarm indicating a low level of lubrication oil, which in turn, shortly thereafter, caused an automatic shutdown of the engines.”"
https://www.foxnews.com/travel...-oil-levels-official

Low lube oil on the El Faro is what caused it's plant to shut down also, once it started listing.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

Low lube oil on the El Faro is what caused it's plant to shut down also, once it started listing.

Completely different scenario. And I know every detail about the El Faro.

Seriously, was this cruise ship rolling over 45 degrees or something? Even so, it wouldn't be a sustained list. It wouldn't even be a sustained 15-20 degree list which is what doomed the El Faro. If they kept their sumps so low that something like this could happen just from rolling in heavy seas...well, as a Chief Engineer of an ocean going vessel, I'm incredulous.

Or it's just a shoddy designed plant.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

Low lube oil on the El Faro is what caused it's plant to shut down also, once it started listing.

Completely different scenario. And I know every detail about the El Faro.

Seriously, was this cruise ship rolling over 45 degrees or something? Even so, it wouldn't be a sustained list. It wouldn't even be a sustained 15-20 degree list which is what doomed the El Faro. If they kept their sumps so low that something like this could happen just from rolling in heavy seas...well, as a Chief Engineer of an ocean going vessel, I'm incredulous.

Or it's just a shoddy designed plant.

The only correlation I meant to make between the two ships is that the lube oil tank level was low (perhaps within spec but at the low end of the level) and with the heavy sea state and rolling or list caused the plant or engines to shut down.

On the Viking Sky it's possible that the oil tank doesn't have baffles in it (or proper ones) to keep the oil from sloshing around. Another possibility is the sloshing (from rolling) caused the hot oil to get airated.

But either way, it sounds like the engineers weren't paying attention the oil level in the oil tank. Either way it's a screw up of massive proportions that could've been easily avoided. They were 300 yards from being the next Costa Concordia.

That's exactly my take, Jimmy. It's all about baffles.

I've never seen a propulsion engine without baffles in the crankcase, which also provide structural support.