U.S.S. Independence in all her glory, I think.

Hey Guys,

I think I am on some news which is not breaking publically as of yet on this shipyard. Austal in Mobile Alabama. They as well as some others may be sitting on this one tightly till they can spin it however they so desire.

This company Austal has built or are building the second high speed ferry for the Hawaiian Islands. Same deal..aluminum hulled ferry.

My brother came into town today from Hawaii. He told me that the first inter island ferry is in drydock due to hull leaking from bad welds. It seems that Austal has been hiring unqualified welders to do thier hull work. The ship was alright for a while but slowly began developing cracks in the hull and taking on water.
Story in Hawaii is that some guy in the shipyard down at Austal tried to tell them about the welding problem they were running into in Mobile, Alabama and they fired him.

I am wondering if this is true ...how many of these welders worked on this boat ..the USS Indepencence??

I am wondering also if Bureau of Shipbuilding SUPSHIP knows of this. They cannot possibly be that stupid?? Can they?? Same company!! Austil.

Granted now... I know that Naval/Military ships are built to a different standard than are commercial ships. I have seen this with my own eyes.
Very different specifications. But I can help wondering if in this same yard...some of the same welders who worked on the inter Island ferry were working on the USS Independence??

Keep an eye on this story as it may be developing. My guess is it will be attempted to keep in on the back burner...back beyond page 37 or so of the papers.

Numerous shipyards have had welding problems develop over the years on different projects. I am curious about what is being done on this one in Hawaii..what the course of action will be.

A problem like this can put this company out of buisness unless they get serious about a solution..and quickly..aggressively.

You have to get a handle on a hull crack because it will run like a fiberglass corvette as the hull flexes. You need to fix it and develope some kind of non destructive way of testing the welds.

Thanks,
Orangetom

^^ i can allready see the spin for this ` this is a totally new design of tri-hulled ship , so there will be teething troubles within the first few months to iron out any issue`

I might be wrong, but didn't the Royal Navy redesign their ships after the Falklands War due to the aluminium hulls bonded to the superstructures?

Sure, there were some aluminium fires and the ships would have sunk because of the bomb damage sustained, but is the logic for having the increased presence of aluminium out-weighed by the idea that it's missile defense components will negate all attacks?

Another question. We've seen on the Raptor the use of missile bays that open up and release. Why is it that we still see a forward gun that is mounted on the deck.

BTW, fantastic looking ship. It'll be so easy to make a plastic model of it.

3 ships that were lost were due to fire - the type 21 frigates Ardent and Antelope had aluminium superstructures - but in the case of

HMS Ardent suffered more damage than any friagte in any navy of the world at that time could take - she was hit by 11x 500lb bombs 2 of which exploded in the area of the engine room and the stern

HMS Antelope was hit by 2 1000lb bombs low on the starboard side , the first detonated , the second did not - only after 4 hours when the EOD team were attemptng to disarm it , the time delay then detonated - because of the waterline position of the bomb it caused the split in the hull from keel to funnell - and the infamous aluminium fire which melted the superstructure.

finally HMS shefield , was in fact a steel supstructure ship with an aluminium hull

bp2.blogger.com...

theres a pic of the missile hit and start of the fire

Continuation of my earlier post at the top of this page.
I found this link to the Hawaiian Islands High speed ferry built by the Austil company in Mobile Alabama.

Here it is. You guys on this thread might want to check it out

boycottsuperferry.blogspot.com...


Now mind you here....Aluminum hulled ocean going boats are not a new concept and have been done before without cracks and hull leaks as is being described here in this article. Welding is not a new or rocket science. Mind you now...proceedures on the hulls need to be strictly controlled and monitored. Some metal with more exotic blends need a much more strictly controlled proceedure than the less exotic but it has been done ...by experienced and certified peoples.

By the way..this article is rather lengthy but the premise is also pretty stupid of people reading it. I think some Americans are really dumb and ignorant about many things including being American.

Most of us do not know that the government in times of declared Emergencys can commandeer your vehicles..at will...including all airlines all tractor trailers..evey your man powered bicycles and motorcycles.
I cannot imagine what dream most Americans can possibly be living under to be deluded about this state of affairs...but it is exactly so.
FEMA can come into your yards and homes and commandeer your generators and food supplies/medicines under the same provisions. This is just not a power the Government is ever wont to let you know....ever. Nor will the news media ..who are so whorishly looking out for you.

All Ferrys and transport can be taken and overidden by government for government uses...it is a built in provision for which this government does not want the general public to ever have knowlege of or their eyes upon.

The primary purpose of the USS United States ..the passenger liner was as a troop transport. They hailed this ship publically as a passenger liner...it was a deception. The ship was highly subsidised by the government. The public can be some kind of dumb.

Well ...my point is due to the ignorance deliberately fosterd as outrage by some of the authors of articles like this one I linked here. This is what I mean buy stupid or dumb. I wonder what world some of these people including newspaper and media folks ...live in.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Some more pics of the Independence in broad daylight.

It's almost become an urban myth about aluminium and the Falklands War.

But both the USN & RN had decided to abandon the use of aluminium in warship design before the 1982 Falklands War as a result of a catastrophic fire on board the missile cruiser USS Belknap in 1975 (following a collision with USS John F. Kennedy) and a less serious fire on board HMS Amazon in 1977 (when ladders melted, severely hampering efforts to contain a blaze).

USS Belknap

It's a tribute to US shipbuilding that USS Belknap ever returned to sea.

The problem for the Brits in 1982 was that they knew the Type 21's were particularly vulnerable to fire, yet had to send them south anyway ... but as already pointed out none of the Type 21 losses can be directly attributed to the use of aluminium. Type 42's, such as HMS Sheffield, proved every bit as vulnerable despite being all steel construction.

Valuable lessons were learned as a result of the Falklands War. Containment of smoke became a number one concern otherwise compartments had to be immediately evacuated, hampering all efforts to save the ship. Fire fighting procedures had to be revised & updated, crews being provided with better equipment and more comprehensive training. Upperdeck firefighting equipment was improved, breathing apparatus was made more readily available & domestic arrangements revised to minimise the risk of fire & smoke.

Having had a look at USS Independence I'd be worried not so much about its performance during wartime ... ships of this size are little more than "one hit wonders". But I'd be genuinely concerned about its ability to resist an ordinary fire.

I have spent my entire adult life working on carriers and subs in dry dock or on sliding ways. This is the coolest view I have ever seen of a ship on keel blocks. I'll bet the marine architects were holding their collective breath when they knocked the shores from under her outboard hull sections.






[edit on 22-5-2008 by Hugues de Payens]

A buddy of mine was a medic for Valley View OH. A lawyer had just purchased and was driving home a used lamborghini for 110,000. It caught fire in the engine bay on way home. The engine block is magnesium. They could not douse it with water as it would explode. They let it burn out. Unfortunately the chap had not procured insurance for it yet. He sat on the curb and cried like a baby as the firefighters came by and gave him pats on the back. That is one wicked looking mainframe. I bet its true speed is highly classified.

[edit on 5/22/2008 by jpm1602]

reply to post by Hugues de Payens


Hugues de Paynes,

Curious as to what yard you spent so much time working in...drydocks and such.

I know of only one yard which builds both.

Also I wonder what the fishing is like off the back end of that drydock in the photo???

Thanks,
Orangetom

From the tenor of your posts, it sounds as if I work at the same one, or one near yours. And that is actually a floating dry dock the tri-hull/ tri-keel (or are they just massive bilge keels?) is in.

[edit on 24-5-2008 by Hugues de Payens]

[edit on 24-5-2008 by Hugues de Payens]

[edit on 24-5-2008 by Hugues de Payens]

It is a floating drydock. It does look as if most of the people on board were to walk to one side of the boat ..it would tip off the center blocks.

Yeah..I was thinking the same...shipyard too. No problem.

I too have been in alot of drydocks over the years..both floating and natural drydocks...year round. Most of my time on graveyard shift.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Graveyard shift. Dont think I would enjoy that. Been there over 25 years now, most of it on day shift....seen alot of ships come and go...and now come back for their midlife.