"Clunk"

[crfriend]

Every so often something happens locally that just gets one's attention and this what follows is one case.

I sail on occasion, and when I do so I pay particular attention to how much of the vessel I'm on sticks not just below the water but also above it (it's usually a 50+ foot lightning-rod), so when I see something like this I happen to pay attention (the sounds on the video are priceless).

This is highly likely the same monster cruise-ship I saw docked in Boston when I was last out on the briny on 2016-10-08. To my mind, it's an entirely ugly vessel that doesn't much even resemble what a ship is supposed to look like, but I'm entirely old school in that regard. The consensus on the sailboat I was on that day was, "I hope that thing doesn't undock when we're anywhere nearby." It was probably holed up in Boston to avoid the hurricane that was busy roiling the waters off the Carolinas at the time, and needed to return south quickly, hence the Cape Cod Canal passage and the "clunk" heard on the video.

I mourn many things, and amongst them is the demise of the classic "steamship look". There is a certain grace to the shape of those that is completely and utterly lacking in modern-day motorships (I do not believe that a true steamship has been ordered or commissioned in the past 30 years or so, with Queen Elizabeth 2 (and, yes, it's "2"; I have a photo of her bow when she visited Boston in the 1980s) quite possibly being the last, although she was later re-engined as a motorship and subsequently sent off unceremoniously to serve as a "floating hotel" somewhere in Arabia. 'Twas the passing of an era.

Life is not getting any better.

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

I didn't access the link, but I couldn't agree with you more, today's cruise ships don't at all look like ships. They look like high-rise hotels laid on their sides and made to float. Yuck.

You also couldn't be more right, the old steam-driven luxury liners virtually defined beauty.

I doubt anyone's built a steam-driven ship, except for warships in decades. They're just too expensive to operate. The only way they could be justified even back in the day was SPEED. The Blue Riband (trophy for fastest 2-way North Atlantic crossing) wasn't just a bragging-rights mantle-piece; it was a critical piece of marketing and finally strategic importance.

The SS United States retired the Blue Riband on her maiden voyage and she wasn't even crossing as quickly as she could have. She wasn't so much a luxury liner as a high-speed, fire-proof troopship that could be quickly (48 hours!) and easily converted from her day-job livery as a luxury liner to its true purpose, transporting US Army troops to Europe as quickly as possible to turn back the blood-thirsty hordes of Godless Communism trying to swarm across the Old World ... Sorry, I fell into a time warp back to the age in which I grew up.

Back to 21st century reality, you'll find all kinds of top speeds attributed to the United States. This was a deliberate ploy of the US Navy to keep the Russians guessing. One figure I saw given by an on-line source would have a ship as big as the Empire State Building move along as fast as a PT boat ... not quite, highest attained speed was just above 35 knots. Not as fast as a PT boat, but awfully damned fast!

[Kirbstone]

These behemoths have evolved in response to customer demand and it's quite mind-boggling the responsibility that rests on those who run them, from the catering, security & medical staff to the booking clerks & to those on the bridge steering the things.

It's also mind-boggling dealing with the sudden arrival of 4-6000 people all eager to get off the behemoth and explore the nearest town. There have been some well publicized cruise ship accidents involving loss of life in recent years, but compared to the numbers of people holidaying in this way, casualties are few.

One thing seems certain, these things are with us to stay and the rush to alter shore-side infrastructure Worldwide to accommodate them goes on apace. To facilitate the punters they must necessarily be brought in close to maritime city centers alongside some quay or other, so the odd 'CLUNK' is I suppose inevitable, not to mention the inundation of that marina, seen in another related clip.

Tom

[Judah14]

Speaking of old-school ships, the ironclad look is now back:

And regarding steamships not being built in recent years, I think nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines count as steamships.

[crfriend]

[SS United States] wasn't so much a luxury liner as a high-speed, fire-proof troopship that could be quickly (48 hours!) and easily converted from her day-job livery as a luxury liner to its true purpose, [a troop-ship].

Actually, this was a very common practise and virtually all the world's naval powers did the same thing with heavy subsidy from the governments to the shipping lines themselves to cover the added expense of building and operating these machines. The notion is obsolete now that large-scale air-transport is commonplace and missiles have taken the place of armies for long-distance heavy-lifting. Another lucrative use for these high-speed vessels was in the carrying of mail. The use of turbines allowed the fastest of these ships to travel unaccompanied on the high seas during wartime as they could out-run the torpedoes of the day so it'd take one heck of a lucky shot from a submarine to sink one (which did happen).

Before the advent of the turbine, most vessels used triple-expansion steam engines which were astonishingly efficient. Some, I believe, may still be in use, at least on the Great Lakes in the US and Canada. Pretty much everything merchant today is diesel-powered. When the Queen Elizabeth 2 was re-powered from steam-turbine to diesel she also lost her nice tall stack because the draught it provided was no longer needed, just a space large enough for a muffler (before and after pictures I'm sure are available). Even though the re-engining produced an increase in top speed I viewed it with disappointment as it signalled the end of an era. (This, come to think of it, makes two end-of-an era events in my lifetime: one the demise of the steamship and the other the demise of supersonic civil flight. I wonder what the next will be.)

Back to 21st century reality, you'll find all kinds of top speeds attributed to the United States.

Her top speed was officially classified, or at the very least obfuscated, for a very long time although it was generally surmised that she'd make 30+ knots. Wikipedia lists 38 knots as her maximum speed and 32 knots as her service speed; the re-engined, and much newer, QE2 was rated for 34, so "The Big U" must've done better than that to hold onto the Blue Riband else Cunard would've taken it back with QE2. She was quick by the standards of the day, though, but no match for the aeroplane.

As I mention, the passing of an era.

[crfriend]

Speaking of old-school ships, the ironclad look is now back:

Wow, that thing is ugly!

And regarding steamships not being built in recent years, I think nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines count as steamships.

I'll grant the aircraft carriers count as steamships, but believe that submarines have a different classification altogether. In any event, it's only the military that can afford such things now. Four nuclear-powered merchant vessels have been built, but the notion was generally considered a failure. Everybody else now uses diesels or, in a few corner-cases, gas turbines.

[Darryl]

Speaking of old-school ships, the ironclad look is now back:

Wow, that thing is ugly!

And if what I hear is correct, she has the radar return of a fishing boat. A small fishing boat. The DD 1000 class was supposed to be the big, bad "stealth" ships but they got too expensive. The vertical superstructure back of the bridge is supposed to be a vertical launch array for various fast-moving nastiness. Crew refers to the bridge as 'the starship' and Captain Kirk (really) commands.

If they'd take me, I'd have re-upped just to set foot on her.

[crfriend]

And if what I hear is correct, she has the radar return of a fishing boat. A small fishing boat. The DD 1000 class was supposed to be the big, bad "stealth" ships but they got too expensive. The vertical superstructure back of the bridge is supposed to be a vertical launch array for various fast-moving nastiness. Crew refers to the bridge as 'the starship' and Captain Kirk (really) commands.

And like some of the Navy's recent concoctions, probably runs MS Windows under the covers and behind the curtains. This is fine when things are "normal" and you can reboot the thing at will. In the middle of a fight or in the dark in a storm, however...

It turns out that the bridge design of the [fictional] Starship Enterprise was so good that it was actually adopted in some cases. I've not seen this proved up by photography but is merely anecdotal.

What would Colin Glencannon have to say?

[Big and Bashful]

I spend a few hours each year just watching a triple expansion steam engine, the one on SS Waverley, the last of the ocean going paddle steamers. Amazing to watch it in action and working for a living, however even after being re-boilered with much more efficient oil burning boilers she is very inefficient and the owners struggle to keep her running each year.
Unfortunately infenal combustion is just much more efficient than playing with kettles!

[crfriend]

Unfortunately infenal combustion is just much more efficient than playing with kettles!

Ruddy "efficiency experts"!

But what about the grandeur of the thing? A operating steam engine is unlike anything else going -- most of the parts are visible, they make recognisable sounds at key parts in what they do, they in many ways seem to be alive. Can anybody (in his right mind) say that about a diesel? Also unlike diesels (even big ones), steam engines (especially reciprocating ones) and their control appurtenances are things of beauty, mostly from a bygone age when they were at the pinnacle of technological achievement.

So they don't have the raw efficiency of infernal combustion engines (I so adore that term); they have a magic all their own -- not so unlike the computers I strive to keep alive and running from a time where computers looked like computers and not sullen little boxes. On a watts-per-million-instructions comparison they're god-awful inefficient; but on the way that they can teach the concepts and technology involved they're unparalleled.

Humans need beauty and inspiration, not simple brute efficiency.

I'm envious B&B. I can't get enough time around the things; you seem to get your yearly fix.

[Darryl]

Some photos, including mock-ups at Raytheon of the bridge.... http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/a-look- ... destroyer/

Windows? Nope, Linux: http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... -by-linux/

Short video: https://www.behance.net/gallery/DDG-100 ... on/5013413

More: http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-na ... 1682363296

So, speaking as a civilian, if I ever get to tour this one....I'll be sporting a skirt, possibly with a matching double-breasted Navy jacket, white turtle-necked shirt. Or a Star Trek TNG skant.

[crfriend]

Some photos, including mock-ups at Raytheon of the bridge.... http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/a-look- ... destroyer/

Wheeled office chairs on a ship? That's going to make things interesting in heavy seas...

Windows? Nope, Linux: http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... -by-linux/

OK, cool. But how much of the "off-the-shelf" kit is of Chinese manufacture or has Chinese components? Do you suppose there aren't backdoors built in there somewhere that can go haywire on command (or in the absence of command)?

So, speaking as a civilian, if I ever get to tour this one....I'll be sporting a skirt, possibly with a matching double-breasted Navy jacket, white turtle-necked shirt. Or a Star Trek TNG skant.

I'd be there with you, also in a skirt.

However, that doesn't excuse the fact that it doesn't look much like a boat and is ugly as sin in this beholder's eyes. My initial reaction, given the shape of the bow, was, "Wait a minute, the thing's clearly capsized." I do hope that ChrisM had nothing to do with this -- unless, that is, he has a good explanation for it.

One other cool thing; one of the series is slated to receive an electrically-driven railgun as part of its arsenal. Not the sort of rail-gun that I prefer, but still cool nonetheless.

[Big and Bashful]

Some good footage of Waverley's engine and paddle wheels as she reverses away from Helensburgh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XIDt2vwYqs

And wheeled chairs, a friend of mine was a captain for Calmac and used to have endless arguments with the other skipper, over wheels on the chairs in his cabin, not much use in rough weather!

[Darryl]

Am currently watching the LIVE Commissioning ceremony for the USS Zumwalt DDG 1000. Awesome. When the crew went aboard to "man the ship" and stood along the rails it gave some much needed perspective to the size of the flight deck, VLA and other portions of the ship. Ooooh-rah!!!

Oh, Captain James A. Kirk led off his speech with: "...might as well get it over with...<made the sign with his right hand>...live long and prosper!"

[crfriend]

Some good footage of Waverley's engine and paddle wheels as she reverses away from Helensburgh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XIDt2vwYqs

Oh bloody drool! I love that old-school machinery!

And wheeled chairs, a friend of mine was a captain for Calmac and used to have endless arguments with the other skipper, over wheels on the chairs in his cabin, not much use in rough weather!

Where's the argument? Anybody who's been more than 50 feet offshore knows that it can get "boisterous" out there in anything rough. How two masters can argue over such a thing boggles the imagination, unless one was having the other one on.