UK’s biggest warship suffers propeller shaft damage off south coast after setting sail for US

penfold said:
The problem with T45 is substantively fixed by fitting an extra generator set; 99% of running will be done on diesel only, any remaining capriciousness of the WR21 won't matter much. The central problem with the propulsion appears to have been a desire to be too clever by half and blaming Geoff Hoon, while amusing, excuses whoever specified the system.
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Very fair comments. Suspect whoever specified the system is still specifying systems, for the same people.
 
Kukri said:
Very fair comments. Suspect whoever specified the system is still specifying systems, for the same people.
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Probably not, if I was a thrusting young electromech engineer in the noughties I'd probably not be still thrusting 20 years later; either gathering dust in management or a move sideways into wind turbines maybe. The desire to be too clever by half is innate in thrusting young engineers, so the cycle of life continues.
 
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there was a big briefing for the Typhoon radar test equipment...
Young thrusting Engineer stood up and said..
"We have a new Idea, one test equipment .. Lots of adaptors so each piece of the radar can be tested on it.." (or words to that effect)

Whereupon there was a groan from the audience...
That's what they introduced with the Tornado aircraft..
The biggest problem was... bent pins on all the adaptor connectors.. I used to be good at changing them...
 
penfold said:
Probably not, if I was a thrusting young electromech engineer in the noughties I'd probably not still be still thrusting 20 years later; either gathering dust in management or a move sideways into wind turbines maybe. The desire to be too clever by half is innate in thrusting young engineers, so the cycle of life continues.
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It is the business of the competent manager specifying a ship (and I’ve done a bit of this!) to gather together a group of keen and bushy tailed young engineers and others and point their thrusts in the direction of the best practical ship for the money, still embodying the most up to date systems and without losing any of the enthusiasm of the bushy tailed. So I blame the manager.
 
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Ben Wallace says she is “likely” to dock at Rosyth:

Defence Secretary says ‘likely’ carrier going to dry dock

Nice one, Babcocks!

WTF is wrong with either of the two dry docks in Belfast that can take her without faffing around to get under the Forth Bridge?

What is wrong with a French dry dock (3 available, all nearer, none have a bridge between them and the sea…
 
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Kukri said:
Ben Wallace says she is “likely” to dock at Rosyth:

Defence Secretary says ‘likely’ carrier going to dry dock

Nice one, Babcocks!

WTF is wrong with either of the two dry docks in Belfast that can take her without faffing around to get under the Forth Bridge?

What is wrong with a French dry dock (3 available, all nearer, none have a bridge between them and the sea…
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For a fluid situation...nothing new has been revealed since day one....but it is a strategic part of the UK’s defense so some secrecy is expected
 
Kukri said:
Ben Wallace says she is “likely” to dock at Rosyth:

Defence Secretary says ‘likely’ carrier going to dry dock

Nice one, Babcocks!

WTF is wrong with either of the two dry docks in Belfast that can take her without faffing around to get under the Forth Bridge?

What is wrong with a French dry dock (3 available, all nearer, none have a bridge between them and the sea…
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Well no one on here knows. Best ask the Admiral in charge!

By the way, did you see the nice film of HMS Dauntless leaving Pompey this morning?
 
Bouba said:
For a fluid situation...nothing new has been revealed since day one....but it is a strategic part of the UK’s defense so some secrecy is expected
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A carrier with one screw and no aircraft isn’t best placed to do any defending, and I’m happy to tell our Russian and Chinese friends that the Forth Bridge has been there for a while.
 
Uricanejack said:
Interesting picture showing only port side producing a wash. presumably on one shaft. Many possibilities why.
Unlikely to have sailed intending to use only one shaft to proceed out of channel unless it was a pre planned trip to go for repair of a pre existing problem
One escort tug attached astern. quite a common practice with large vessels problem or no problem JIK. No idea what RN or Port policy is.
Murphy's law.
Problems are most likely to occur, when they are most inconvenient.
Ie. just after departure, particularly after some kind of work or inspection has been carried out. I'm sure the RN is no more immune from murphy's law than NASSA was.
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Agree the stern tug is normal.

Applying Occam’s Razor, if she sailed with the starboard shaft u/s, as the photograph suggests, the most likely explanation is that she clobbered the starboard prop in moving off the berth, in which case something will have shown up in the shaft torque readings and it would make sense to stop the engine (it may have shut down automatically), complete the evolution, and then try again to see if it was just a fluke reading. Which pretty much fits the snapshot and her AIS track.

If the starboard prop hit something, the chances are that the starboard rudder could do with a look, too. I have known a ship lose the bottom third of her rudder, unknown to anyone on board, except that she seemed to handle a bit better that way.
 
I will stick to my theory that with the port tug pulling and only the port prop showing wash … she was turning starboard
 
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