Italian cruise ship aground-at least 3 dead

[Bob Adams]

The night time photos just a few hours after the incident show the ship lying over at a perfect 90 degrees. Apparently she was slipping toward deeper water as the night wore on because pictures from the next morning show her at less than 90 degrees.

I was surprised to see the hordes of people who went to the port side for rescue. I guess the boat deck on the starboard side was submerged by that time so everyone still aboard had to make their way up to the port side. You can see the port life boats secure in their nests--unable to be launched--while other rescue craft maneuvered to collect people who made their way down to water level.

You can see fully 2/3s of her bottom in the infrared photos, she really settled by morning. All those who were escaping at that time had to walk on the bulkheads.....if the numbers are right, it's amazing more weren't lost.

[MiddleAgesMan]

Before I started disputing Donn I'd have to ask him who "he" is.

Hey, Donn. When you say this pretty much assures "he won't be seeing any insurance payout," is "he" the captain or the CEO of Carnival?

I sure hope it's some unknown third party 'cause if you say it's the captain or CEO I'm gonna have to say the statement is absurd.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The old and infirm on this vessel were doomed. The crew made no effort to assist while announcements made over the intercom were reassuring--and false.

I can't help but be reminded of James McMullen's signature about style and safety and priorities. This was, after all, an Italian vessel and crew.

I think that may be just a tad sweeping.

[MiddleAgesMan]

I agree 100%, Bob. It is truly amazing more people aren't missing/dead.

When I first heard about this the headlines were something to the effect, 'Ship runs aground, 8 dead' which seemed absurd at the time.

[Donn]

Before I started disputing Donn I'd have to ask him who "he" is.

Hey, Donn. When you say this pretty much assures "he won't be seeing any insurance payout," is "he" the captain or the CEO of Carnival?

I sure hope it's some unknown third party 'cause if you say it's the captain or CEO I'm gonna have to say the statement is absurd.

I was obviously speaking of the CEO, and you're entitled to say it's "absurd" if you like. I see you behave the same here as you do in the bilge. Henceforth, I'll ignore you here, as I do below.

[MiddleAgesMan]

I think that may be just a tad sweeping.

I'll grant you that and agree--it's sweeping, but true.

You've been defending and praising the actions of the captain almost from the beginning of this story, ACB, while I was staying out of it, waiting for more information.

Now that we have all learned just how egregious this series of "human errors" was you seem to want to continue in a defensive vein.

Am I wrong about that, too?

[Bob Adams]

Lets not turn this into a bilge thread, Andrew sees things from the prospective of most commercial seafarers, competent, honorable, and hard working people who would do the right thing.I'd suggest to everyone that we reserve judgement until things calm down. When passions run high, things can get blown out of proportion.

[J. Dillon]

Another famous capsize right in NYC waters 1942. The ship was righted and salvaged ( sort of)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Normandie




Fire boats pumped water into her to quench the blaze causing the capsize.

The USS Constellation CV 64 built in the Brooklyn Navy yard 1962 had a fire aboard during construction, Fortunately the NYC Fire dept. learned from their past mistakes in 1942.

JD

[Bob Adams]

Ah yes, the Normandie. Beautiful girl. A couple differances, she did not have hull damage nor the huge superstructure. I saw a documentry on her salvage a long time ago. They did get her floating, but the only voyage she undertook after that was to the breakers yard, if I recall correctly.

[Crazer]

They also removed her superstructure in the process. My bet is on Concordia being dismantled en situ. It seems just too expensive to pull her off the rocks just to send her to the breakers. There is almost no chance she can be returned to service.

More sad news, the number of missing has gone up to 29. Let's hope this is just a mistake and all are well.

[Tom Hunter]

I agree with Andrew, criticising all Italian mariners based on the action of this one captain is rather sweeping. Based on what we know, this particular captain made a huge mistake.

I'm inclined to think that the crew did well, inspite of the comments from the passengers. They managed to get thousands of people off alive, which is very impressive given the time and the cold. I realize there is a video of passengers in a lifeboat asking where they are going and not being told. They are alive, safe, in a lifeboat, and I'm certain the lifeboat crew had plenty of worries. Being told where you are going is nice, but the really important answer was "not to heaven, at least not today" and they seem to be unaware of that.

[MiddleAgesMan]

Every survivor interviewed has stated they were on their own--the crew did nothing, or worse. One that I heard is in the hospitality industry and stated they waited for hours, on shore, for word about assistance from the cruise line. The word came some nine hours after rescue and consisted of a head count! This interviewee was aghast at the lack of follow-up.

They were on their own ON the ship and ON shore. The captain is 100% responsible for his mistake and the crew--and cruise line--share in the irresponsibility exhibited after the fact.

I stand by what I said about how this exemplifies Mr. McMullen's signature--being cool is first, followed by being safe, etc. I am certain it doesn't exemplify 100% of the Italian business model but it appears to be all too common.

An example--I once worked for a company that made huge wing-wall cranes for the US Navy. The pair I was intimately involved with as QC manager used Italian made transmissions for the horizontal rotation of the cranes. The DC motors turned at X rpms and the Navy required the cranes to rotate 360 degrees in 60 seconds, so a reduction ratio of Y:Z was specified, ordered, and manufactured--in Italy. When we went to test we found the cranes rotated 180 degrees in 60 seconds, not 360. RPM of the motors was checked as was the gear ratio as stated on the transmissions' spec plates. In theory, the combination should have met the required spec, but when the transmissions were disconnected and rotated by hand we found the printed gear ratio was WRONG. They were beautiful devices, those transmissions, nicely shaped and painted, but the Italian manufacturer had put in the wrong gears!

[George.]

... the prospective of most commercial seafarers, competent, honorable, and hard working people who would do the right thing.

Which does not excuse any corporativism by which they try to cover up for the bad apples among them.

It seems that Italian cruise ships regularly go off course to buzz islands, like teenagers on a joy ride. All those "competent, honorable" seafarers seemed to know about it and condone it. This complacent attitude led directly to this deadly shipwreck.

[Ian McColgin]

Interesting NPR account from a passenger, some worries from local environmentalists, and a bit of expert opinion. The difficulty of evacuation and how everything about the situation was beyond anyone's training. It is more and more clear that it's amazing how few were killed.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

English edition of Corriere Della Sera:

http://www.corriere.it/International...ssengers.shtml

Cannot comment on how accurate this is of course. But I note that divers have identified the rock that the ship hit (it's on the chart, plain enough...)

And a passenger account in French from two passengers who were standing on deck smoking and saw the islet loom up in the dark, moments before the ship hit the outlying rock.

http://www.sudouest.fr/2012/01/15/l-...05384-4710.php

I've passed this to a friend in the business in the Philippines who has passed it to the head of the agency who recruits for Costa, because of this bit:

« Ceux qui nous ont aidés, ce sont les cuisiniers, les femmes de ménage, tous philippins. Ils se sont encordés pour nous aider à descendre dans les chaloupes. Nous avons pu monter au dernier moment, avant que le bateau ne se couche..".

My translation: "Those who helped us were the cooks and the stewardesses, all Filipinos. They roped themselves together to help us get down into the lifeboats. We were able to get in at the last moment before the ship settled.."

I don't know if this bit from BBC news will work outside the UK but it shows what is being described there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16591501

[orbb]

In the immediate aftermath of this accident, are there wider implications for the cruise line industry. Today's cruise liners are nothing more than a floating apartment blocks designed to carry the maximum number of passengers in order to reduce the cost per head per cruise. In addition, in order to visit ports or places of interest, they are very shallow drafted. Reading and thinking about the accident, I would raise the following questions.

Do today's cruise liners have sufficient internal subdivision with watertight doors to prevent catastrophic flooding?

Are their damage control procedures adequate (eg provision for counter flooding, pumping capacity)?

As to the reports of power failure, is there sufficient redundancy in their electrical generation and distribution? For example, P&O's Arcadia (also built by Fincantieri) has a well documented history of engine / propulsion failures leading to cancelled or shortened cruises. With one of six engines out, she cannot maintain designed cruise speed and all hotel services. Is a more robust view of the required generation redundancy required by the IMO?

Are evacuation / abandonment procedures adequate? Are more realistic demonstrations required rather than the old fashioned Lifeboat Drill?

One last thought, since Carnival Corp has a number of identical or near identical ships within it's fleets (or should that be Brands), how severely is this accident going to impact upon them?

Nick

Roger Long has some interesting comments on the design at his forum on sailboatowners.com:


http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com...d.php?t=137190

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

That is a very good comment by Roger and I hope I don't damn him by agreeing with everything he says there.

To expand on one comment, the LUSITANIA had wing coal bunkers and she capsized as these flooded; the TITANIC did not have equivalent longitudinal subdivision.

I don't know whether Andrews factored this into his design - he perished with the ship.

[George.]

Much of the loss of life on the Lusitania was due to the list making the lifeboats unreacheable on one side and unlaunchable on the other.

I understand that a modern cruise ship can be stable. Where I see poor design is in the difficulty of evacuation in any but ideal conditions caused by the tremendous height of the ship, combined with the huge number of passengers and crew. I say again: imagine this same ship hitting a rock (or another vessel) 100 miles offshore, in rough seas. What would the death toll be then?

I am looking at one of the beasts as I type this, though it is a small one - the MSC Opera. The big Costa ships stop here as well, huge slab-sided things looking like a floating slice of the Great Wall of Spain.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Divers have found paint and metal fragments on a rock 92 metres offshore.

[George.]

With a 35 meter beam, that would be the equivalent of me steering Dalia within 11.5 meters of a rocky shore, at full speed, in the dark - and full speed for us is nowhere near 21 knots.

I hate to admit it, but it does sound like the sort of idiotic stunt that an Italian - or a Brazilian, for that matter - is more likely to try than an Anglo-Saxon. Consider the differences in national driving styles...

[orbb]

That is a very good comment by Roger and I hope I don't damn him by agreeing with everything he says there.

As an aside, Roger's entire forum is a very good read - he has chronicled his trip down the U.S. east coast.

And to tie it back into this thread, he ran aground once, but nothing of this magnitude.

[StevenBauer]

Have you guys heard this one yet? The captain was ordered to go back aboard to coordinate rescue efforts but he wouldn't go. All caught on tape:



http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16150533

[MiddleAgesMan]

This recording (translated) shows a captain who is either incapacitated by fear or completely daft: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16597277

[RichKrough]

Clip and paste from local newspaper story (Schenectady ny Gazette) about a local couple's experience with the Costa Condordia's sinking :

First, their cruise ship crashed and tipped over into the sea.
Then, they couldn’t reach their embassy to get new passports so they could fly home.
So when the cruise company sent them to Albany, Ga., rather than New York, it was a bit more than just the last straw.
Joan, Brian and Alana Aho of Duanesburg are among the more than 100 Americans who were aboard the Costa Concordia cruise ship that crashed along the Tuscany coast Friday. For them, getting to shore safely was just the start of the ordeal.
Their friend Cheryl Ratner reached out to local media in an effort to help them get home after they had difficulty with the U.S. Embassy in Italy. She told their story as Joan Aho told it to her, through text messages and Facebook posts.
It was their first night aboard. They had planned for the trip for a long time, scheduling it for when their daughter would be on winter break from her freshman year at SUNY Cobleskill. It was to be their only vacation of the year.
“It was very exciting,” Ratner said. “They always vacation together. They work very, very hard. They take one vacation a year, and this was it.”
They had several days on shore, exploring Italy, before boarding the ship for a seven-day cruise. As they ate dinner the first night, they heard — and felt — the crash. The ship hit a rock after what the cruise company described as an unauthorized maneuver by the captain. He is now being held on manslaughter charges related to the six or more passengers who died after the crash.
The family heard plates breaking and hurried to the top deck, ignoring the often contradictory directions given by the staff.
“Everybody was issuing orders and every second or third person was contradicting the others,” Ratner said.
At one point, Brian Aho snagged two life jackets, for his wife and daughter. He turned and handed them to his wife.
“Some woman ripped them right out of her hands,” Ratner said. “People were panicking.”
The family finally got to a lifeboat, but passengers were pushing and shoving so much that Alana Aho nearly got separated from her parents as they climbed into the boat. Her mother grabbed Alana’s leg and held on until she was able to get aboard.
“Someone was pushing Alana out of the way,” Ratner said. “Joan had to hang onto Alana’s legs.”
Once they got to shore, they found that embassies had sent officials to the local hotels to help the stranded passengers get new documents. Most people had nothing with them — not even a driver’s license. The Aho family had only a cellphone. Officials for the British and other embassies were able to begin processing new passports right away.
But the U.S. Embassy, which had relatively few citizens on board, didn’t send anyone to help. At one point, Joan Aho said she had been advised to borrow money from strangers, take a taxi to the embassy, and fill out the family’s passport paperwork there, Ratner said.
Joan Aho wasn’t happy.
“There was a point at which she started getting angry. And this is a woman — they’re a very calm, laid-back family,” Ratner said. “It was just frustrating. You’re stranded, you have no identification.”
The Americans finally banded together at one hotel to come up with a “strategy” to force the embassy to help them. Ratner never heard the results of that meeting, but shortly thereafter the Americans received their temporary passports — allowing them to go home.
Then came the next battle: getting the cruise company, Costa, to pay for their tickets. Without their wallets — still sinking with the ship — they had no way to pay for airline tickets themselves.
On Sunday night, Joan Aho posted on Facebook that Costa had “finally come through” with tickets for a Monday flight.
“Hopefully tomorrow night we’ll be safely home,” she posted.
But instead they were given tickets to another Albany: the one in Georgia.
Joan Aho called Ratner from the airport in Atlanta on Monday night to tell her about the mistake.
“Costa screwed up,” Ratner said. “She sounds so completely exhausted.”
But she believed Delta Airlines was going to reroute them to the right location, Ratner said.
She’s just hoping they get home soon.
“I love this family,” she said. “I hope they get to sleep for a week.”

[RichKrough]

Check out the blown-up chart and AIS track for the Costa Concordia. What the hell were they thinking?

http://gcaptain.com/cruise-ship-cost...a-sinks/?37456

I couldn't get the website to open. here is the AIS log on Youtube

[rbgarr]

A Facebook post revealed the captain's acknowledged intent to swing close to the island: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...ptain-disaster

[Ian McColgin]

Quite apart from the potential that command decisions may have initiated this accident, we have a companion thread looking at the general issue of what, if anything, the crew and officers can do before there's been any emergency drill in a fast changing emergency with communications out.

It appears that at least some crew, forced to act independently in the dark with gear becoming inoperably as the ship listed, rose to the occasion. I am not sure that I'm prepared (yet) to criticize those who managed to get lifeboats to shore but then did not go back out for more since it's not clear whether they'd have helped or just added confusion to the work of better equipped rescue vessels. Similarly, while I'm not prepared to defend the Captain if what's been reported is a full story, I still don't know what he'd have done as a bridge ornament. He seems to have given up any effort to even try to remain in command so it's hard to tell if there was or was not anything useful he could have done, beyond setting a good example of dignity in the face of disaster.

[peter radclyffe]

coastguard

CG: Hello?
FS: Tell me...
CG: I am De Falco from Livorno, commander
FS: (hardly understandable but sounds like: "sh*t, the commander" with a scared voice)
CG: Hello?
FS: Yes... G... Good evening commander.
CG: Listen, I am De Falco from Livorno, am I talking to the commander?
FS: Yes, good evening commander De Falco, I am...
CG: Tell me your name, plase!
FS: I am commander Schettino, commander.
CG: Schettino?
FS: Yes.
CG: Listen, Schettino. There are persons trapped in the ship. Now you go with your lifeboat under the stem of the ship, starboard side. There is a jacob. You will climb that jacob and board the ship. You board the ship and then will tell me how many persons are still there. Is that clear? I am registering this communication, commander Schettino.
FS: Well, commander, let me tell you one thing...
CG: Talk louder!
FS: Ok, the ship now... I am here in front of...
CG: Talk louder, put a hand around the microphone and talk louder! Is it clear?
FS: (talking to someone close to him: "Sit down. Let him come here, let him come here!"). Commander, in this moment the ship is listed.
CG: I understand that. Listen up. There are persons who are decending the jacob at the stem. You will now move over that jacob in the opposite direction, get on board and will tell me how many persons there and what (equipment) do they have. Clear?
FS: (silence)
CG: You will tell me if there are women, children or persons who need an assistance. And you will tell me the number of persons in each one of these categories. Is that clear?
FS: (silence)
CG: Look, Schettino. You may have saved yourself from the sea, but I will get you in a sea of troubles. Get on board!
FS: Commander, please...
CG: No! Please, now you go and get on board! And let me know that you are on board.
FS: I am aboard the liferaft and am not going to leave or get away, I am here...
CG: What are you doing, commander?
FS: I am coordinating the rescue, I am here...
CG: What are you coordinating from there? Get on board and coordinate the resue from the ship!
FS: (silence)
CG: Are you refusing to comply?
FS: No, no, I am not refusing...
CG: Are you refusing to get on board, commander?
FS: I am...
CG: Tell me the motivation for not going there
FS: I am not going there because there is another lifeboat halted there
CG: You get on board, this is an order! You don't have to say anything else, you have declared the abandoning ship, now I assume command. And get on board! Is that clear?
FS: Commander...
CG: You can't hear me? Go! There is my rescuer there.
FS: Where is your rescuer?
CG: My rescuer is on the stem. Move on! There are already dead people, Schettino! Move on!
FS: How many dead people?
CG: I don't know. I know about one. YOU have to tell me that, for Christ!
FS: Do you realize that it is dark here, we don't see anything?
CG: And what do you want to do? Get back home, Schettino? It's dark, you want to go home?
FS: Look...
CG: Climb up that jakob on the stem, and tell me what has to be done, how many persons are there and what are their needs!
FS: I am going there. (incomprehensible)
CG: What?
FS: I am together with the second in command here.
CG: Then climb on board both of you. What is his name?
FS: Dimitri
CG: Dimitri what?
FS: Dimitri Christidis
CG: You and your second get on board now. Is that clear?
FS: Look, I want to get on board. But there is this second lifeboat with rescuers which has stopped there. Now they have called other rescuers...
CG: You, it's been an hour since you are repeating the same thing. Now you get on board. Get on b-o-a-r-d. And you will have to tell me immediately how many persons are there.
FS: All right, commander. I am going...
CG: Move on, now! (Da Falco hangs down)

[MiddleAgesMan]

Five more bodies found today: http://gma.yahoo.com/cruise-ship-wre...-abc-news.html

[WX]

Whatever happens I'd say that captain is beached.

[MiddleAgesMan]

Did you see the report about his complaints about 30 minutes after the holing? I found it incredible, but one article I came across a little while ago said he complained about the delay in bringing his dinner plate and his female companion's dessert! This suggests he left the bridge where he supposedly was during the unfortunate course deviation, went down to the dining room to eat and carry on with a female friend!

[Bob Adams]

I'm starting to think they may not have to remove her, she's sitting on a ledge with a 225 foot drop off. They better get the fuel off before she becomes a diving attraction.

[Bobcat]

Joseph Hazelwood may have been knocked off his perch as the most bone headed ship driver in the public's view.

Captain Edward Smith, RMS Titanic, not only looked the part of a proper ship's captain, but fulfilled his duty.

[Dave_C]

Description and photos of righting operations during salvage of capsized USS Oklahoma.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/e...hbr/ph-ok9.htm

[Figment]

Completely irrelevant, but I'm curious: How is it that the stabilizer fin managed to clear the rock that holed the hull farther aft? Were they swinging hard to starboard at the time?

[Figment]

Description and photos of righting operations during salvage of capsized USS Oklahoma.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/e...hbr/ph-ok9.htm

Wow. A truly mammoth undertaking.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Completely irrelevant, but I'm curious: How is it that the stabilizer fin managed to clear the rock that holed the hull farther aft? Were they swinging hard to starboard at the time?

That's one of the two possible explanations - most likely the officer having the con saw the islet and went hard a starboard to avoid it, swinging the stern into the rock, and the other is a version of the same thing - that, passing so close to the rock at 15 knots, interaction effects sucked the afterbody of the ship into the rock.

[Woxbox]

One report said they did turn hard to starboard at the last moment, swinging or sliding the aft end of the ship into the rock. (Which they proceeded to pick up and carry away.)

[MiddleAgesMan]

I've been wondering the same. I'm thinking (1) the stabilizer just barely cleared the rock, or, (2) a hard turn to starboard--executed at exactly the wrong time--put the aft end of the ship into the rocks. If she was truly running at speed (didn't they say 21 knots?) I don't think a hard turn would have brought about enough movement of the stern to do the damage, so I'm leaning toward the first scenario.

[MiddleAgesMan]

...I was surprised to see the hordes of people who went to the port side for rescue (as seen in the night photos). I guess the boat deck on the starboard side was submerged by that time so everyone still aboard had to make their way up to the port side...

Can you imagine the effort required for all those people to make their way up--vertically--to the port side, probably in near darkness? Sure, they could walk with some stability on the starboard bulkheads but were the passageways wide enough to do that while erect? Even after solving that problem they had no stairs to take them up--any stairwells would have just taken them fore or aft, not up.

BTW--I just saw two survivors from somewhere out west who praised the crew while damning the officers. Apparently the lowly housekeeper-types gave critical assistance without guidance from their superiors.

Kudos to those people, whoever they were.

[The Bigfella]

Just as a matter of interest.... not all Italian Captains buzz the islands. This is a shot from exactly 20 years ago in the same locale. That's Montecristo in the background, Giglio was a long way to starboard. Not exactly a cruise ship... we were on a ferry carrying almost exclusively trucks from Palermo to Genoa.

[Bobcat]

Just as a matter of interest.... not all Italian Captains buzz the islands. This is a shot from exactly 20 years ago in the same locale. That's Montecristo in the background, Giglio was a long way to starboard. Not exactly a cruise ship... we were on a ferry carrying almost exclusively trucks from Palermo to Genoa.

Monte Cristo, like the Count's Island?

Cool

[orbb]

Monte Cristo, like the Count's Island?

Or the sandwich

[Bobcat]

Or the sandwich

I am thinking that the island was named for the sandwich.

Much like the capitol of Washington State, Olympia, was named for one of our local beers.

[Gerarddm]

Supposedly the captain swung the ship by the head waiter's home, or something equally absurd.

I think that tape pretty much sums it up. He will do jail time.

Ché sciocco!

[yzer]

Things really hit the fan in Italy today. TV and radio are playing a recording of an exchange between the Italian Coast Guard and Capt. Schettino. Capt. Schettino refused orders to stay aboard his ship until evacuations were completed.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/what-do-...-1226246934459

[Binnacle Bat]

That's one of the two possible explanations - most likely the officer having the con saw the islet and went hard a starboard to avoid it, swinging the stern into the rock, and the other is a version of the same thing - that, passing so close to the rock at 15 knots, interaction effects sucked the afterbody of the ship into the rock.

The scraping damage starts well after amidships. Its hard to imagine "interaction effects" that strong. Looks to me like the "helm" was well to starboard. Remember that there are no rudders on these ships, just big pivoting electric pushers, so that the stern swings out like an outboard skiff when the helm is pushed over, more so than a ship with standard rudders.

I think the stabilizer just cleared the rock (she may have leaned into the turn a tad if she was still at or close to cruising speed, 15.5 kt±), but when the rock was hit by the turn of the bilge, it rolled up a bit, ending up higher than the stabilizer.

Definitely enough to spoil one's supper.

Allan

[orbb]

The plot thickens:

By msnbc.com and news services
Updated at 7:36 a.m. ET: Adam Smallman, editor of shipping magazine Lloyd's List, tells NBC News that the Costa Concordia took a "pretty much identical" route past Giglio Island in August last year to the one Friday that led to the sinking of the ship. He said the route taken in August, based on satellite tracking, was "authorized by the company and the coast guard."
"Our assessment of the route this vessel took (in August) is it must have come perilously close, and I mean possibly within touching distance of the rock that it hit this time ... which the company is saying wholly unauthorized in terms of its proximity to the island," Smallman said.

[BarnacleGrim]

It would be interesting to see the damage marked on the vessel's damage stability plan, and if any action was taken to maintain stability.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The scraping damage starts well after amidships. Its hard to imagine "interaction effects" that strong. Looks to me like the "helm" was well to starboard. Remember that there are no rudders on these ships, just big pivoting electric pushers, so that the stern swings out like an outboard skiff when the helm is pushed over, more so than a ship with standard rudders.

I think the stabilizer just cleared the rock (she may have leaned into the turn a tad if she was still at or close to cruising speed, 15.5 kt±), but when the rock was hit by the turn of the bilge, it rolled up a bit, ending up higher than the stabilizer.

Definitely enough to spoil one's supper.

Allan

Interaction is a bit of a mystery at the best of times; the engine room / generator flat which flooded is roughly in way of where I reckon the low pressure area might be. But I include it as a possibility only.

I have been given to understand that this class do not have azipods but conventional propellers, with diesel electric drive.