Two HAL ships at FINCANTIERI

[billroddy]

From Google Earth here are two ships at the Italian yard.
You may have to fool around with the URL. Select View at Google Earth.
Posted by a friend in Turku, Finland! Isn't the web wonderful!
Bi

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Number/194864

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the link.

[jhannah]

That's great! I love Google Earth. I have seen Venice, but had never looked over across the bay to the shipyard. Thanks for pointing that out.

Reckon they are the Westerdam (outside) and Noordam inside the dry dock?

[Druke I]

Did you notice the picture is from November 05? Not exactly current.

Google, while interesting, does have a lot of "old" material on it.

[sail7seas]

Jim....... Wouldn't one be Eurodam?

[jhannah]

No. The photography is too old. As Michael said, there is lots of old data on Google Earth. That's why I was guessing at which ships they were.

Our neighborhood on Google Earth is still entirely empty fields, and this housing community is over two years old.

[sail7seas]

Oh..okay. :)

[RevNeal]

Are we sure about the date of this photo?

If this photo dates to 2005, then the ship floating has to be the Noordam. It's hard to tell, based upon the photo, but it does kind of look like it could be the Noordam ... note the space behind the pool on the aft Lido deck. To my eye The pre-refit Vistas (other than the Noordam) didn't have that much space (at least, I don't think they did). Also, the Westerdam was dedicated in April 2004 ... she would have been long gone by this time in 2005 when the Noordam would have reached the stage of construction depicted in the photo.

The ship on the stocks is the real mystery. The ship afloat is definitely a Vista Class ship of the Holland America Line (one can even make out, faintly, a smudge that is probably the HAL logo on her aft stack). The ship on the stocks is another matter. It looks like a Vista design, but she can't be the Eurodam, nor the P&O Line's Arcadia, because the Arcadia was already at sea in 2005 and the Eurodam hadn't yet been conceived. She can't be the Cunard Line's Queen Victoria because she wasn't laid until May 12, 2006, 3 months after the Noordam's Inaugural.

IF the ship afloat is the Westerdam, then the ship in the stocks COULD be the Arcadia, but that would date this photo to late 2003 or early 2004, not 2005.

In my opinion there is only one way that both of these ships could have been HAL vessels ... and that's if the ship afloat is the Zuiderdam and the ship on the stocks is the Oosterdam. The Zuiderdam was Launched in December 2002, while the Oosterdam was laid down in January 2002. If this photo actually dates from the Fall of 2002, it would account for the current state of the ship on the stocks and for the HAL ship afloat.

So ... what's the date of the photo? IF it's from November 2005, then the ship afloat HAS to be the Noordam; but, that means that the vessel on the stocks can't be a HAL vessel.

[RevNeal]

Ah-ha!
I went back and reviewed the post that was linked from the Google Earth Community. While that post is dated November 12, 2005, it contains a quote from much earlier:

Work is currently in progress on Zuiderdam, the first in a series of four Vista Class cruise ships. The other sister ships are: Oosterdam (dark ship above Zuiderdam), Westerdam and Noordam.

IF that's correct, then the ship afloat IS the Zuderdam, and the ship on the stocks is the Oosterdam ... and the photo dates to 2002.

[RuthC]

Ah-ha!
I went back and reviewed the post that was linked from the Google Earth Community.
Sherlock Holmes in a former life? :confused: Or just Basil Rathbone? :D

[jhannah]

IF that's correct, then the ship afloat IS the Zuderdam, and the ship on the stocks is the Oosterdam ... and the photo dates to 2002. And I'm soaking wet once again! :D

[RevNeal]

Sherlock Holmes in a former life? :confused: Or just Basil Rathbone? :D

Hahaha! Nor even Father Dowling!
More like Inspector Clouseau. :D

[RevNeal]

And I'm soaking wet once again! :D
:D
Then come get dry on Christmas Eve! :D We have 2 services, one at 7 pm and the other at 11 pm.

[Boytjie]

Hahaha! Nor even Father Dowling!
More like Inspector Clouseau. :D

Does your dog bite?

[RevNeal]

Does your dog bite?

That's not my dog. :D

[Copper10-8]

Do you have a REUM?

[Vic The Parrot]

"I believe that you are having a problem with your phyewn"

[RevNeal]

"I believe that you are having a problem with your phyewn"

<on the phone> "Hello?... Yes. There is a beautiful woman in my bed, and a dead man in my bath."

[Copper10-8]

Hey Vic, check this out:

A pastor who was badly overworked went to the local
medical center and was able to have a clone made.
The clone was like the pastor in every respect, except
that the clone used extraordinarily foul language. The
cloned pastor was exceptionally gifted in many other
areas of pastoral work, but finally the complaints about
the foul language were too much.

The pastor was not too sure how to get rid of the clone so that it wouldn't look like murder. The best thing, he decided, was to make the clone's death look like an accident. So the pastor lured the clone onto a bridge in the middle of the night and pushed the clone off the bridge.

Unfortunately there was a police officer who happened
by at that very moment and arrested the pastor for
making an obscene clone fall. :)

[jhannah]

Ta-da-boom!

Good one, John. You cops know all the good jokes! Amazing what one can learn in a donut shop, isn't it? :D

[Copper10-8]

Ta-da-boom!

Good one, John. You cops know all the good jokes! Amazing what one can learn in a donut shop, isn't it? :D

Starbucks;)

[Vic The Parrot]

Thanks John ..... I needed that. :(

[kakalina]

Hahaha! Nor even Father Dowling!
More like Inspector Clouseau. :D

Perhaps more like the famous Father Blackie Ryan?

[RevNeal]

Perhaps more like the famous Father Blackie Ryan?

The Bishop at Sea, perhaps??? :D
Could be ... except that I'm not a Bishop. :D Just a lowly Parish Priest (of the Methodist variety).

I've not yet had a chance to read The Bishop at the Lake. Perhaps I'll buy that for the flight to Rio next month?