Qe2 Power Loss New Year

[Gary B]

On a yahoo site Stowaway2K who is on board the QE2 posted this on a Yahoo group about a power loss on the QE2 at 2am...

 

"Happy New Year from QE2 enroute to NY from San Juan

 

Early this morning QE2 suffered a total power loss at about 2am ship's time.

 

The ship was totally dead in the water, at the mercy of the swell that kept her rolling whilst totally still otherwise.

 

The ship was partially lit by emergency lighting, so that one could find one's way about in the corridors and public rooms, but the staterooms were without any light. About 30 minutes later some power was restored, but QE2 lay continued to lay still.

 

New Years festivities were still going strong, with the casino and Yacht Club packed with people celebrating.

 

Some passengers managed to harrass whatever crew they could find,

some were visibly nervous, but mostly we took it in stride and

enjoyed the strange sensation of being at sea on a powerless ocean liner, at night, in a choppy sea.

 

Approximately 2 hours after the power loss we were underway again.

 

Captian McNaught made a few announcements to reassure passengers,

but most of us were simply ammused by it all.

 

A strange start to 2005 for QE2, especially after the New Years Eve immigration fiasco in San Juan that had Captian McNaught obviously annoyed. Apparently QE2 advised San Juan authorities of the ship's immigration needs, but they went ignored, and at 1:00 pm with the immigration just then completed, authorities left the ship insulting the Captain on their way"

 

 

ANYONE HAVE ANY OTHER NEWS??

[transat_jon]

Stowaway2K adds more :

 

********************************************

 

Yes, we are due to arrive NYC morning of 3 January

 

 

In the captian's noon announcement he said that the problem was an

over-heated 3.3 kilovolt transformer, made to automatically shut

down at a certain temperature to avoid fire.

 

kj

********************************************

[seabourndt]

interesting to read about trhe power loss on the qe2, after all the problems i have had trying to go onmher and being cancelled, hope she's ok by july.

i thought i was gonna come to see you sometime. you did say after my cruise?

[JohnEZ_NJ]

Very odd. I thought that the regulation was that in case of emergencies, power failures, etc. passengers were to report to the boat deck, no?

[SJcamper]

One, Is there any indication that the loss of power of the QE 2 will delay her departure from N.Y.? Secondly, is there any information that the World Cruise of the QE 2 will skip Columbo and possible other scheduled stops in response to the recent destruction there?

[jbailey]

A delay of departure means that you will have the thrill of QE2 hitting much faster speeds than usual when she does leave. In May 2002, we left NY 11 hours late and hit speeds across the North Atlantic of 29 knots all the way. A couple of times we even did 30 knots! That old lady can really move when she has to to make up for lost time! Even QM2 would have trouble keeping up in a real race.

 

We made it to Southampton right on time. Only problem with the speed was a lot more creaking and some vibration.

[transat_jon]

I was on the May2002 eastbound too, 30 knots so effortlessly. The vibration was caused by cavitation; a side effect of how the hull design works especially in the calm seas we had. We were on four deck where things were so smooth and quiet, all you heard was a distant murmer from the engines and the noise of ocean fizzing past.

 

If the explanation given by the captain is true (captains have a history of not giving the full story), the transformer should not have been damaged. There could be an underlying poblem that might need addressed.

[godfreyb]

We just got back and I must admit the power loss caused me some concern as we were 'adrift'. The captain came on and reassured us several times that 'the ship is safe, I repeat the ship is safe' but the tone of his voice indicated that there was some concern. After 2 hours he announced that 'we will be setting sail for New York shortly', but it seemed to me that the engines started and then promptly stopped again and nothing more happened for several hours. I heard some people were on deck with their life jackets on, but I understand the crew did not seem bothered.

However, no one but myself seemed to realize that this 'electrical failure' happened right in the Bermuda Triangle!

[MollyBrown]

 

However, no one but myself seemed to realize that this 'electrical failure' happened right in the Bermuda Triangle!

That is amazing. Of course, this kind of thing has happened many times before in that area. How spooky.

 

I was wondering how good old QE2 was doing. I miss her, now that she no longer does the regular Transatlantic route. I was on QE2 on her historic last Transatlantic alongside QM2, and the experience was wonderful. But I couldn't hold back tears as I watched her sail off in Southampton (off to be refurbished). I've only sailed on QE2 5 times, but there is something about that ship that inspires me emotionally.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

I too was on the 5 night May 2002 crossing. I did have a link to the Marine & Coastguard Agency accident report for the previous crossing. Unfortunately the link no longer works. Here are the details I can remember if anybody is interested.

 

A fractured pipe cause a leak of seawater in to the rear engine room on the previous crossing. The engines were shutdown by water level detectors. Temporary repairs were made at sea by inflating a rubber balloon in the hole in the pipe. These repairs failed, were tried again and this time held.

 

Had the repairs not been successful, the flow of water was greater than the pumps could deal with. The rear engine room is in the same watertight compartment as the propulsion motors. As this compartment flooded it would have left QE2 adrift in rough Atlantic seas. Luckily this did not happen. The Captain, officers and crew were commended by the Marine & Coastguard Agency in the report.

 

More permanent repairs were made in New York before our crossing. QE2 was delayed in New York to the following morning. Surprisingly we were told very little.

 

If I remember we had very good weather and crossed at high speed making Southampton on schedule.

 

Best wishes, Stephen.

[CharlotteVale]

I can certainly understand why some people would panic during a power outage and being adrift at sea. However, I have always had faith and confidence in the Officers, Staff and Crew on Cunard ships. If Norwegian (in the old days of Sagafjord and Vistafjord) or British they know what they are doing.

 

I have been through power outages, adrift in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, fires (lifeboats were down and the gates open), refits, no stores (there was a strike in France so no trucks could get through... and did people complain as we were delayed one day.. do you want to leave or do you want food????) Rough seas where everything went flying and wet towels everywhere.

 

On QE2 there are two very able and professional Captains. I trust they would do their best to see no harm comes to anyone.

 

Miss Vale

[transat_jon]

Here are some links about the QE2 flooding incident in 21-22 May 2002.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2003_0039

I think the full report is no longer on line.

 

She had come through hurricane force winds and I believe the seas were high for the whole of the crossing. The combination of a flooded compartment the size of the aft engine room and no propulsion in high seas could have been dire or even catastrophic. If I remember correctly they took on 1000 tons of water in two or four hours before the hole was plugged. I need to look out the report.

[transat_jon]

I have found the details from May 2002 :

 

The leak was discovered at 02:00 UTC on 21May02.

At 03:15 "Hi-Hi" bilge arlarm activated and engines started shutting down or being shut down because of the high water in the engine room.

By 04:00 all oily water (bilge) tanks (240m2) were full and flood water was pumped over board.

400m2 (over 400 tons) were pumped overboard between 04:00 and 06:00

400m2 (over 400 tons) were pumped overboard between 10:30 and 12:30 and some engines restarted although rising water level meant they were closed down by 14:00 because of rising water level

600m2 (over 600 tons) were pumped overboard between 14:30 and 17:30 and engines restarted

By 21:00 the leak was finaly stopped

 

At 09:15 on 22May02 the repair failed

200m2 (over 200 tons) were pumped overboard between 09:30 and 10:30

By 10:15 the leak was again repaired

 

On 22May02 they welded a coffer dam arround the area where the leak had been to sensure any future leakage would be contained.

During the while incident there was never more than a meter depth of water in the engine room

 

On 24May02 permanent repairs were made in New York.

 

 

In total well over 1800 tons of water had flooded into the aft engine room.

 

The report says that the ship would have remained stable with no propulsion and the engine room fully flooded, although there is the prospect of other failures in that situation.

 

The ships engineers are commended in their ingenious solution to the problem of flooding.

[jbailey]

I remember we were told that late evening in NY as the time of sailing kept getting pushed back that delays were due to security concerns and then we were waiting for our "Coast Guard escort." I remember there were divers checking the hull and we were led to believe this was part of the security efforts.

 

The funniest part was when we left at 4:00 am, our Coast Guard escort turned out to be a boat the size of a typical cabin cruiser--no machine guns on deck or anything else that looked very menacing for our "security threat"!

 

Anyway, the speed made crossing the Atlantic at anything slower, pretty dull.

[waltd]

So my concern is how good a fix did they do while she was in port? How good a fix could they have done in a few short hours. I shutter to think what the headlines could be.

[jbailey]

I think it was a good thing we didn't know.

 

Anyway, I sailed on her again the next year knowing this and will do it again as soon as I get some free time and money.

[waltd]

After all is said an done I'm looking into the April 16th cruise. If I go I will just wear my life jacket to dinner.

 

:)

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

> After all is said an done I'm looking into the April 16th cruise. If I go I will just wear my life jacket to dinner.

 

On which nights, Casual, Informal or Formal?

 

Thanks for all the detailed infromation. I always feel safe on a Cunard ship. Everything seems so professionally done.

 

Thanks again, Stephen.

[waltd]

I would hope that Cunard would supply us with 2 life jackets. One in black for formal night and something in neutral color that will go with everything else.

 

Happy Sailing

 

:)