QM2's West Side arrival on July 6

[Mauretania2 fan]

Did anyone else view QM2's docking on the morning of July 6th at around 6:15AM? I watched it from the boat deck and there seemed to be quite a struggle to get the ship safely into the pier.

 

In the middle of a very tight right turn around the corner of the pier, the current and tide appeared to swing the stern to the right and away from its turn. The ship slid downstream, stopping very close to the corner of the pier where the QM2's thrusters, props and three very large tugs remained frozen in a struggle for several minutes before the ship finally began moving again, finally completing its turn safely into its slip.

 

I know that the current and tides at the West Side piers have always had quite a reputation and I wonder what the outcome might have been if there had also been a strong northwest breeze instead of the dead calm we enjoyed morning.

[MJM88]

The dynamic you describe reminds me of the footage of the QE2 docking in Manhattan in the National Geographic Video-- " The Superliners: Twilight of an Era, " which was filmed in 1979 and focuses on a QE2 westbound TA. The pilot and captain dash about the bridge trying to keep the QE2 from sustaining any damage as it makes that righthand turn. Funny how some things (the challenges of the current in the Hudson) don't change.

 

BTW, you can still get this as a video tape or DVD, if you haven't seen it and are interested. At that time the QE2 was seen as the "last" superliner. I saw the film for the first time in 1980 on the QE2 soon after we left NYC.

[BlueRiband]

...the QM2's thrusters, props and three very large tugs remained frozen in a struggle for several minutes before the ship finally began moving again, finally completing its turn safely into its slip...

 

If they used three tugs then they knew the current was bad. I remember a 2004 arrival where just one tug was needed to push her butt around. One tug helped her make the counter clockwise pivot for the Royal Rendevouz. But it can run a lot stronger. Remember the USAirways jet that ditched into the Hudson? It came down near those docks and got carried down to 23rd street in almost no time.

 

Tug assistance is not the only reason QM2 seldom docks in Manhattan. The other is security. The Coast Guard maintains a security exclusion zone around QM2, and it's more difficult because her length extends beyond the pier. There's a lot of ferry and commercial traffic in the Hudson.

[capnpugwash]

Apparently there was a two and a half knot current running down the Hudson which the ship had to overcome in order to make the turn, they managed it without any harm being done.

[sfbearcat]

Im glad they are returning to the Manhattan docks for a few crossings..thou I dont think they want to..more like they have to when Princess also has a ship in port! If this is going to happen next season I will look for a crossing that is leaving from the westside and the grand sail away down the Hudson .

[Mauretania2 fan]

I do remember the National Geographic documentary on the QE2, and found myself thinking of it while watching the QM2's maneuvers the other day.

 

As I recall, they took the QE2 into a pier on the West Side without any outside assistance during a tugboat strike in New York. Impressive seamanship by the pilot and captain!

[F5Loar]

On July 1 the QM2 also shared next door to Carnival's Miracle. They sort of ran us together in a herd during check-in and then got split out to Cunards check in.

We were sleeping when she came back in on the 6 and did not feel any problems.

[BlueRiband]

...As I recall, they took the QE2 into a pier on the West Side without any outside assistance during a tugboat strike in New York. Impressive seamanship by the pilot and captain!

 

Indeed it is - there exists a film of the SS United States making it to the West Side without tugs. If you examine the chart for New York, a ship has to make a reverse "S" path to come through the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and then pass the Statue of Liberty - in a harbor with heavy traffic. In both cases I believe that a cable and winch was used to turn the ships into the slips.

[Rotterdam]

in the 1970s we were on the Oceanic during a tug boat strike..as the ship came alongside it crashed into the pier - smashing the windows on the pool deck midships - I was having lunch & just sat there watch the pier coming closer, closer , closer...I finished my pasta!!!

 

It was a buit scary w/ the jolt & all.....it happens!