Viking Sky is in trouble, passengers abandoning ship

More----"Investigators board Viking Sky as questions are raised over engine failure

Police and accident investigation teams confirm separate full investigations in the wake of a dramatic near miss off Norway’s west coast that saw hundreds of senior citizens airlifted from a cruiseship that lost power from all four engines,"

“The main goal for us is to find out what caused the ship to lose the engine power,” a spokesperson for the Norwegian Maritime Authority told Lloyd’s List."

"Viking Sky is equipped with MAN 32/44CR engines, a total of four four-stroke diesel engines: two each 5040 kW strong units with nine cylinders, two other 6720 kW strong units with twelve cylinders. These are housed in two separate engine rooms. The engines power two Rolls-Royce Promas propulsion and maneuvering systems. The Promas system incorporates the propeller and the rudder in a single unit to increase the hydrodynamic efficiency. A special hubcap is fitted to the propeller which streamlines the flow onto a bulb that is added to the rudder, effectively reducing flow separation immediately after the propeller. The propulsion unit includes six-bladed 4.5m-diameter fixed-pitch mono-block propellers. The result is an increase in propeller thrust as previously wasted energy is recovered from the flow. The addition of the bulb on the rudder also streamlines the flow aft of the rudder, further reducing drag. A twisted rudder provides further improvements in efficiency and maneuverability."

"In the search for the causes, it will also be about the question why the on-board redundancy systems did not fulfill their task as intended. The redundancy principle is well-known in aviation and states that all important systems must be duplicated in order to cope with any failure of a system.

What exactly happened on board the "Viking Sky", it can currently only speculate. The problem could be the high load under which the engines have to be driven in bad weather. If problems then occur in the cooling system, shutdowns to protect the technology quickly threaten.

Cooling problems can be caused, for example, by the fact that the cooling water inlets are clogged - for example by floating plants in the water. Or by the fact that large quantities of air are sucked in the wild lake instead of water. Then the cooling can fail - and the engines stop working.

However, the problems could also be based somewhere else - in the tanks. According to Norwegian media reports, the "Viking Sky" had 343 tons of heavy fuel oil and 465 tons of diesel on board. The contents of the not quite full fuel tanks could now have been churned up in the waves so that eventually either air or dirt landed in the fuel lines."

From Norwegian news reports, the freighter was close by since it came to the rescue, then got into trouble itself.

Interestingly I hear that there was also a freighter in the same area at the same time that also had engine issues.

KENN. as usual you nailed it. 3 of 4 is all that's required...unless they need to make up time because of say, a port delay. four knots? something very wrong here. not to mention some four-striper has some explaining to do...mebbe he saw too many episodes of "VIKINGS"?

Good points that hadn't occurred to me. Of course if you have to go to "your" muster station mine is usually on deck 3 just below the life boats. Not sure what it would be otherwise. Hopefully, neither of will ever need to know.

Still very interested in the outcome of the investigation into this incident.

A lot of questions need to be answered about this all, for instance:

"According to the "Independent", the two year old Viking Sky was sailing on a two-week “In Search of the Northern Lights” voyage. “This is the first winter for the Viking Cruises itinerary. When the plans were unveiled, the cruise line’s chairman, Torstein Hagen, said: “No other cruise line can show guests this part of the world like we can.”

“The shipping forecast for the planned voyage was for gale-force winds and very rough seas.”

"The Norwegian press is commenting that the Norwagian ferries did not try and sail in this weather but the Viking cruise ship did anyway. “The captains on the north and southbound Hurtigruten chose to wait in Bergen and Trondheim because of the weather forecast for Saturday. The cruise ship Viking Sky, on the other hand, chose to pass Hustadvika on the Møre coast in strong winds . . .”

The way I understand it is that the ship lost power on all four diesel engines, meaning that the ship's diesel/electric system failed to operate the propulsion for the two propellers. The ship was at the mercy of the sea and within a 100 yards of going onto the rocks, when the crew managed to get one engine going and dropped an anchor which held. It wasn't until much later that the crew got three of the four engines going and managed headway of four knots. Four knots, why that little? I was under the impression that only three engines are required for normal cruising. Obviously, a lot is to be gleaned from this mishap, Was it due to the latest technology on hybrid diesel engines and their related electric components? Beginning to sound like a Boeing MAX 8 debacle.

What we know now is that:

"Norway’s Accident Investigations Board said the ship would remain in Molde, pending an investigation."

I have to disagree AUNTIE...I've been in the "main auditorium" or whatever its called on a variety of different cruise lines, and different classes of ships over the years...and the one thing they all have in common is how difficult it is to get OUT of them when the show is over. usually up a long narrow aisle, with about 1000 of your closest friends to help you. Politeness can be "strained" to say the least. (A lot of those folks have never figured out how to leave a church service when folks ARE being polite.) Now add in a violent sea, etc etc and mebbe some folks in life jackets..getting sick too...nope, not for us..if I have to pick a place it'll be (hopefully) seated not near a lot of glass, but with easy access to a lifeboat deck. The issue is folks heading back to their rooms to get their stuff..and "demanding to know whats going on." its a good thing nothing was burning on SKY is all I'll say. Add some smoke to that situation and you would have a real disaster on your hands..

It has been fascinating to watch this unfold. The videos of all the furniture sliding and stuff flying through the air made me wonder where on a ship I would want to be in a similar scenario. I concluded in the main auditorium on most of the ships we have sailed. The seats (and tables) are bolted to the floor and there really isn't much extra stuff to be air born. The exception, from the ships we have sailed on, is the Carnival Vista class ships where the chairs are not secured. I am not sure where I'd want to be on those ships. It appears that the Viking Sky has returned to port and everyone is now off the ship. Like the rest of you, I am anxiously awaiting "the rest of the story".

That was my original thought re BOTH engines failing, and then being able to restart one. Right away Im thinking a software glitch/alarm that prevented it. This is not like my old tractor that wont crank unless I talk to it.... We'll get the story....eventually, but I agree highly doubtful it would come from VIKING or the MFG.

As far as the other, went to WIKIPEDIA..they have a list of mass evacs...couldn't find one specifically involving airlifts ONLY, but there was one that came close...SAIGON....naturally...

BTW, went to the GREEN SHEET for VIKING SKY...they scored a 95, with the usual assortment of violations...guess that's the least of their problems eh?

They airlifted over half the guests off the ship, 479, before they finally made harbor. Be most interesting to learn the detail of what happened in the engine room(s). Of course you ain't going to get it from the cruise line or manufacturers, have to wait for Norwegian investigation or law suits over equipment.

Wonder if this airlift set some sort of record?