Seems unusual & pretty amazing for that to happen with such huge engines as those must have.
Also, looks like this ship is just around 2 years old.
Article here:
Spoken of here, with photos:
Yeah, these behemoths are required to have backups and then some. Apparently, all engines need electrical power to run, so if the main and backup engines producing electricity for the other engines go south, then mayday has arrived. But it's we humans who are supposed to ensure the equipment is shipshape.
"The regulations require full redundancies -- including two engine rooms and the doubling up of cables and electrical systems that snake throughout ships. This means that even if a fire destroys one main engine room and the generators that supply the power to move the ship, a separate engine room with enough power to propel the ship would still be operational."
Several things amaze me about that ship getting stuck, really...
Ship engines are usually at least the size of a small cottage (usually much bigger though) & mostly run on heavy (bunker 4 or 6) oil that must be heated before uses - and great care is taken to be sure the oil is flowing.
If the oil tanks or lines get cold, that is a critical failure point, but:
As I understand it, most of those gigantic shops have other ways to make electricity with smaller engines, always.
So I would love to hear more about the exact causes of that ship's engines failing so badly, should that info ever become publicly shared.
A little bit about it appears here:
And here:
Especially of interest in all of this is how a cargo ship that was heading to aid the Viking Sky also suffered engine failure in the same general area.
Most huge ship engines are of the diesel type, meaning they can usually be kept running as long as they have fuel being supplied & it is the control of the fuel feed rate which acts as their throttle...no matter if they are the driving engines or if they are used hybrid style to drive generators for huge electric motors to drive the ship.
So again - unless the fuel got stopped somehow it is a wonder that they got stuck at all.
My personal favourite aspect of such big engines & motors is how so many of them actually need what is called a pony engine (or motor if electric or air powered) to turn over the huge engine or motor to get it started.
This can be quite a feat to accomplish from a dead, cold stop.
An example:
Many years ago I worked in a mill with a huge machine powered by a 900HP electric motor.
It was bigger than a small truck with a shaft about 8" in diameter.
The 3 fuses for its power were each as big as my forearm and quite expensive to replace.
To start that behemoth a 300HP motor was used & it was tricky as it had to be done from the switchgear room, manually & the machine was hundreds of feet away outside that long room.
It went like this=>
The 300HP motor had to be verified as up to full speed - and sometimes its fuses would have been used enough times that they would fail to make that 1st start until replaced.
Once that motor had the main shaft up to speed, the main contactor would get closed with a sound like thunder & it made the whole room vibrate.
Finally, if all went well - the main motor would run itself up to speed in just under 5 minutes time.
That lengthy info is actually less complicated than starting a huge diesel type engine if it is fully cold because of the need to move gigantic parts lubricated with thickened, cold oils.
It is easier to imagine the difficulties of this if one considers that such an engine may have many pistons that are each the size & weight of a small car.
If interested, have a look at the engine photos here:
http://www.akademifantasia.org/cruise-travel/emma-maersk-the-biggest-on-the-sea/
And a good idea of the size of a crankshaft for such an engine, here:
Sorry if this all is a bore - big machines still fascinate me.
Once a power plant engineer - always a power plant engineer, I guess !!
I wonder how many nautical miles per gallon(s) that little engine gets?
Yuk, yuk, yuk - did I hear you say gallons per mile, perchance ??
Actually, someone active in the transportation industry informed me a while ago that for large transport, they skip the ideas of gallons or pounds & go right to measuring via tonnage.
It might astound many folks to find out just how much fuel is used in larger scenarios compared to ur puny little cars & houses...in commerce & industry it is common for smallish places to need a fuel drop from a full 10,000 gallon truck twice or more per week just to power their boilers.
Ah but fuel cells are supposed to change all this.
If only we could power our cars with our cellular fuel cells, after all so many of us extraordinary people have dozens of them laying around.
I remember reports in the popular magazines way back when about all sorts of terrific new tech to power vehicles.
It included such things as gas turbines & there were reports of fuel cells being ready for vehicular uses anytime now.
Looks to me as if those reports (some I remember from ~30 years back) were a trifle premature.
I keep wondering this:
After ~100 years of petrol fueled, rubber tired ground vehicles - and our species being so incredibly inventive & capable (or so I'm told ??) - why hasn't something better come along yet ??
I completely refuse to accept that petrol fueled, rubber tired ground vehicles are the measure of the final, ultimate height of all our creative abilities.
Low oil levels shut down the engines.
I know these big ships must have humongous dipsticks, but they should be checked before every trip, and a few quarts of oil should be added if need be.:dry: