Repairs (damage from Martha Vineyard incident) 10 August 1992 to 2 October 1992

[Lynda Bradford]

Michael Gallagher has given permission to use this information on the forum.  Please do not copy/use without Michael's permission. 

At 2158 hours on Friday 7 August, 1992 QE2 grounded on uncharted and previously unsurveyed rocks during a passage from Martha’s Vineyard to New York.

Discussions on the incident can be found on the Martha Vineyard Grounding topic along with a summary of the damage posted on reply 54 of the topic

Marine Accident Investigation  Branch (MAIB) report

General Ship Company, Boston was contracted for dry docking, a full damage assessment and immediate urgent repairs: QE2 arrived from Newport on 10 August.

The unexpected arrival of QE2 meant that the shipyard workers worked around the clock preparing the massive 1,200-foot dry-dock for the ship’s arrival. Faulty cement cads in the dry-dock area had to be repaired prior to the ship’s arrival and a 73-year old former shipyard worker who remembered how to use the old dry-dock pumps had to brought out of retirement.

Cunard authorised the shipyard to make temporary repairs – work worth more than £10 million and creating 75 jobs.

The repairs included welding sheets of steel to the centre line of the hull and parts of the keel which were damaged (welding over the small cracks and fitting steel patches over the larger ones) in order to make QE2 seaworthy. The steel came from Primary Steel of North Haven in Connecticut.

[Lynda Bradford]

Damage assessment:

Pieces of granite rock embedded in the hull cracks.

The hull was dented for a length of about 300-feet and, in several places, there were small cracks a few inches thick.

On the starboard side of the keel plate was a 21.34 (70-feet) fracture between frames 175 and 206 and a 5.49 metres (18-feet) fracture between frames 172 and 178.

Five smaller fractures, 0.41 metres – 1.62 metres (16 – 24 feet) were found forward of the major fractures on the keel plate between frames 207 and 220.

Two areas of damage were found on the starboard side to the bottom strakes ‘B’ (frames 210 – 236), ‘C’ (frames 141 – 221) and ‘D’ (frames 178 – 203).

The bottom of the shell plating, together with the internal structure, was upset, deformed and damaged.

One area of damage was found on the portside with ‘D’ strake at frames 178 – 193 being upset approximately 7 – 1 centimetres (3 – 4 inches) together with the attendant internal structural framing.

The port bilge keel was heavily deformed over approximately 6.1 metres (20-feet between frames 151 and 163.

There was evidence of paint scrapes due to contact starting at the bulbous bow and extending aft over a length of 400 feet aft and covering a width of 80 feet over the keel and either side of it and consisted of indents – some up to 240 feet in length and 14 inches deep – gouges and fractures. Paint scrapes and minor indents were noted on both sides as high as about two-feet above the keel plates (vertical measurement). The paint scrapes gradually transitioned into shallow upsets in the plate and then into large fractures on the flat keel.

Twenty inner bottom tanks – mostly empty or carrying fresh water – had been damaged to some extent although one, No 10, an empty fuel tank, was the only tank to have leaked a small amount of oil residue at the time. The fractures in way of some of the indents were from 10 to 70 feet long and a 32 foot length of the port bilge keel had been severely damaged during the grounding.

Internally some of the transverse floors and longitudinals (both structurally important upright ‘walls’ the comprise a ships cellular double bottom) were damaged by bucking and only in No 3 cargo hold was the deck bulging inboard, possible as a result of the flooding.

The fractures and damage ended abruptly just forward of amidships at approximately frame 172.

Rumours that the keel had been bent proved to be unfounded.

A thorough internal examination was undertaken and, fortunately, there was no damage to the stern, the propellers or the steering equipment.

[Lynda Bradford]

Tender and Contract for Permanent Repairs:

It had been estimated that repairs would take ten days (resulting in the cancellation of two Atlantic crossings). The original plan was for these repairs to be sufficient for the ship to resume her schedule with permanent repairs being undertaken during her schedule November dry-docking.

It had initially been hoped to complete the repairs in Boston.  However, the lack of skilled workers, the non availability of the correct grade of steel in addition to the the time scale factor led to the Captain, Cunard, Lloyds Classification Society, the British Department of Transport and the US Coast Guards making a conscious decision to transfer the ship to another yard and, as a result, put out invitations to tender for the work.

Cunard invited bids from the USA and Europe for the permanent repairs which would involve the replacement of 400-feet of shell and plate area.

Eight competitive shipyards, including Harland & Wolff in Belfast, tendered for the work. The Boston yard also tendered and formed a partnership with a Norfolk Virginia yard to secure the work.

On 26 August 1992, Cunard announced that permanent repairs to QE2 would be made by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg who had tendered the most competitive cost and out-of-service time.

Atlantic Crossing:

QE2 left Boston on 1 September and sailed for the German shipyard of Blohm & Voss in Hamburg. The Boston yard had done a good job – as Captain Woodall later confirmed describing the quality as “excellent”.

To smooth QE2’s passage across the Atlantic advice had been sought from the British Meteorological Office in Bracknell in order to avoid those sea and wind conditions that the ship might best avoid.

The advise route was straight across and, because of the good weather – a moderate sea and a moderate swell – and the excellent repair job that had been made in Boston, the ship was able to sail safely eastwards at 24 knots.

QE2 arrived in Hamburg on 8 September 1992

[Lynda Bradford]

Hamburg

On arrival in Hamburg the liner was lifted and placed into No 11 floating dry-dock and full repairs were undertaken by 200 men working around the clock over a period of six weeks.

Strangely, Cunard seemed reluctant about talking publicly about the accident although in their ship they certainly had something to be proud of. Any lesser vessel could possible have become a total loss after such punishment.

One of the first problems Blohm & Voss had to deal with was finding suitable steel: QE2 plating was very thick (up to 1.5 inches thick in places) and heavy in order to withstand Atlantic storms. Shipyards no longer carried stocks of steel with this sort of thickness so adequate supplies had to be found.

Work included:

- 150 tons of internal steel being replaced.
- 200 tons of hull steel being replaced.
- Repairs to cracked rib frames.
- A thorough check of the hull, rudder and propellers.
- The hull was completely re-painted.

Work progressed on schedule and QE2 was able to leave Hamburg one day earlier than scheduled on 2 October and returned to Southampton a day later before re-entering service on 4 October.

Nine transatlantic crossings and two cruises (one European and one American) would eventually have to be cancelled in order to complete the work.