River Clyde Channel Depth

[highlander0108]

Looking into Captain McNaught's assertion that the channel depth has shoaled and is not deep enought for QE2 to return to Clydebank, I ended up with a Google search finging of  the sobering report on the Flying Phantom accident, which could be an entire separate topic.  Not to prove Captain McNaught wrong, I wanted to see if I could find out how much dredging would be required and if this romantic dream were even remotely possible.  Let's assume for this excercise that the funnel and foremast have been temporarily removed in Greenock by local proud Scotsmen so that QE2 can clear the Erskine Bridge.  I think the findings below are encouraging, but need local confirmation.

http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Flying%20Phantom.pdf

In the report, it states that the maintained channel depth up to the Shieldhall Riverside Quay is between 7.4m to 8.2m.  Further stated, ships exceeding 8.7m in draft or exceeding 200m in length require a meeting with the local port authority to coordinate the ship movement.  Also in the report, it states large ships must tranverse the channel up to Glasgow on an incoming tide, which makes total sense.  What makes this passage tricky, including the narrow channel, is that there is no place to turn a large ship around or anchor if there is a problem, except for the abandoned Esso loading dock.

Looking at the specifications listed in multiple places for the draft of QE2, I find the common draft of 9.8m stated or 32ft.  Looking at the recent pics in Dubai, it is clear that the ship is sitting much higher, with approximately 28.5ft shown at the head.  Lets assume 29ft for this excercise.  I could not see how she's sitting unloaded in Dubai at the stern, but lets give back the additional .5 foot and say 29ft of draft.  Perhaps if she were completely unloaded of fuel and other stores she could gain a few more inches.

Looking at tide tables, it looks like there is at least a 3.5m tide change.  In fact, in September, the highest tide is at 3.84m predicted.  Taking the most conservative numbers, 7.4m depth plus a 3.5m tide change gives a depth of 10.9m at the high tide.  Using a 29ft draft of QE2, or 8.84m, there would be 2.06m under her keel.  Of course, this is at the peak time, and the ship would take some time to traverse the distance from Greenock to her birthplace.

Perhaps we could get some local confirmation of the channel depth and tide calculations and if I have completely missed something. 

[Cruise_Princess]

Bu I think the Erskine Bridge may get in the way!

[highlander0108]

Bu I think the Erskine Bridge may get in the way!

See the first paragraph.  The ship will pass under if the funnel and foremast are temporarily removed.  Should be the least of the problems.  The biggest obstacle is finding a buyer, or drumming up support for government assistance to make this happen.