There are multiple methods of failure that system won’t account for.
The trouble with CPP systems is most failures are an extremely quick fix related to control, display, or feedback and that puts a lot of pressure on the bridge team to permit the engineers to do their job and not do things like hit estops when that will result in a collision although a lower energy one.
I’d be interested in what the failure actually is here, because failure of the push pull rod or other components will result in all attempts to restore pitch control failing. Most systems have a method to lock in ahead for emergency returns to port but there is no time for that here.
Sometimes the choice is hitting her or hitting her hard.
The last resort for loss of CPP control is to shutdown the main. Trouble is, of course, the main also supplies the electrical power for the vessel.
The emergency generator will auto-start, but it doesn’t have the kw to operate the omnidirectional thrusters on our boat which otherwise would permit maneuvering without the CPP.
To maneuver using thrusters alone sans the main, the auxiliary generators, already online, need to be put up on the switchboard. Because of everything else going on it’s not going to be an instant process. Hence the need for having the anchor ready.
The Cuauhtemoc was shifted in to GMD Brooklyn this morning. I’m guessing they’ll secure the masts, make any needed engine/CPP repairs and then head back to Mexico for a haul out.
When I think back to my experience with CPP and the manoeuvring that I did it is something better to look back on and cringe at the thought of a malfunction.
There were berths where most days there was a glassy calm and at neutral pitch, Becker rudder hard over and bow thruster, moved the vessel bodily sideways and any mechanical failure could be handled with the anchor and quiet conversation .
Then there were other berths where the anchor was routinely used and everything had to be on the board and there was no tug assistance available. The go and no go decision was made after you had crossed a notoriously dangerous bar and an hour and a half before you got there.
Hindsight would have you employed elsewhere.
That is a well-put and often under-appreciated point. To say “It could have been worse” isn’t always philosophic, more often than not it’s a reflection of someone doing everything in their limited power to make it so.
in '69 or ‘70 I made one trip as local pilot in thick o’ fog from Lake Ogleton in to Annapolis harbor in a small foreign (English?) sloop equipped with a 12 hp Sabb (not Saab) diesel with full pitch control. It worked beautifully and gave me no trouble in maneuvering. I forget how it handled rpm but it worked.
What did drive me nuts was the compass, which was a substantial disc-shaped assembly of gray hammer-tone metal a couple inches deep with a direct-reading window on the side facing the cockpit. Took me half the voyage to learn to make it move the right way! The old (to my 19 y/o eyes) couple who owned it were quite amused.