Windows in the wheelhouse busted out, lost steering, ship had to be taken under tow.
I don’t like the term "rogue wave’ as it’s used here. If you’re in shit weather there’s going to be an occasional big one, or a big set.
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I remember years ago when we came through Unimak Pass and ran into a storm. The wave that blew out the window in my office wasn’t the first of the set. It did however set us up for the one that did.
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Yeah, hard to tell from the video, the boarding wave does look bigger.
Wave period was also a factor. The distance from crest to crest gave sufficient time for the bow to drop into that deep trough.
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…but not enough time to let the bow come up to a usefull draft.
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Not just a few broken bridge windows: “MS Maud” will resume service in mid-April.
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Wow it seemed like the bridge got wiped out.
DP3 offshore vessels have to have another Back-up DP console away from the main Bridge, this incident shows that it might be good to have something similar for cruise ships.
Have a back-up steering console somewhere away from the main Bridge so if it gets wiped out the ship can still be properly controlled. I know there is always emergency steering but having a proper back-up steering console is better.
several super yachts i inspected 350+ ft had a steering binnacle and controls in the lazarette
and an auxiliary genset in the stack fiddley which is SOP on most cruise ships in my day
My understanding is that they took the opportunity to update the bridge. That’s not damage from the incident.
Seawater is a horror for electrical connections not specially prepared for outside use on deck.
Salt is hygroscopic and cannot be removed, only diluted in large quantities of fresh water.
They probably had to change all electric wires.
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I thought the same thing when I saw a photo of the ship’s exterior. The entire design appears to be better suited for river cruising rather than the North Sea.
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She is a small ship, 136 x 22 meters, and the inversed bridge windows are indeed very low.
It seems, she was built as a passenger and car ferry along the Norwegian coast, where the open ocean stretches are short.
Now, as an ‘expedition ship’, she can go anywhere where the ‘real cruise-ships’ cannot enter. However, between these ‘anywheres’, she has long routes on the open oceans in often not very friendly regions.
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She was built in 2003 as MS Midnatsol for the Coastal Express Service along the Norwegian coast, carrying pax, cargo of all kinds and a few cars (45 PCE):
https://skipshistorie.net/Tromso/TRS101TromsFylkesDS/Tekster/TRS10120030100000%20MIDNATSOL.htm
Not a traditional RoPax ferry (No bow/stern ramps) Deck plan:
Refurbished for expedition cruises and renamed Maud in 2021.
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