An eventful port visit… Shortly after coming alongside Souda Bay on Thursday, FRE suffered some hull damage. A barge had been secured to the ship’s outboard side (port) for black water collection. Though the weather was calm initially, the wind and sea state rapidly increased in a matter of minutes, to the point that the barge broke loose ripping the bollard off the barge. As the yokohama fenders keeping the barge off the ship also broke loose, the barge struck the hull several times as it was blown forward from top part to beyond FRE’s bow. At the same time the Rhib lines broke and sent her 300 meters forward of us into a force protection barricade.
We ended up with 3 holes in our hull. Two in the mechanical workshop, towards the aft end of the shop near the tool crib (approx. frame 31.5). The first hole extended from approx. 30cm above deck level down through the deck into the FER 10 – 15 cm. 4 longitudinals were damaged, deflected in this area. The second hole was just above the first one, fwd of frame 31, pierced the hull causing a wrinkle in one longitudinal. The third hole is located in the Fwd AC Plant, in the very port forward corner, on Fr 21, about 30cm below the deck head, and is approx. 15cm long by 4-5cm wide. 1 longitudinal damaged with dent in the frame 21.
3 days to complete all required repairs, all repairs completed by SS. The Hull Surveyer from FMFCS was here to conduct the MFI on our new deck cranes, he provided some assistance and recommendations for temporary repairs. Once all removals were completed we cropped all 3 holes outs, fabricated 8mm 350-WT steel doublers and welded them to the exterior of the hull using dogs and wedges to press the doublers to the hull for a tight fit. We reinforced the wrinkle/ cracked longitudinal by backing plate below the wrinkle, welded to the longitudinal. We pressed and welded the interior shell plate to the back side of the doubler of all 3 doublers. The Greek Navy provided us with NDT, using dye penetration and magnetic particle testing. All welds passed.
It is not every day we get to weld up a hole is the side of our ship. Very proud of our team and their ability to conduct repairs under pressure within a tight timeline. The first response from Halifax after we sent the information to them was recommending we source local welders to conduct the repairs. My response to that was a politely correct, “with all due respect Sir, this is our job”! Situations like this attest that our trade can stand, and must stand as one trade, ‘Damage Control Specialist’.
