GREY FLEETS
A Chinese frigate that had been discouraging Philippine fishing boats from entering disputed waters in the South China Sea ran aground near Half Moon Shoal in the Spratly Islands. The warship was described by Western diplomats as being "thoroughly stuck." The US Senate's appropriations subcommittee has reversed the Navy's proposal to prematurely retire seven cruisers and two amphibious ships. The commanding officer of the ballistic-missile submarine USS Rhode Island became aware of onboard cheating problems during training examinations for nuclear-submarine operations and temporarily relieved one of his engineers of duty. After investigations, he was reinstated without disciplinary action. The US Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship has a "core" crew of forty to operate its highly automated systems but a Navy study revealed that the crew was over-taxed in port and exhausted underway. More berths have been added but it is not clear whether the crew size will be increased
The Royal Navy discovered that it had overpaid more than 400 tars and wants the money back. Current service people will have their pay docked up to four days a month until each debt (up to £17,000) is paid.
The Dutch Navy will search for the wreck of the Dundee- based World War Two submarine O-13 (Onderzeeboot 13) that disappeared more than 70 years ago. It escaped from Holland during the German invasion in May 1940 to join the Royal Navy but failed to return from a mission in the North Sea a month later.
WHITE FLEETS
Removal of the cruise ship Costa Concordia from its rocky berth near Giglio, Italy will take longer than previously announced. Look for it to be afloat again some time next Spring. Automatic sprinklers quickly killed a cabin fire on the Crown Princess. No injuries but some damage. In Venice, wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour pulled the Carnival Breeze away from the pier during embarkation but nobody was on the gangways at the time. Tugs re-docked the ship about an hour later.
THOSE THAT GO BACK AND FORTH
In southern Myanmar, the double-decked Irrawaddy River ferry Mya Min Aung developed engine trouble, drifted downstream through rapid waters in heavy rain, and hit several docked vessels before sinking. At least ten died including five university football players and their coach but 73 others were rescued. In the Philippines, the often renamed ro-ro-pax Super Shuttle
Roro 1 ran aground two nautical miles off Agoho Point, Tablas and holed itself. It also had a fire in the superstructure that killed one passenger. Rescued from liferafts, however, were 56 other passengers and 48 crewmembers, but none of the 16 vehicles onboard. The Jewel of the Seas hit an overhead power cable while sailing into the port of Klaksvik in the Faroe Islands of Denmark. A seaman was injured by falling debris and the mast and equipment on it suffered too. In Boston's outer harbor, Nix's Mate has a beacon marking a cross-channel connecting the two main shipping channels. It is a mini-island made from granite blocks and is topped with a prominent pyramidal beacon. Nix's Mate was originally eleven or twelve acres in extent but got smaller as ballast and, later, slate were mined. In the 1700's it was a place where pirates were executed and their bodies then gibbeted. One was pirate chief William Fly who scolded the hangman for incorrectly securing his noose, then re-tied it himself.
November/December 2012 Professional Skipper 35
for Frontier, Jubilee & Legacy
VIP.S90
