So on a vessel of that size, what would the dewatering capacity (bilge pumps) be? I would like to think that my 4 bilge pumps could keep up with a raw water hose failure, just curious what a ship of that class would be required to have?
Ted
Ted...I agree.
Not assuming you aren't experienced to know this, and actually as a diver you might have seen first hand some of this....but I am spelling it out for the newbies/curious.
In this case the boat just didn't take on water it sank.
We usually never hear of all the times boats have major issues begin but warning systems, good safety equipment and well prepared crews take care od business before it gets out of hand. Thus no news. Like in many areas of life.
In many accident reports I have reviewed, it usually was something dumb and even a second almost ridiculous mistake that made it turn from issue to accident.
Many progressive flooding accidents result from a small problem that gets away from the crew because a warning device was inoperable but they still sailed (known or not checked)...then as the flooding or fire progressed, it became near impossible to stop the initial issue and now other issues ass and this is where the second system failure nails the coffin.
In this case we suspect flooding (as reported by the crew). Even if that was unstoppable, as Spy pointed out, there originally were seemingly, plenty of watertight bulkheads.
So if it were my investigation...one track would be to determine where the water started. The other, how and why it got out of hand. As more info like Capt Bill brought up emerges, even more avenues to investigate are added.
Just because it was built and equipped not to sink, that could be a long stretch to the actual events leading to this sinking.