Fact or Fiction?... SUNY Maritime's training ship, Empire State has run aground

[rob]

Just got word that SUNY Maritime's training ship, the Empire State, has run aground in the Azores. Any truth to this? If so, what's the status of the ship and crew?

[rob]

UPDATE: The Empire State DID hit something, whether it was an allision with the breakwater, as one person has suggested, or the bottom of the harbor is not yet clear. One of our informants has said that the harbor pilot was aboard at the time of the incident, although that has not yet been confirmed.

[BMCSRetired]

UPDATE: The Empire State DID hit something, whether it was an allision with the breakwater, as one person has suggested, or the bottom of the harbor is not yet clear. One of our informants has said that the harbor pilot was aboard at the time of the incident, although that has not yet been confirmed.

Informant? How about correspondent? It sounds much better. Informer sounds like a rat or someone who made a deal so they are not going to the big house.

[Mikey]

gCap,

I wasn't on the bridge when it happened but I had a friend who was. Evidently the pilot sort of missed his mark a little bit. When it impacted he tried to blame the shaking on the tug boats and on the ship itself but refused to admit that we had an unscheduled rendezvous with the breakwater. But the divers checked us out and said we were good but the engineers are pretty livid with us Deckies because they had to drain a tank to check to make sure that everything was "go" on the inside. Funny part of it was, according to the friend the pilot was shouting for "full astern" and Capt. Smith was shouting "We ARE at full astern!" right before we bumped the rocks. Hopefully that'll be the last time that happens since she's kind of an old girl! Thanks for making us Facebook famous! Gave us a chuckle before we put back out to sea!

Edit: This was sent in to the gcaptain tip line btw, I did not write it.

[rob]

Informant? How about correspondent? It sounds much better. Informer sounds like a rat or someone who made a deal so they are not going to the big house.

True, thanks Senior Chief

How about this... "An Undercover gCaptain Maritime Correspondent reports..."

[Jetryder223]

No mention of anthing amiss on the Sea term Blogspot:

http://lucelibrary.blogspot.com/

[New3M]

No mention of anthing amiss on the Sea term Blogspot:

http://lucelibrary.blogspot.com/

I'm sure the ships librarian would be the last to fun out that anything happened.

[New3M]

The ship is on its way to Iceland now. The forepeak where the contact was made was inspected and there was no damage.

[Robert Terwilliger]

actually according to some of the parents, they are trying to keep it all hush hush so nobody is freaking out about their kid being on a ship that has run aground

[New3M]

actually according to some of the parents, they are trying to keep it all hush hush so nobody is freaking out about their kid being on a ship that has run aground

Yes well in today's age of technology, cell phones, and wi-fi, I knew about it the night it happened. Hard to keep it hush hush with 700 people onboard.

[Tugboattim]

Haha the first story I heard (from the cadet onboard my ship now) "I heard the empire state hit a rock and is taking on water off the Azores" with 700 cadets onboard I'm sure there will be 700 different stories. Luckily for gcaptain we can get the story straight

[rob]

Here's the official statement from SUNY Maritime:

While entering port last Friday, May 18th in the Azores, the movement of Empire State VI was under the direction and control of the local harbor pilot and the Ship had tug assist. During the evolution, the Ship allided with breakwater rip-rap. There were no injuries and the impact was minimal.

The Master of the Ship took immediate action to ensure there was no external breach of the hull. The Ship docked and students proceeded on port visit as planned. Underwater inspection revealed slight deflection/deformation in a small area of the hull on the forward starboard side of the forepeak tank; there was no hull penetration. The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) were expeditiously notified and appropriate steps were taken to conduct an interior examination in the area of the forepeak tank.

We are hopeful that the training ship will be permitted to continue its summer sea term once the regulatory agencies and the classification society has reviewed the damage assessment. The Ship is currently at anchor just outside the port. Cadets have resumed training, maintenance and exercises in accordance with the training plan.

[weski]

Here's the official statement from SUNY Maritime:

While entering port last Friday, May 18th in the Azores, the movement of Empire State VI was under the direction and control of the local harbor pilot and the Ship had tug assist. During the evolution, the Ship allided with breakwater rip-rap. ......appropriate steps were taken to conduct an interior examination in the area of the forepeak tank.

Correct me if I am wrong, but in plain english: The ship ran into some rocks by the breakwater as we were about to dock. We checked it out, had to empty everything from the bow tank, which is a real pain, but great training for the below deck engineers and really cut into their shore time. We notified everyone officially we can think of, and don't want to be embarrassed any more than we already are. That's why we haven't been up front, in real English, because we're a bunch of bureaucratic engineers and don't have anyone with communications sense on board or back in the Bronx.

On to Iceland! Maybe we'll run into some whales!

[Tugs]

All I can add is they are lucky that Steve Miller is no longer Chief. If this had happened to HIS SHIP I think his head would have blown off of his neck.

Let's hope that they use it as a learning experience for the Cadets.

[brjones]

Shit happens. It could have been worse. Its a training ship and it sounds like they are getting good training that hopefully they wont need to use on the next ship. I remember during my training cruises at CMA they lost an anchor. Two years later they lost another anchor.

[Scott Puckett]

Pilot fail...Is it ironic that a large part of the Texas Maritime Academy happened to be out on cruise with SUNY this year? Coincidence?

[rshrew]

Shit happens. It could have been worse. Its a training ship and it sounds like they are getting good training that hopefully they wont need to use on the next ship. I remember during my training cruises at CMA they lost an anchor. Two years later they lost another anchor.

I remember hearing about that when I was there lol.

[Tchap78]

Pilot fail...Is it ironic that a large part of the Texas Maritime Academy happened to be out on cruise with SUNY this year? Coincidence?

The cadets from Texas are not yet on the vessel. They get onboard in Norfolk, VA.

[KneelbeforeZod!]

Who was the Captain?

[richardsmith]

Yes the ship ran into break water coming into the azores, but it also ran aground leaving the pier in N.Y. there trying to cover that one up. I was up on the bridge when both happened just got home from my summer sea term as a cadet. The Capt was Richard Smith and has absolutely no business on a training ship he puts a lot of lives in danger. The school is really taking a turn for the worst. Demerits is more important than ship handling and thats why so many 3rd mates from maritime are getting fired or getting injured on the job. Plus the coast guard license passing rate is pathetic and continuing to decline each year. New admiral (Wendy "the man" Carpenter) has the wrong ideas she is trying to make the school like the navy academy and could careless about producing some quality third mates. At this point it is safe to say the school is no longer what it used to be. After speaking with maritime graduate who is now a captain I learned that he had to fire all three of his maritime 3rd mates do to them knowing nothing. This is the same guy who when we ran a ground in between the whitestone and throggs neck bridge put the vessel at half ahead while the captain is outside on deck trying to teach the admiral about the ship. Absolute shit show and very embarrassing.