• Dr. Owen Hughes
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • 108 Surge Building
  • 4:00 p.m.
  • Faculty Host: Dr. Rakesh Kapania

On Friday January 6, 2012 the speaker disembarked in Civitavecchia from a seven-day cruise on the Costa Concordia.  Exactly one week later, on the night of January 13, the ship departed from Civitavecchia toward its first port of call, Savona.  Two hours later, off the island of Giglio, it struck a submerged rock which tore an underwater gash 50 meters (161 feet) long on the port side, flooding several compartments including the engine room.  The ship immediately lost all main engine power.  A few minutes later it lost electricity and lights, but emergency generators restored both.  At first the ship moved away from the land with a heel to port and gradually came to a stop.  The ship was probably in a condition of “loll” because when the bow thrusters were used to turn the ship around, the 23 mile-per-hour onshore wind rolled the ship to a starboard heel and slowly pushed it toward the land.  It finally grounded about an hour after the collision, only a few hundred meters from the port of Giglio.  Eight minutes after grounding, the captain ordered abandon ship.  Amid much confusion most of the 26 lifeboats were launched in about 30 minutes, but after this the increasing heel to starboard prevented any further launchings.  Forty five minutes after grounding the ship capsized to starboard and the approximately 100 remaining passengers clung to the high side of the ship.  The next morning they were removed by helicopter.

The seminar will give details about the accident and explain what is a “condition of loll”, which is why the ship heeled and capsized to starboard, even though the gash in the hull was on the port side.

The second part of the seminar will explain how the wreck is to be removed.  It will be the largest righting and refloating operation in history, and will take about one year.  The ship will then be towed to a shipyard and broken up.  The ship cost about $600 million in 2004 dollars, and the removal of the wreck will cost about $300 million.