Ships in general

[vic mcclymont]

There are few posting regarding the MN and the efforts during the war, this post I feel would be inappropriate to be posted under any of there headings.
Unless you have seen a ship up close many people do not realise the size and complexity of a ship.
Most people who live in land cannot comprehend the size of a ship, the closest they have been to one is in the movies..
This two stories regarding ships, both true.
I completed my apprenticeship as an electrical design draughtsman specialising in merchant ships. on completion of my apprenticeship I was made redundant and eventually joined Scotts' Shipbuilding in their drawing office working on RN ships. my mate also worked there, we both hated it, Ileft to join the MN.
My applied to a well known Consultants Office in Glasgow for a job, the interviewer was well qualified, but looked down on my mate for working on ships. This guy did not realise how complex (even in the sixties) ships were. My mate explained about the systems onboard a ship, the guy was gobsmaked that ships electrics were so advanced.
My mate told him to stick the job where the sun doesn't shine.

The second story is about a guy that I worked with for a good many years, he was an air conditioning designer. he went one year on holiday to Cornwall for a couple of weeks.
When he came back to work the first thing he said was " I didn't realise that ships were so bloody big" he been sailing up the river Fall on a tour, rounding a bend in the river, there were a couple of cargo ships laid up.
Until then he had no comprehension of a ships size.

I am not trying to defend anyone but the vast majority of people on these Island only see pictures on TV, the press and have no idea of size of ships.

[Doc Vernon]

Vic
I can agree with what you say as regarding the size of the Ships,that most a layman would not know!
Like me long ago when I fisrt started working on the Ships as a Stevedore in Cape Town,mate I was awe struck by the size of as you say even those days,i remember walking towards the Ship I was about to work on and just took time to stand and stare at this Monster!
I was standing on the Quay right under the huge Bow of the Ship,and boy! was I impressed!
Yes it takes a lot of looking at to realise just how large they really are!
And Todays Ships even so much larger!
I again have stood on the Quayside of the Sydney Terminal at times and recall my first time doing that,only the sizes are now 10 times greater and makes me feel like an Ant standing there!
And as said the Workings and complex things that are all part of these great Monsters !
Just how much work and thinking foes into building them! A bleedin marvel of the Modern and past Era's
Cheers

[Captain Kong]

I had been sailing on 256,000 dwt VLCCs, at first I thought they were big , but after a while they just become noprmal siz.
Then when I was flying with Court Helicopters from Cape Town we wnt and landed on deck of the Batilus, a French SHELL tanker,
512,000 DWT. at the time the worlds biggest in 1976. that was BIG , our VLCCs looked quite tiny in comparison.
I stayed on board on the bridge while she sailed around the Cape while the helicopter did 6 flights back and forth storing the ship.
Cheers
Brian

[Red Lead Ted]

Agree ,Completely Vic, I also think that if you mention the Merchant Navy to a lot of our younger men in there 20s and 30s, The image that must come to mind is of a container ship, A long boat carrying steel boxes, Unfortunately since the late 70s early 80s when I put the wheel amidships. And the conventional cargo ships sailed from our ports never to return that were very complex as you say they don't have a vision of. That's the reason I think this forum and others should be archived, And maybe one day the curriculum in history lessons for local school children might just include our once great Merchant Navy. Regards Terry.

[happy daze john in oz]

Any one who has been on a cruyise will know that first time passengers cannot understand the size or how they manage to stay afloat. The comments of some makes you realise just how little the average person knows about shipping in general. I one spent over half an hour trying to explain how Merchamt Seamen were paid. He thought the gov paid us just as the Navy is paid. He had no concept of merchant shipping and though the gov owned all the ships!!!!!!!! They walk among us!

[Ivan Cloherty]

They walk among us!

and they breed!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Arton]

I guess all of us were amazed at the size and complexity of our first ship. I can still see myself struggling up the gangway of a 66,000 ton tanker at Tranmere Oil Jetty, arriving on deck absolutely knackered only to be faced with a huge expanse of deck before I could reach the all aft accommodation block. After 11 months on board and having being in dry dock on it I could really appreciate the size of her and was considering it "normal".
Still got a shock on joining my next ship in Vic Docks, a 5000 ton general cargo ship that was fully laden at the time so only the accommodation was showing over the dock wall yet she still had almost as many crew as my first ship.
rgds
JA

[Captain Kong]

Hows this for the worlds BIGGEST `SHIP` , ...............




Now a company called “Freedom Ship International” is planning to build a ship that dwarfs anything and everything that has come before it.

Seawise Giant, built by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, took five years to build but the Greek owner who ordered the ship refused to take delivery. After a lengthy legal battle the vessel was sold to a Hong Kong company that added container carrying capacity to the vessel.

Plans for the World’s Largest Ship Freedom

Entrepreneurs at Freedom Ship International are designing a 4,320 foot 25 story vessel that will be home to 50,000 people. Freedom will displace 2.7 million tons, about four times more than Seawise Giant (aka Jahre Viking). The ship will be built of 520 airtight steel cells.

Freedom

Each cell will measure 80 feet tall and depending on its location on the hull from 50 to 100 feet wide and 50 to 120 feet long. These steel cells, each about 300 x 400′ long, will be floated out to sea and joined to form the complete ship.

The ship will travel the world circumnavigating the globe once every two years. Freedom will be big enough to accommodate residents, plus 15,000 employees and 20,000 daily guests and have four times as much roaming space in square feet per person than most modern cruise lines. Freedom is also expected to have 17,000 homes and 4,000 businesses.

floating_hotel

According to designers traditional shipbuilding methods would have been too expensive for such a large ship so they devised a way to build Freedom by assembling it at sea. The wealthiest residents will live in 15 x 80′ ocean view apartments and be able to board private Jets on the roof top airport or yachts tethered to the ship for local excursions.

Voyage Route

The vessel will be designed so people will feel like it’s a busy city rather than a cruise line. Luxury condos on the ship are expected to sell starting at $1 million.

[Captain Kong]

I wonder where she will do her dry dock.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Dan Dare comes to life, this was the type of thing in his comics, so many things have evolved from the imaginations of comic illustrators, what was once fantasy is now reality.