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A Rudderless Boat

During sea days my request for a time on the bridge was answered with printed invitations both to the Bridge and to the Engine Control Room. Fifteen years ago, such tours were offered to all passengers and announced like to the shows or bingo. But now, maybe due to terrorism, only those who request same are invited and one must bring ones room key and a photo ID. And only about 25 of the 2300 passengers came.

Most if not all of the officers of both the mechanical and navigation staffs have Greek surnames and were educated in Greek maritime colleges. They are quite fluent in English and pleasant and polite, but they speak with strong Greek accents. My father spoke with a German accent so I am used to such, but with advancing age and consequent hearing loss it becomes more difficult for me to understand accents.

The primary source of power for the ship and its huge propellers are gas turbines which generate electricity. The heat generated by the gas is trapped and used to make steam used to create even more electricity. Everything is duplicated so that the energy from either of two engine rooms, each containing two engines can be directed via electrical cables (rather than huge propeller shafts) to either of the two propellers or to both. So if either part of the power system fails, its sister can still power the ship-- to 17 knots but not to the max speed of 25. If an engine fails, the restart procedure takes only two minutes -- a tiny fraction of the time it took to restart Hammerburgs steam boilers!

Constellation also has two huge reverse osmosis water making machines to supply the food, drinking and washing needs of its huge complement of passengers and crew.

All waste water from the engines, from showers, sinks and laundry and from the ships heads is piped to a central tank and treated by microbes and UV light before being discharged -- as clean enough to drink! A bit stronger and more successful sewage treatment than ILENEs former Lectrasan machines. The alternative is to keep this water in holding tanks and pump it out in port but this alternative comes with a big sewage fee.

No rudder!!! Yes, because the huge propellers can be rotated on a vertical shaft -- like the out board motor on a dinghy! These propellers do not have a reverse gear. To achieve reverse, you turn the propellers around. They spin in the same direction as before, but now instead of pushing the boat forward their pushing power is directed to pull it aft. And no need for stern thrusters, like the three eight foot diameter ones in the bow; just rotate the ships propellers to thrust to the side. The boat also has two large (retractable so that she can pull up to a dock in port) stabilizer fins that stick out about 22 feet on each side to reduce rolling.

The bridge is forward on the ninth deck, below the gym and the cocktail lounge on decks ten and eleven. It is enclosed and extends several feet outboard from both the sides of the ship giving the officer in command visibility of the sides of the ship from stem to stern.

I asked whether they controlled degree if heel in turns like the sharp ones in the island archipelago on the way to and from Stockholm and the Lieutenant did not really give an answer. Ilenes arms are folded.

On port wing of bridge

Similarly, as to why they went clockwise three quarters of the way around the large island on which Copenhagen is situated, rather than the shorter route one quarter of the way around that island, counterclockwise from the south to the east, and again the answer made no sense, referring to a number of factors that can affect such decisions. But the chart posted near the shore cruise office on deck three shows only our route, the long way.

The Captain also gave a talk in the theater

Part of theater, sorry about fuzzy shot.

about the construction of such boats (modular -- like the huge military vessels we saw being built in Bath ME) and navigation.

He is an extremely witty and charming man and answered all questions. The short answer is that there is a bridge between Denmark and Sweden under which Constellation cannot pass, necessitating the long route. She has a 45 degree righting angle despite only 25 feet of draft and an eleven story freeboard, but he never exceeds five degrees of heeling and despite sharp turns --sharp for a boat this size -- in the archipelago of islands outside Stockholm, we did not exceed three.

Tight turns

One passenger asked if he could bring his family along: "I could but I dont have one." How about a girlfiend? "I could but I dont have one." How about a boyfriend? "I could, but I dont want one."

They told me that Maine looks a lot like Sweden. I took it on faith. Now this picture shows that Sweden looks a lot like Maine.