Which ships have the toughest windows?

[John Bull]

I'd wager among cruise ships, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas has the toughest windows. She endured sixty foot waves while crossing the Atlantic last on her maiden voyage last November.

 

Oasis. Been operating for, what, 3 months? And a single Atlantic crossing.

Not really had a chance to prove herself. And I doubt she'd have fared any better than Louis Majesty.

As Cuizer & jcl say, the Queens and others were built for heavy weather & have track records.

 

Luddite - deep submersibles are craft, not ships. Check out the forums on deepsubmersiblecritic.com if you don't believe me :D

 

JB

[bbwex]

The unfortunate accident the other day had more to do with the design of the bow, which was not designed to deflect waves as much as most, and windows of a restaurant right on the main deck. Most ships, as pointed out already, have steel bulkheads at the main deck. Usually not going up 70 feet, but often going up several decks before they start having cabins or lounges, etc.

 

While the 26 foot seas were referred to by some as "rogue" waves, I think that is quite an overstatement. Are 26-foot seas common, not terribly, but they do happen all the time. Fifty-foot seas happen commonly and I have been in them. Yes we took "green water" and it was over our flight deck which was 50 feet in the air! But with sufficient bulkheads, a lack of portholes or windows that could be knocked out, etc., made it not too dangerous, though continuing to ride such seas could cause some minor structural damage eventually. The "rogue" waves talked about on the Discovery Channel (or wherever it was) were waves over 100 feet, and they were monstrous waves coming along in a much smaller sea-state. If you were riding 10-foot seas and suddenly a 100-foot wave came at you that would be a rogue wave. They are exceedingly uncommon, and they are starting to get some attention from the authorities as they look for a way to issue warnings. Satellite radar images seem to be able to pick them up, and it remains to start building some software to watch for them and issue warnings.

 

A lot is going to come out about this week's unfortunate accident and the responsibility of the captain and even ship design in the sad result. There is no good reason why there should have been any loss of life. This was not a rogue wave, they were in heavy seas caused by a storm.

[luddite]

Oasis. Been operating for, what, 3 months? And a single Atlantic crossing.

Not really had a chance to prove herself. And I doubt she'd have fared any better than Louis Majesty.

As Cuizer & jcl say, the Queens and others were built for heavy weather & have track records.

 

Luddite - deep submersibles are craft, not ships. Check out the forums on deepsubmersiblecritic.com if you don't believe me :D

 

JB

 

I hear ya, but only the cartoons call the other things spaceships. As the son of a rocket builder and a guy who went to school with VonBraun's daughter, I call 'em spacecraft. :)

Does deepsubmersiblecritic.com really exist? I'm wondering if people complain about the DSC over there also?

[John Bull]

I hear ya, but only the cartoons call the other things spaceships. As the son of a rocket builder and a guy who went to school with VonBraun's daughter, I call 'em spacecraft. :)

Does deepsubmersiblecritic.com really exist? I'm wondering if people complain about the DSC over there also?

 

Of course deepsubmersiblecritic.com exists.:rolleyes:

Main topic on that site is which brand of soda they carry :D

 

Regards, JB

OK, after frantic research I concede on spaceship/craft, I have now learned that Dan Dare & the Mekons were fictitious :o

[broberts]

I doubt that any ship has windows strong enough to withstand the direct application of several thousand tons of water at speed. The ship design and sea conditions did just that in the case of the Louis Majesty.

 

If the OP is really concerned then they should choose itineraries that travel over the calmest waters like the Caribbean in the winter months or river cruises.

[luddite]

Of course deepsubmersiblecritic.com exists.:rolleyes:

Main topic on that site is which brand of soda they carry :D

 

Regards, JB

OK, after frantic research I concede on spaceship/craft, I have now learned that Dan Dare & the Mekons were fictitious :o

 

I don't know about that Dan fellow. Please don't tell me that Buckaroo Bonzai ain't real. :eek:

 

Now then, where did I leave my Jolt Cola?

[jeph]

A cruise ship steers clear of storms, regardless of the effect on port calls or overall schedule. They must do this because they aren't built to withstand severe punishment from heavy seas.

 

A real ocean liner, on the other hand, is designed to cross the North Atlantic ON SCHEDULE, and do so even if the weather is really foul most of the way. This requires lots of extra engine power, to make up for any lost time. Sheer size also helps, but it's as much or more a matter of design-- the Mauretania, the legendary Cunard speedster of 100 years ago, was smaller than the Louis Majesty, but would never have suffered such damage in even worse sea conditions. Some previous posters have already mentioned the design features of the QM2 in this regard-- a much longer foredeck, giving room for any huge waves to break up, as well as a much more heavily reinforced superstructure. There's one more key design feature: the hull of a true ocean liner, such as the QE2 or QM2, is not only thicker and more reinforced, particularly at the bow-- it is also sharper and more streamlined, taking perhaps a hundred extra feet to flare out to the full width of the hull. This not only saves fuel, it allows the ship to make good speed and cut THROUGH large waves. A cruise ship, by contrast, must slow to 10 or 12 knots, as its blunt, rounded bow wallows over the waves. And "wallowing" means much more pitching motion in heavy seas.

 

I'd bet the Louis Majesty's bow was down in the trough of a wave when the next big one broke over her bow, with the tragic consequenses we've since seen.

 

So please, when your captain misses a port, or gets you back late because he "took the long way home" to avoid stormy seas-- no complaining! These guys know what they're doing!

[BroncosFan2010]

A cruise ship steers clear of storms, regardless of the effect on port calls or overall schedule. They must do this because they aren't built to withstand severe punishment from heavy seas.

 

A real ocean liner, on the other hand, is designed to cross the North Atlantic ON SCHEDULE, and do so even if the weather is really foul most of the way. This requires lots of extra engine power, to make up for any lost time. Sheer size also helps, but it's as much or more a matter of design-- the Mauretania, the legendary Cunard speedster of 100 years ago, was smaller than the Louis Majesty, but would never have suffered such damage in even worse sea conditions. Some previous posters have already mentioned the design features of the QM2 in this regard-- a much longer foredeck, giving room for any huge waves to break up, as well as a much more heavily reinforced superstructure. There's one more key design feature: the hull of a true ocean liner, such as the QE2 or QM2, is not only thicker and more reinforced, particularly at the bow-- it is also sharper and more streamlined, taking perhaps a hundred extra feet to flare out to the full width of the hull. This not only saves fuel, it allows the ship to make good speed and cut THROUGH large waves. A cruise ship, by contrast, must slow to 10 or 12 knots, as its blunt, rounded bow wallows over the waves. And "wallowing" means much more pitching motion in heavy seas.

 

I'd bet the Louis Majesty's bow was down in the trough of a wave when the next big one broke over her bow, with the tragic consequenses we've since seen.

 

So please, when your captain misses a port, or gets you back late because he "took the long way home" to avoid stormy seas-- no complaining! These guys know what they're doing!

 

This is such a good point.

[soakedbythesea]

The breaking of windows causing death was bad, but still not as bad as the Louis ship that went down near Santorini a few years ago - or - The biggest problem of all, the Titanic. Stuff happens at sea, which is why there are not American ships on the seas, with all the lawyers standing by at the docks waiting for the next big one.

[broberts]

. . . all the lawyers standing by at the docks waiting for the next big one.

 

ROTFLMAO. Sadly, you are probably quite correct.

[Capt_BJ]

I'd bet the Louis Majesty's bow was down in the trough of a wave when the next big one broke over her bow, with the tragic consequenses we've since seen.

While the 26 foot seas were referred to by some as "rogue" waves, I think that is quite an overstatement

 

 

Thank you for supporting the position I've opined here b4. There ARE rouge waves and I've yet to see a cruise ship incident in the last 30 years that involved one.

 

Poor seamanship on the other hand.....

 

When the seas build you might need to alter course or speed to avoid taking "green water over the bow" ... on my last ship, if I was wakened by water slamming my cabin's front I knew we needed to alter something else we were going to loose the gun mount!

 

But I did not need to answer about being late . . . so I could slow, or change course a few degrees

 

Too many cruise ships have a bunch of glass up front

 

and if you do not constantly read the seas (is the ship on auto pilot and actually being driven by a computer . . . read the MANY accident investigations at NTSB) you can bury the bow in 20 foot seas ... crash that front facing glass and then claim ROUGE WAVE ROUGE WAVE; rather than admit, poor design and poor seamanship

[luddite]

Is a Rouge Wave anything like a Red Tide?

[scottbee]

Which ships have the toughest windows?

 

Spaceships.

Next technical question please.

 

JB

 

However, in this case I believe the question we really want to ask is "which ships have the toughest window attachments", as I'll pretty much guarantee that's what gave way, and not the pane of the window.