Are hulls ever re-purposed? Those are not cheap to fabricate, and any number of structures could be built on any giver hull.
Trivia: US Civil War/War Between the States: USS Monitor vs CSS Virginia (now called the Merrimack)
What became the CSS Virgina started as the USS Merrimack. It was in port (along with a bunch of others*) when men in gray showed up. As many ships as possible went under sail and escaped.
The Merrimack wasn’t one of them - it and the others left behind were tourched by the retreating Union Navy.
The Merrimack burned to the waterline. The Confederates re-porposed it by fitting an iron superstructure.
So, it can be done - and what about the engine? Those things a 5 stories tall - you don’t cut those up.
The screw(s) are easy.
So, how much is going to be re-used, not re-smelted into new steel?
Heard a story about 15 years ago from a seminar instructor. He had went to China recently. He saw a giant concrete pad, a factory foundation being broken up and carted away by hoards of guys with hammers and wheelbarrows. Cheaper than a bulldozer, a backhoe and a couple of dump trucks. I still think of that and find it hard to grasp.
I looked at the link posted above and it stated that it’s costing almost 800 million to salvage. How can they make that and more by selling the scrap steel? Obviously I’m missing something. What?
I was in Vietnam recently.
I came across a crew of about twenty people sitting by the side of the road by a pile of big rocks.
They were using hand mallets to smash the rocks into gravel for use as ballast for a road under construction.
Cheap labor.
What you are missing is that this wreck is not off some 3rd world beach but off a beautiful tourist island in Italy.
What would have happened if it was lying off Ka’anapali Beach in Hawaii? You think they would cut it up there? Abandon it and leave it to pollute the whole area for decades? I think not.
Why not? We cut up lots of things far larger than five stories (e.g. the ship containing that five-story engine).
You might be surprised to learn that the engine block for those giant marine-diesel engines is typically made from welded plate-steel rather than casting. All you need is a torch, or maybe a thermal lance.
Well, I don’t know, but I imagine there are some things that can be recovered for more value than scrap. As long as they weren’t underwater, I would think for instance, the kitchen equipment would be mostly still in working order. Furniture, dishware, computers, chunks of HVAC, etc. could probably be sold for something more than just scrap metal. Not brand new prices of course, but something.
I looked at a few ship breaking sites - apparently, the entire ship, right down to lifeboats with their covers in place, is sailed in.
Whether the super-expensive electronics (navigation, communication) are still there, I couldn’t tell.
But yeah, they had all kinds of equipment (including at least one 12 cylinder engine) for sale.
The most spectacular shot was a 200’ tall conveyor rising from ground level at the shoreline to the 200’ or so inland.
On one side was 1/2 of a ship; under the end of the conveyor was a huge pile of (relatively) tiny bits of sheet steel.
That has got to be one of the nastiest jobs going, but, when a 200 footer drives up, you have all the job security you could want.
Yes, there is one breaker left in the US (TX, surprise) - it gets the US Navy’s junkers.
[QUOTE=usedtobe;16678489So, it can be done - and what about the engine? Those things a 5 stories tall - you don’t cut those up.
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The engines probably will be disassembled. Depending on who made the engines. If it was a prototype then the parts might be useless. But if there are similar engines out there or another ship on the drawing boards with same engine style the parts could be reused. After being in salt water, the cylinder liners, bearings, turbo and a few other parts may be useable.
“Sailed in” does’t quite cover it. Standard procedure (at least at third-world shipbreaking sites) is to sail the ship onto the beack at full steam, like this. Once it’s run aground, they tie it down (just to make sure it doesn’t float away again) and start cutting it up.
Nice clip. I watched the lowered anchor to see how much it swung on impact, but turned out to be not that much. A little over 20 year old tanker. Some nice lance torches. I wonder if they do a lot of thermite?
Actually the start time on my link somehow got corrupted; this one should be a little better (should start at 4:44), just a little bit of prelude with the actual grounding starting at 6:30.
Plenty of other good examples out there. See YouTube and search for “beaching a ship”.
You can see the wreck of the Costa Concordia in that link! Zoom in on the island of Giglio (it’s close to Civitavecchia) and keep zooming in on the east coast of the island. The ship is just north of Goglio Porto.