HI Superferry: Sorry, ignored and then missed this one

I heard something about this from Swan Cleveland via Katy Rose, but did not follow-up on it at the time. Recently was looking at what the blogger Springboard has been doing and found that what Swan was passing on had merit. So here it is:

Thursday, May 1, 2008
LCS-2 Update: The Damn Thing Leaks!
"Did you wonder why the LCS-2's bow was sitting so far out of the water? Well, Aviation week might have an answer:
'The launch was a three-day process, during which the LCS 2 was rolled from the construction building on rails to the deck of a floating dry dock and then floated from there. Several small leaks in the ship, discovered while ballasting the dry dock, were sealed before the ship was moved downriver to Bender’s basin.'
If I could add tone to my writing here, I'd be using that very strained voice one uses after catching your child scribbling on a priceless work of art. You know, that tone calculated to impart upon the offender an immediate sense of impending doom."

And some comments to the above post:

Anonymous said...
"Seems that Colton reported the issue with the leaks were 'a number of hull cracks.' Makes me go, hmmmm, since the Hawaii superferry had an issue with 'not being properly placed on blocks' when she had to go to the yard to repair the storm damage she recently sustained. How fragile are these hulls...?? And I've got real heartburn when I see this:
'In the case of one ship the Navy is confident it wants — the aluminum-hulled trimaran that General Dynamics and shipbuilder Austal are offering as LCS 2 — Roughead said he remains a believer in the ship’s novel design and materials, even after yard problems and problems with an earlier civilian variant on the design.The Navy acknowledged in February that some transverse support beams under the LCS 2’s flight deck had bowed in the shipyard, and that the Navy and Austal would review the cost and possible delays involved with repairs. And another aluminum trimaran built by Austal, the Hawaii Superferry, stopped service until April 22 and is laid up in a shipyard with hull cracks near its auxiliary rudders, the Honolulu Advertiser reported. Roughead said he didn’t think it was clear yet what had caused the Superferry to stop service, nor that it portended any problems for the Navy’s purchase. 'I’ve heard it’s everything from discomfort caused by the weather to the fact that they’ve had some mechanical glitches, I don’t have the details on it. I do believe in what I’ve seen in LCS 2, a ship that I think a very exciting design for the Navy, and I’m anxious to get it to sea and put it through its paces.'
Another example of unchecked -Reality Checks like the old General Board provided- decisions rolling downhill from On High with potentially ever worsening consequences....sid"
May 2, 2008 11:14 AM

Anonymous said...
"And I had forgetten about previously reported load bearing issues...sid"
May 3, 2008 6:23 AM

Check those links. Those dudes are into it. It's interesting stuff.
Aloha, Brad