Diamond Princess gutted by fire

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

Picture story in Metro, 3rd October 2002:

£210 million, 113,000-ton British cruise ship P & O Diamond Princess gutted by fire during construction in Nagasaki, Japan, finally put out a day after it started.

​

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Shipboard fires are no sweet picnic. Having done a couple of them, I can appreciate the hard work the firefighters had to go through to deal with this. According to the article on Martime Matters, up to 70% of the ship may have been damaged by the blaze and this does not bode well for the ships future. Metallurgists will have to examine the hull to see if it's still usable and that's only the start of the odyssey. I would be greatly surprised if the hull doesn't end up having to be scrapped.

At 113,000 tons, this is not a small vessel and whatever course is decided on, it's going to cost big time. Whoever underwrote any insurance on this ship can't be happy.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

I saw this in the paper this morning as well and after reading the article, my thought was "this will be on ET." Sure enough!

From looking at the photo the decks really got burned, so it looks like it was a difficult one to put out.

Best regards,

Jason

 

[Scott Reigel]

Several good pics of the fire available here:
http://www.lighthousetravel.com/News/new_diamond_princess_burns.htm
and
http://www.etaiwannews.com/Asia/2002/10/03/1033609421.htm
--SDR

 

[Mike G. Anderson]

Even for a floating condominium, that's horrible. Was a water sprinkler installed on the boat already?

I suppose the building yard is lucky that the ship didn't capsize, ala` Normandie; however, I'm sure that the firecrews knew not to make that mistake.

God forbid anything like this happens to the Queen Mary 2...

 

[Scott Reigel]

Sprinklers were not working according to the news reports.

--SDR

 

[Dave Gittins]

I found the details of Le Joola, which is her registered name.

Built 1990
Dwt 500 tons
2,087 GRT
Draft 3.1 metres
LOA 79.50 metres
Beam 12.50 metres
Speed 14 knots.

The Senegalese authorities now say that the disaster was triggered when the passengers all went to the lee side to keep away from the foul weather.

Perhaps Captain Wood would like to comment. She looks rather shallow drafted to me, considering her height.

 

[Erik Wood]

Look at www.maritimematters.com. They have now figured out what caused the fire. They give a better description then I can. It is worth a look.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Holy Normandie Batman! Botched hot work strikes again! (Now why am I not surprised?)