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ANOTHER REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT BY WETDOCKING

The Terrin Company's "Wetdocking" department, which specialises in underwater repairs, recently carried out the removal, repair, and defitting of the 100 ton rudder of 230,000-dwt tanker Blois while she was afloat at Marseilles. The ship had sustained rudder damage while sailing to Fos, and divers had found that the bushing of the lower gudgeon was missing and that the lower pintle was damaged. No dry-dock was immediately available. At Marseilles, divers first removed the lower pintle and arranged for the weight of the rudder blade to be taken by a floating crane. At the same time, other teams dismantled the upper part of the rudder, including the upper pintle, the coupling of the blade and shaft, etc. The rudder assembly was then removed for workshop repair, after which it was refitted with the ship still afloat. The article gives further details of this work, which included, for the removal of the 2,290 kg pintle, the welding of four tie-rods to the stern-frame skeg and securing a bedplate to the bottom ends of the rods to serve as a base for a hydraulic jack of 650 tons lifting capacity. Among the equipment used were underwater TV cameras, the pictures being received in a control-van (with telephone links to the divers) from which the operations was centrally controlled. Before the Blois left Marseilles, dry-dock accommodation became available for the routine treatment of her hull. This dry-docking allowed the screw of the lower pintle to be tightened and enabled the underwater work on the rudder to be checked.

  • Corporate Authors:

    Intec Press Limited

    3 Station Parade
    Whyteleafe, Surrey,   England 
  • Publication Date: 1976-10

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00153111
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: British Ship Research Association
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: May 11 1977 12:00AM