This duck tail will apparently allow ORIANA to maintain her stability with the additional cabins being installed.
It will also destroy the elegant stern lines of ORIANA and seems to prove that perhaps after all P&O like its parent company Carnival in this day and age values profit over style and substance, ORIANA it would appear is not immune to its owners ways.
Below in an image from Blohm + Voss sent to renowned maritime historian Luis Miguel Correia we can see sections of the new tail in the foreground while on ORIANA herself the paint has been stripped from her stern in preparation.
Photo Copyright: Blohm+ Voss & Luis Miguel Correia
I'm not sure that it's due to the additional cabins at the stern; I think the latest SOLAS regulations could be the reason. I'm not a marine engineer but I've read in various places that the change from 'deterministic' to 'probabilistic' damage stability computation could result in ships requiring extra design element to ensure stability and buoyancy - "just to be on the safe side". I understand this is why Azura, alone of all the Grand Princess class, has a ducktail - she was the only ship in that class to which the new regulations applied. Perhaps Oriana's refit is comprehensive-enough to bring her under the new regulations as well.
ResponderEliminartomtotley
ResponderEliminarMany Thanks for your comments relating to stability and SOLAS.
Like yourself I am no marine engineer however on this occasion I do feel that the duck tail being added to ORIANA is due to the addition of the new cabins.
We must remember that in addition the the prefabricated cabin modules themselves other systems such as plumbing and structural steel to support the cabins needs to be installed.
Having cruised on board ORIANA into force 10 storms on the Bay of Biscay I can truthfully say that ORIANA had no previous stability issues.
As designed and built the ship can remain stable and when in 2000 ORIANA encountered waves estimated to be 12 Metres in hight ORIANA's movement through the water remained constant with only a maximum list of 4 degrees.
With regards to AZURA and her GRAND/CROWN Class sisters although of a similar design AZURA features 18 extra cabins which adds more weight as well as having extra balconies fitted on cabins at the D Deck level and also some extended 'balcony treatment rooms' in her spa, making her the heaviest in terms of her weight compared to GRT, perhaps this also is a reason for her duck tail ?
Kindest Regards
Steve