When "Bitchin' Betty" decides to do more than...
Crew caused frigate crash
Ian McPhedran, defence reporter
10 February 2005
http://thecouriermail.com.auTHE navy's latest $500 million warship was driven backwards on to Christmas Island after crew failures caused computers to take control of the frigate.
A series of human errors prompted the computer system to override manual commands and the 180-strong ship's company had to stand by and watch as the new Anzac ship backed on to the island's rocky shoreline.
The 3600-tonne, hi-tech HMAS Ballarat, delivered to the navy last April, carries a missile-armed helicopter and has a 127mm gun and torpedoes and missiles.
The January 22 incident damaged both propellers and the rudder, leaving taxpayers with a bill of about $2 million and the navy with a major headache.
The debacle began when the ship was conducting a boat transfer during a planned U-turn manoeuvre at the island's port, Flying Fish Cove.
It had been operating in "port echo" or economy mode at the time.
The Courier-Mail has been told the move was supposed to take the warship inside a buoy which had another ship's mooring line attached to it.
As the ship approached the buoy it became clear to the crew on the bridge that it would not make it and would pass over the line, so they attempted to make an urgent "three-point" turn.
This was when things started to go seriously wrong.
Because the ship had only one of its three engines running, the crew tried and failed to run one propeller forward and one astern to conduct the radical turn.
Such a move is impossible with just one engine running.
At this point the control and monitoring system froze, the ship's computer took over and placed both propellers into reverse.
It shut down the engine soon afterwards, but by that stage the ship was travelling in reverse at a couple of knots.
It was facing away from shore and the hapless crew stood by and waited for the crunch as it simply reversed on to the rocky bottom.
The warship was later towed off the rocks by island barges.
The Courier-Mail understands that the special sea duty men, or "specials" – the ship's most experienced hands who usually man the bridge in confined waters – had not been on the bridge at the time.
Commodore Peter Lockwood from Maritime Command in Sydney said he could not comment on anything to be considered by a formal inquiry.
He said the ship left HMAS Stirling near Perth yesterday and would arrive at the Tenix shipyard in Melbourne for repairs early next week.
A navy board of inquiry will be conducted in Melbourne for three to five days from February 22, and the ship's captain Commander David Hunter could face a court martial.
Topic: Computer decides sailors=idiots, takes control, sends warship into the rocks (Read 3558 times)