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Risky struggle to save Kulluk crew

http://www.adn.com/2013/01/04/2742726/xg.html

Even for experienced U.S. Coast Guard crews, the situation with the Kulluk was hairy.

The December easterly storm in the Gulf of Alaska was blowing hard. A week into a month-long journey that began Dec. 21 from Dutch Harbor to the Seattle area for off-season maintenance, Royal Dutch Shell's prized oil drilling rig had broken its tow in 20-plus-foot seas and 45-mph winds. The Kulluk was tethered back onto a Shell-contracting towing ship, the massive, brand-new, $200 million Aiviq, with a backup towline.

Then, early on Dec. 28, all four engines on the Aiviq failed.

The Shell-owned Kulluk is a complex contraption to maneuver. It cannot propel itself, so when it breaks from the tow it's a runaway rig at sea. It's round, 266 feet in diameter and weighs just less than 28,000 tons -- more than 50 million pounds, Shell says.

The Aiviq, built for Shell and owned by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest with a crew of 24 on board, was struggling to use its thrusters to hold a position. Aboard the Kulluk was a skeleton crew of 18 working for Shell contractor Noble Drilling Corp. The Aiviq's engines were eventually repaired and restarted. Various ships tried to establish towlines over the next few days but the lines kept breaking and had to be shackled together.

... "With a sea state of 20-plus seas and winds upwards of 40 to 50 knots, vessels and rigs like this do not ride that well," Vislay said in an interview with the Daily News this week. The pitching motion, he said, was severe.

Excerpted due to ADN.com, Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/01/04/2742726/xg.html#storylink=cpy