Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Open hatch sank Port Authority's $500G boat (Face-palm alert!)
NY Post ^ | 09/24/2012 | PHILIP MESSING

Posted on 09/25/2012 2:47:46 AM PDT by Ken H

A $500,000 Port Authority patrol boat sank this month after a veteran police sergeant took the advice of a clueless civilian safety instructor — and opened a hatch while it was under water, The Post has learned.

“It was like opening a window during a carwash,” one PA insider lamented of the screw-up off Breezy Point, Queens, that left 11 people scrambling for their lives.

Nobody was seriously injured, but eight cops and three civilians had to either swim to safety or be rescued as the 37-foot M-2 model Moose Boats craft sank 40 feet to the ocean floor about 300 yards off shore.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-34 next last

1 posted on 09/25/2012 2:47:53 AM PDT by Ken H
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Ken H

Dumb and dumber rise again


2 posted on 09/25/2012 2:57:36 AM PDT by NEPA (Give me liberty, not debt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

You broke it, you bought it, Sarge.


3 posted on 09/25/2012 3:07:47 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (If you like lying Socialist dirtbags, you'll love Slick Willard)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

You’ve got to be smarter than what you’re working with.


4 posted on 09/25/2012 3:13:57 AM PDT by tx_eggman (Liberalism is only possible in that moment when a man chooses Barabas over Christ.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

A picture would be nice, of course one on top of the water.


5 posted on 09/25/2012 3:14:44 AM PDT by saintgermaine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IncPen

When someone else is footing the bill(taxpayers) this what we get


6 posted on 09/25/2012 3:19:48 AM PDT by Nailbiter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

An underwater hatch that can be opened from inside the boat...

Been on a lot of vessels but never seen such.

So it has to be a government contract, hell probably a design requirement. Fitting a Government slug would open it on the water.


7 posted on 09/25/2012 3:22:23 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (8/30/10, the day Truth won.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H
...eight cops and three civilians...

Eight cops ARE civilians! They're not military. So that would be 11 civilians.

8 posted on 09/25/2012 3:26:46 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

“The 37-foot M-2 Moose Boat, equipped with firefighting hoses, nozzles, marine radios, radar, GPS, scuba gear and inflatable rafts, went under during routing rescue exercises after “vibrations” were felt coming from the ship’s engines. A civilian safety consultant from Ocean Rescue Systems, a Maine-based firm hired by the Port Authority to oversee the exercises, suggested the officer open the hatch to take a look.

The hatch, though, was under the water line, and should only have been opened in dry dock.”

Why would an interior hatch to the engine compartment be designed only to be opened in dry dock? I hope the builder had a warning on the hatch.

http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2012/09/after-500k-port-authority-boat-sinks-officer-faces-disciplinary-charges/


9 posted on 09/25/2012 3:34:06 AM PDT by meatloaf (Support Senate S 1863 & House Bill 1380 to eliminate oil slavery.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

My guess is the scuba gear could be salvaged but they probably haven’t thought of salvage.


10 posted on 09/25/2012 3:45:24 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

Must have noticed all that water coming in so he opened the hatch to let it out.


11 posted on 09/25/2012 3:53:55 AM PDT by gdzla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!
Eight cops ARE civilians! They're not military.

They're not military, but they are no longer normal civilians either. They are government employees that like to meet interesting people of ancient cultures and kill them. They want to the first cop in their precinct with a confirmed kill. They practice by shooting dogs.

12 posted on 09/25/2012 3:57:44 AM PDT by Reeses
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Ken H
The "port" that was opened is circled in red below:

The "Workboat" site says:

“The cause of the vessel’s sinking was a result of the crew removing the Hamilton Jet impeller inspection hatch in an attempt to cut free a suspected line caught in the impeller,” the letter reads. “The impeller inspection hatch is below the water line by several inches is only intended for servicing access with the vessel out of the water."

“The crew were unable to replace the impeller inspection hatch cover due to the large volume of the water entering the engine compartment through the open impeller inspection port. There were 10 personnel weighting the cockpit area thereby increasing the flow of the water into the hull. The watertight Freeman deck hatch on the swim grid may have remained removed creating a full flood condition of the hull as the buoyancy diminished resulting in the vessel sinking.”


13 posted on 09/25/2012 4:05:09 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

Screen doors, submarines .. yadda, yadda yadda...


14 posted on 09/25/2012 4:05:45 AM PDT by The Duke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H
civilian government safety instructor
15 posted on 09/25/2012 4:08:30 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Corollary - Electing the same person over and over and expecting a different outcome is insanity)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

Hmmm, sounds like they should have ballasted down the bow to at least get the stern raised, just enough to keep that hatch above the waterline, but still that many people gawking in the area alone probably sank it.

I have ballasted boats to do welding on hulls.


16 posted on 09/25/2012 4:12:01 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (OPSEC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: meatloaf; Ken H
The officer faces disciplinary charges and, according to the Post, “will likely lose vacation days for failing to maintain supervisory control and basically abdicating his command to a civilian.”

Not that I have a great deal of sympathy for this police sergeant but this is the price for going cheap on training.

As commander of this vessel he should be intimately familiar with every aspect of his vessel. He should know how and when maintenance is performed.

As a vessel that is intended to operate in near shore waters he certainly should know how a fowled impeller is cleared.

There is simply no excuse for this officer or any member of his crew not to have known that opening that hatch would sink the boat. This is more a fault of the Police Department’s training and qualification program than the fault of Sergeant.

18 posted on 09/25/2012 4:20:10 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

Wins the dumbass award of the month.


19 posted on 09/25/2012 4:30:54 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TXnMA

“I’m from the Government and I’m here to help”


20 posted on 09/25/2012 4:36:40 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-34 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson