Union Rotorua was built by Broken Hill Pty (BHP) at the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia. She was launched on 19 January 1976. Delivery was delayed by a year and costs went over-budget by $8 million bringing the total cost to $30 million. It was subsequently acknowledged that Rotoiti and her sister ship Rotorua could have been built for half the price if they had been built outside Australia.[1]
Union Rotorua was unusual in that she was powered by gas turbine. The ship's main gas turbine / electric machinery consisted of a single General Electric MM5262RB gas turbine operating on a regenerative cycle. This was coupled to an AC generator to provide a maximum designed continuous rating of 18822 kW for a motor propeller speed of 200rpm. The turbine speed of 4670rpm was reduced to 1500rpm for the generator by a reduction gearbox. The generator output 6.6kV 3-phase at 50 Hz to the ships motors. There were four closed air circuit water cooled synchronous A.C. motors, arranged with two per shaft.[2] Previous USSCo vessels had traditionally had twin outward turning fixed pitch propellers, however Union Rotorua has twin inward turning controllable pitch propellers. This decision was made in the interests of maneuverability, since the center of thrust is in the outer part of the disk thus giving a larger turning moment arm.[3] In normal running configuration the whole system could be controlled by a single lever from the bridge. The speed of the gas turbine was controlled by a solid state control and safety system integrated with the propulsion controls.[2]
Union Rotorua was also interesting in its use of ro-ro for the Trans Tasman route. The cargo did not necessarily just contain truck and trailer units, but was also cargo stacked in the decks using forklifts. This necessitated the vehicle decks of the ship being built to withstand the loading of up to 39t per axle that could be exerted by a heavy forklift. Union Rotorua was built with a large angled stern ramp that allowed her to unload her cargo at any wharf without the need for a specialist linkspan as required by most ro-ro ships. She also had a bow door which could be used if a linkspan was present in a port, thus allowing cargo to be worked both forward and aft speeding up turn around time.[3]
Incidentsedit
In May 1980 Union Rotorua was on passage from Tauranga to Sydney when she broke down 200 miles west of Cape Maria van Diemen. Union Rotoiti was only 80 miles away and the two masters agreed to attempt a tow. Captain Andrew Keyworth, one of the most senior masters of the USSCo, was the master of Union Rotoiti. With much skill on his part, and while the ships were sometimes only 25 metres apart, a line was made fast between the two ships by use of a line-carrying rocket. Once the tow began 422 nm were covered in just over 56 hours at an average speed of 7.5 knots. It was a feat never before accomplished with two ships of this size, and Captain John Warren of Union Rotorua later exclaimed: ‘If anyone had previously tried to tell me it was possible … I would have thought them quite barmy’.[4]
On 29 December 1993 Union Rotorua was about 27 miles south of Sydney Heads, en route for Melbourne, when a fire broke out in the gas turbine house. It was established that the seat of the fire was in one of the cubicles of the 6.6 kilovolt switchboard, which distributed power from the gas turbine generator to the propulsion motors and auxiliary electrical systems. Initial attempts to fight the fire with extinguishers proved to be ineffective and a decision was made to utilise the fixed fire fighting medium and flood the space with CO2. This was effective in extinguishing the fire. With the high voltage switchboard out of commission, the vessel was towed to Sydney, where it remained for three months undergoing repairs.[2]
During the 1998 Auckland power crisis the four underground cables providing power to downtown Auckland all failed between 20 January and 20 February, leaving much of the downtown area without power for five weeks. Generators were brought in from across the country, however this was still not enough to power Auckland. In the first week of March Union Rotorua was brought in to supply power to parts of downtown Auckland. Berthed at Freyberg Wharf she was connected up so that her gas turbine and A.C. generator could supply power to one of the cities largest users, Ports of Auckland Ltd. This allowed the container cranes to continue to work at full speed during the outage.[5]
^ abc"Investigation: 61 – Fire on board the Union Rotorua". www.atsb.gov.au. Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
^ abTaylor, GR (October 1976). "RO/RO Ships - State of the Art in Australasia". Marine Technology. 13 (4). Retrieved 7 February 2016.
^Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Keyworth, Andrew Stanley". www.teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
^Stern, Eric; Newlove, Lindy; Svedin, Lina (1 January 2003). Auckland Unplugged: Coping with Critical Infrastructure Failure. Lexington Books. ISBN9780739107744.
January 01, 1970
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Union Rotorua was a large ro ro vessel operated on the trans Tasman route by the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand USSCo Along with her sister ship Union Rotoiti she was unusual in that she originally had turbo electric transmission History NameUnion Rotorua OwnerUnion SSCo 1977 98 Port of registryNew Zealand RouteTrans Tasman BuilderBroken Hill Pty Whyalla Steelworks Cost 30 million Yard number60 Launched19 January 1976 Completed1976 IdentificationIMO number 7366221 FateBroken up Alang India 1999 General characteristics TypeContainer and Ro Ro Tonnage23 971 GRT Length203 2m LOA Beam26 3m Propulsion1 General Electric MM5262RB gas turbine Speed19 knots Contents 1 Construction 2 Incidents 3 See also 4 ReferencesConstruction editUnion Rotorua was built by Broken Hill Pty BHP at the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia She was launched on 19 January 1976 Delivery was delayed by a year and costs went over budget by 8 million bringing the total cost to 30 million It was subsequently acknowledged that Rotoiti and her sister ship Rotorua could have been built for half the price if they had been built outside Australia 1 Union Rotorua was unusual in that she was powered by gas turbine The ship s main gas turbine electric machinery consisted of a single General Electric MM5262RB gas turbine operating on a regenerative cycle This was coupled to an AC generator to provide a maximum designed continuous rating of 18822 kW for a motor propeller speed of 200rpm The turbine speed of 4670rpm was reduced to 1500rpm for the generator by a reduction gearbox The generator output 6 6kV 3 phase at 50 Hz to the ships motors There were four closed air circuit water cooled synchronous A C motors arranged with two per shaft 2 Previous USSCo vessels had traditionally had twin outward turning fixed pitch propellers however Union Rotorua has twin inward turning controllable pitch propellers This decision was made in the interests of maneuverability since the center of thrust is in the outer part of the disk thus giving a larger turning moment arm 3 In normal running configuration the whole system could be controlled by a single lever from the bridge The speed of the gas turbine was controlled by a solid state control and safety system integrated with the propulsion controls 2 Union Rotorua was also interesting in its use of ro ro for the Trans Tasman route The cargo did not necessarily just contain truck and trailer units but was also cargo stacked in the decks using forklifts This necessitated the vehicle decks of the ship being built to withstand the loading of up to 39t per axle that could be exerted by a heavy forklift Union Rotorua was built with a large angled stern ramp that allowed her to unload her cargo at any wharf without the need for a specialist linkspan as required by most ro ro ships She also had a bow door which could be used if a linkspan was present in a port thus allowing cargo to be worked both forward and aft speeding up turn around time 3 Incidents editIn May 1980 Union Rotorua was on passage from Tauranga to Sydney when she broke down 200 miles west of Cape Maria van Diemen Union Rotoiti was only 80 miles away and the two masters agreed to attempt a tow Captain Andrew Keyworth one of the most senior masters of the USSCo was the master of Union Rotoiti With much skill on his part and while the ships were sometimes only 25 metres apart a line was made fast between the two ships by use of a line carrying rocket Once the tow began 422 nm were covered in just over 56 hours at an average speed of 7 5 knots It was a feat never before accomplished with two ships of this size and Captain John Warren of Union Rotorua later exclaimed If anyone had previously tried to tell me it was possible I would have thought them quite barmy 4 On 29 December 1993 Union Rotorua was about 27 miles south of Sydney Heads en route for Melbourne when a fire broke out in the gas turbine house It was established that the seat of the fire was in one of the cubicles of the 6 6 kilovolt switchboard which distributed power from the gas turbine generator to the propulsion motors and auxiliary electrical systems Initial attempts to fight the fire with extinguishers proved to be ineffective and a decision was made to utilise the fixed fire fighting medium and flood the space with CO2 This was effective in extinguishing the fire With the high voltage switchboard out of commission the vessel was towed to Sydney where it remained for three months undergoing repairs 2 During the 1998 Auckland power crisis the four underground cables providing power to downtown Auckland all failed between 20 January and 20 February leaving much of the downtown area without power for five weeks Generators were brought in from across the country however this was still not enough to power Auckland In the first week of March Union Rotorua was brought in to supply power to parts of downtown Auckland Berthed at Freyberg Wharf she was connected up so that her gas turbine and A C generator could supply power to one of the cities largest users Ports of Auckland Ltd This allowed the container cranes to continue to work at full speed during the outage 5 See also editvideo no sound of Union Rotorua being launchedReferences edit Ship s cost seen as a disaster The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 6 February 2016 a b c Investigation 61 Fire on board the Union Rotorua www atsb gov au Australian Transport Safety Bureau Retrieved 6 February 2016 a b Taylor GR October 1976 RO RO Ships State of the Art in Australasia Marine Technology 13 4 Retrieved 7 February 2016 Taonga New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Keyworth Andrew Stanley www teara govt nz Retrieved 6 February 2016 Stern Eric Newlove Lindy Svedin Lina 1 January 2003 Auckland Unplugged Coping with Critical Infrastructure Failure Lexington Books ISBN 9780739107744 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Union Rotorua amp oldid 1094006816, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
