Norwegian cruise ship loses ability to navigate after rogue wave hits

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• Terrifying videos show Norwegian cruise ship rocked by massive waves ahead of power outage that knocked out navigation
• Get More with Free At Sea
• Dramatic video captures chopper pulling pregnant woman from Disney cruise ship
• Norwegian cruise ship MS Maud loses power in North Sea during storm
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• Norwegian cruise ship loses power after it was hit by rogue wave in North Sea
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Our award-winning ships are designed for you to enjoy as you choose while cruising to the most beautiful destinations around the world. Walls of Water"I think the biggest waves that are observed are 30 meters, or 100 feet, high," says oceanographer Libe Washburn. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior, evolution and paleontology. His feature on the upcoming solar maximum was shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Awards for Excellence in 2023.

Terrifying videos show Norwegian cruise ship rocked by massive waves ahead of power outage that knocked out navigation

The ship was currently being steered manually from the engine room but cannot navigate. Esvagt support vessels had arrived to help the ship navigate until the ship could be towed to port. Reuters reported that the ship was being towed to Bremerhafen in Germany after the power outage. A spokesperson for the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre told the news agency that a ship from civil rescue firm Esvagt had managed to connect a tow line to the MS Maud. The MS Maud lost power after the wave hit as the ship was sailing toward Tilbury, England, from Florø, Norway, HX, a unit of Norway’s Hurtigruten Group, said in a statement. "At this time, the ship has confirmed that no serious passenger or crew injuries have been sustained as a result of the incident and the condition of the ship remains stable," the statement said.

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"The situation started with the ship's horn sounding for an extremely long time, then the PA system came on, and we just heard scuffling and general moving around noises," Lawrence said. Then, passengers heard the alarm that meant they should head to their muster stations — the place on board where guests gather in case of an emergency. Rogue waves develop from swells interacting with currents and eddies—and can devastate ships at sea. Such freak accidents may seem rare, but hundreds have occurred without warning around the world — on cruise ships, cargo vessels, oil platforms and beaches. Rogue waves are freak waves that are at least twice as high as the surrounding sea state — the average height of the waves for a given area at a given time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Our team are working to arrange onward travel back home for guests onboard," a spokesperson for the company said.

Dramatic video captures chopper pulling pregnant woman from Disney cruise ship

The area was hit by a storm late on Thursday with hurricane-force gusts blowing from the north-west that were forecast to continue on Friday, the Danish Meteorological Institute said. A towage vessel from the civil rescue company Esvagt was scheduled to arrive at the ship around 2230 GMT. "An Esvagt ship is towing it slowly towards Bremerhafen in Germany at around 8-9 knots," the spokesperson told Reuters. “It really hit home when they started handing out orange survival suits to everyone,” Lawrence explained.

Freshwater RoguesRogue waves can form in large bodies of freshwater as well as the ocean. One of the most famous shipwrecks of the 20th century, the Edmund Fitzgerald, was probably caused by at least one rogue wave on Lake Superior, part of the Great Lakes of North America. In 2019, a study published in the journal Scientific Reports predicted that rogue waves could become less frequent but more extreme in the future due to the effects of human-caused climate change.

Norwegian cruise ship loses ability to navigate after rogue wave hits - NBC News

Norwegian cruise ship loses ability to navigate after rogue wave hits.

Posted: Fri, 22 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

German authorities warned of a storm surge of up to three meters (nearly 10 feet) or more above mean high tide on parts of the North Sea coast on Friday. "Our team are working to arrange onward travel back home for guests onboard," the statement added. "I only had to go down a nearby flight of stairs to get to my muster station in the main restaurant, but the ship was tilting pretty violently. When it was all the way over to one side, you could just see a wall of water, no sky or anything," she told BI. Lawrence, who had picked the cruise to see the Northern Lights, said the day started out with fairly big waves but that the captain had let passengers know to expect that. But as the day went on, the waves got bigger until they were large enough to spray her window on the sixth deck, she said.

Norwegian cruise ship loses power after it was hit by rogue wave in North Sea

“In line with our robust operational protocols, in addition to assuring the well-being of all aboard, the crew immediately conducted thorough safety checks and technical assessments,” HX said. A spokesperson for the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said the “situation is under control” and the ship is being steered manually from the engine room, though it can’t navigate. Danish Search and Rescue said the vessel could "maneuver via emergency systems, and it has two civilian support vessels close by." The ship, traveling under its own power, is currently sailing to Bremerhaven, Germany, for disembarkation, HX said in an updated statement Friday. Because of a lack of navigational abilities, the ship had to be steered manually from the engine room, per the news agency. "The situation is stable, the ship has propulsion and they are able to navigate the ship manually via emergency systems," the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said in a statement Friday local time.

The main engine is functioning but the navigation systems and radars are not,” a spokesperson for the centre, which is responsible for coordinating search and rescue operations, said. “Following ongoing safety checks and technical assessments, given the weather conditions, we decided to amend the planned sailing route. Across the fleet, there are thorough operational protocols in place and we always prioritize the safety of those onboard,” HX said. Two civilian support vessels are aiding the ship in its journey to port, Danish rescue authorities said.

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The ship, operated by HX, a cruise company owned by Norway's Hurtigruten Group, was about 120 miles from Denmark's west coast when the wave struck, Reuters reported. The wave's force shattered some of the ship's windows and caused it to tilt "pretty violently," passenger Elizabeth Lawrence told Business Insider. The Norwegian cruise ship MS Maud temporarily lost power on Thursday after encountering the rogue wave. Its operator, Hurtigruten Expedition, said in a statement that the 266 guests and 131 crew were uninjured and that the vessel, initially headed for the English port of Tilbury, would be diverted to Bremerhaven, Germany, for disembarkation. The rogue wave shattered windows on the ship's bridge, which caused water to enter the vessel and resulted in a power outage, Reuters reported. A Norwegian cruise ship lost the ability to navigate after a rogue wave crashed into it Thursday, the cruise company HX said.

Meanwhile, Danish Joint Rescue Coordination confirmed that no one was harmed and the passengers and crew members were safe. The MS Maud isn't the first ship to encounter rough seas in the North Sea — dramatic videos of huge waves crashing in the area have become a source of fascination on TikTok. The ship, which also had 131 crew members on it, was sailing from Floroe in Norway to Tilbury in the UK, a centre spokesperson said. The ship, which belongs to cruise company HX, a unit of Norway’s Hurtigruten Group, left Floroe in Norway on Thursday and was due to arrive in Tilbury in the UK on Friday. In Hamburg, the Elbe River flooded streets around the city's fish market, with water waist-high in places.

Dorothy Hallam, a passenger on board, wrote on social media, "We've been sat on the floor in our muster stations for hours wearing our safety suits and life jackets and there's no sign of us being allowed up any time soon. We were thrown about a lot." HX said after following ongoing safety checks and technical assessments, the company amended the ship's planned route to sail to Bremerhaven, Germany, for disembarkation. The cruise ship Maud, en route to England, lost its ability to navigate after its electricity went out, the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said, according to Reuters.

The MS Maud, a Norwegian cruise ship, lost its ability to navigate after a rogue wave knocked out its power on Thursday. The largest rogue wave ever recorded was the Draupner wave, an 84-foot-tall (25.6 meters) wave that was observed near Norway in 1995. However, the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded was the Ucluelet wave, a 58-foot-tall (17.7 m) wave that was detected by an ocean buoy off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia in November 2020.