torsdag 12. januar 2017

Inside the dry dock on a lazy Sunday

I was here, as you might remember. At Rubbestadneset, Bømlo, Norway for a short yard stay with the ship not too long ago. We had lots of stuff to get done on the ship, but it did not really stop me from getting out on the quayside for a short walk on a Sunday around lunch time. I had this Ilford Delta 400 film loaded, so I thought I might just as well get rid of it in some sort of useful way. 

The old dry dock at Rubbestadneset is still working fine for it's purpose, which is to let small and bigger ships rest on dry land for a short period of time as necessary maintenance is done under the waterline. There will be paint to be added, overboard valves to be changed out, propellers and bearings to be checked among other things. Important stuff for a ship, as you may understand. Nikon F3 with Nikkor 24mm lens attached. Snapped on Ilford Delta 400 film.

Out I went, over to the dry dock area of the yard. I have been here before, as it happens. I think this is the same dock we went into at some point when I was a trainee on board my first vessel some years back. 
It's a nice enough dry dock by any standards. If the size of the thing is big enough to take your vessel, that is. 147 meters long and 25 meters wide and with a capacity of around 4000 MT would be the essential measurements of the structure, should you be interested. Not the biggest thing around, as you might understand.

Tiny part of the dock with it's fancy hi-tech level indicator, and a few stands to place under the frames of which the ships hull is welded onto. It's kind of like the jacking points on your car, only that there will be a lot more of them on a ship than on any car I know of. Still Nikon F3, changed to Nikkor 85mm lens and same Delta 400 film.

Don't know much about it, to be honest. I know the Germans built a few around this size back in the early 40's. As we all know they had to leave a few bits and pieces behind when they left, and there's quite a few old wartime dry docks still in use over here. They might start to get a bit old fashion by now, but they seem to still be working as intended. I guess they might have been upgraded a bit over the years, but the steel will still be the same. Good steel back then.

The old "HAMEN" of Bergen inside the dock. Beautiful lines on the ships back then. These days they more or less looks like floating containers if you compare them to these beauties. 

As for the small ship placed inside on this particular Sunday about a month ago there is a bit more information to share. 
It was actually built over in Sunderland, England at S.P. Austin & Son of Wear Dock S.P back in 1947/48. She was delivered from the yard in 1949 as a steam propelled coal freight vessel to the British Electricity Authority under the fair name of "Pompey Power". She sailed in the coal trade from northern England to the power plant of Portsmouth until 1960, when she was sold to Norway and renamed "Tandik".
Further it was laid up in 1962, and further sold on to a different norwegian owner in 1963 and renamed to it's current name "Hamen". The old steam engine was ripped out and a diesel engine installed. She was taken out of service in 1985 but still refused to give up. She even partly sank in 2011 tied up alongside. Now she's getting back to her former glory, or at least so it seems by the looks of the sleek and nice thing. 
A norwegian group interested in keeping historical vessels afloat is the current owners, and let's just cross fingers she still have a bunch of years left inside her.

4 kommentarer:

  1. I love this. I can't imagine how I would ever have seen a dock in Norway otherwise.

    SvarSlett
    Svar
    1. Thank you, Jim :)
      Nah... you don't see a lot of dock posts from Norway around these days, I guess. This might be one of the few places, to be honest. There's a few over here in my area as well, and I might take a ride around and snap them up one day just to have something new to post.

      Slett
  2. Svar
    1. Thanks, Andrea.
      No dry docks there, and not too many left anywhere else in the UK these days either, to my knowledge anyway. There used to be quite a lot of them, but it seems like the yards went away somewhere else at some point.

      Slett

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