Starship Accident Data

[flykiller]

DATE: 122-1108
LOCATION: Jewell/Jewell/SMs
VESSEL: INR Pirkhukhi

PROXIMATE CAUSE(S): Denergized maneuver drives
ROOT CAUSE(S): Inattention by maintenance personnel and supervisors, failure to follow training

SUMMARY: Partial temporary loss of maneuver drive combined with overcorrection by the pilot resulted in severe damage to the 1900 dton fleet screening vessel along with fatalities and injuries.

DESCRIPTION: In preparation for deployment the Pirkhukhi had been pursuing an aggressive maintenance schedule for 36 hours previous. Two technicians were tasked with securing and isolating power to the port jump vanes. Simultaneously the ship was engaged in a lift and hover ten meters over the dock to perform maneuver drive balancing. During this hover the two technicians misread the power distribution panel lables and mistakenly denergized the port maneuver drive nacelle. The pilot, seeing his ship fall to port, overcorrected heavily to starboard in an attempt to keep it from dropping sideways onto the dock. The two technicians, realizing their error, with no awareness of the ship's status and without authorization reenergized the port maneuver drive nacelle. In response to pilot input the ship then rolled violently to starboard, inverting and driving its port nacelle into the dock cracking the hull/nacelle armor interface. Subsequent electrical derangement caused the failure of much of the ship's internal gravity system, dropping the affected crew into the overhead. At this point the pilot managed to regain control of the ship and immediately settled it upside down onto the dock terminating the incident.

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by ChaserCaffey:
[This was always one of my personal nightmares for ocean refueling. And Mr. Whipsnade- an excellent story, sir. You got a LOL, a ROFL, and whatever other letters you want out of that one]

CC,

Thanks! And a tip of the Battered Boater for your entry too!

I've always shuddered over the chance of pranging a whale or three while ocean refueling. I suspect most vessels simply "hover and suck" - although that can lead to other problems like the one on the MT book cover. Of course, the smart chap in your incident was skimming at a high speed so he could outfox the orbital sensors above him.

Just by culling my Real Life experiences, I could write up a few score of these accident reports. I've seen humans and machinery doing all sorts of things they shouldn't during my weary waddles across our world.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
Date: CLASSIFIED
Location: CLASSIFIED
Vessel: CLASSIFIED

Proximate Cause(s): Life form strike in-flight.
Root Cause(s): Unsuitability of vessel for intended operation.

Hmm, what was she doing flying deep enough to hit the local critters? You wouldn't do that to skim fuel... No wonder it's classified.

 

[roygbiv]

DATE: 098 - 993
LOCATION: Isda Kaille/Thorstone/Glimmerdrift Reaches
VESSEL: Chagrin Falls YZ-11083-D, a Type-A Free Trader (Beowulf Class)

PROXIMATE CAUSES(S): Misjump, solar storm activity, navigational beacon failure

ROOT CAUSES(S): Collision with interstation ore packet

DESCRIPTION: After jump emergence, the vessel entered the transit zone for mass-driver launched ore packets, collided with an ore packet and was destroyed.

At approximately 08:18:56 system time, Chagrin Falls, a privately-owned Type A Free Trader of the Beowulf Class, emerged in the Isda Kaille system slightly above (0.0075AU) the plane of the ecliptic and approximately 3.1 AU from her filed jump emergence estimate. The cause of this misjump cannot be determined. Based on CVR, FSR and IFDR information recovered from her wreckage, it appears as if the bridge crew were severely disoriented, possibly suffering the lingering effects of jump sickness. Testimony by the two surviving crew corroborates this assumption.

The Chagrin Falls' point of emergence coincided with a "no-fly" zone reserved as a transit path for ore packets launched by mass driver from the Sternmetal Horizons mining outpost in the third planetoid belt of the Isda Kaille system. This facility launches 3dTon ore packets which mass approximately 22,800kg towards a processing station located in orbit around the system's outermost gas giant. This transit zone is clearly delineated by automated warning beacons, however subsequent investigation determined that beacon signal strength had been affected by EMI from an unusually energetic solar storm.

The investigators concluded that this EMI prevented the bridge crew of the Chagrin Falls from properly situating themselves insystem. Additionally affected by disorientation due to jump sickness, the bridge crew did not recognize the transit zone and proceeded into interdicted space. At approximately 21:23:08 system time, an ore packet collided with the Chagrin Falls as she crossed the transit zone. The packet appears to have struck the vessel just ahead of the engineering compartment bulkhead, completely destroying the fore part of the vessel and killing the three bridge crew, the steward and six passengers. The two surviving engineering crew were aft of the engineering compartment bulkhead at the time of impact and the compartment briefly retained atmospheric integrity. They were able to access emergency life support equipment and successfully deploy a SLOT (Starship-Launched One-way Transmission) beacon. They were rescued by a Sternmetal cutter crew who responded to the ensuing Signal GK.

As a result of this enquiry, travel advisories have been posted in neighbouring systems reminding vessels both of the transit zone's existence and providing reports of any unusual solar activity when it occurs. Sternmetal Horizons has voluntarily increased both the number of navigational beacons and their individual signal strengths in the demarcation areas of the transit zones.

 

[Whipsnade]

Morte mused: Hmm, what was she doing flying deep enough to hit the local critters? You wouldn't do that to skim fuel... No wonder it's classified.

Morte,

Oh yes indeedy! Just what was she doing that low? And why she travelling that fast in such very poor sensor conditions? What sort of a naval operation could it have been?

I left some hints in. She was under charter to MANS (the Marches Auxiliary Naval Service straight out of CT's A:2 Leviathan), her crew was picked up by a gig from another vessel, and her final dive to implosion depth was watched by a SDB. Seems as if she was there with quite a few friends around, no?

I'll never tell 'cause there is no 'correct' answer! I wrote it up as an adventure seed of sorts. PCs are hired by relatives of the dead gunner and asked to find out why, what, where, etc.

It would make a nifty handout during a session, wouldn't it? "Here's the report you requested..."


Have fun,
Bill

P.S. Forgot to tell you how much I like your campaign log.

 

[ChaserCaffey]

You know, with contra-grav you could probably set up stations low in gas giant atmospheres, either custom built or using decommisioned streamlined cruiser hulls. You could do use them as prison hulks to disappear enemy agents, research labs...even covert factories for things you don't want anyone to know you have, or to keep war production going in a sector that might be under enemy occupations.

Like, say, the Spinward Marches.

Of course, you'd have to have regular supply runs by cargo ships to keep them operating.

Just, you know, saying.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to relocate my transmitter before the Office of Naval Information finishes their triangulation.

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
It would make a nifty handout during a session, wouldn't it? "Here's the report you requested..."

Yes. Handouts like this are great, it's a shame there aren't more of them in published adventures.

[<rant>p.s. Any authors/publishers out there who might take that as a hint: for crying out loud, put the handouts on separate pages in the PDF so they can be printed and handed out. Don't put player handouts on the left side of the page and GM-only spoilers on the right. I'm looking at you, QLI, and you, SJG.</rant>]

 

[jasper]

Date: 132-993
Location: Pokka/(L-2627) Crucis Margin/ Gateway Domain
Vessel: ISS Animosity A2 Far Trader

Proximate Cause(s): Failure to obey traffic regulations.
Root Cause(s): Computer Malfunction.

At approximately 12:25 while on approach to field one of laser turrets activated and fired on Frank’s Imbiss and Hotdog Stand totally destroying the food stand, and killing the owner and three customers. Only the quick thinking Frank Urlock a passenger who is a security chief for Gateway Metals and is in route to Coin prevented the laser from firing on the tower. Captain Jasper and his crew has been jail during the investigation. Mr. Urlock has been given free passage to his destination.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
Just by culling my Real Life experiences, I could write up a few score of these accident reports. I've seen humans and machinery doing all sorts of things they shouldn't during my weary waddles across our world.

Bring it on, Bill! Please!

 

[flykiller]

Bring it on, Bill!

yes, regale us with sea stories. always love 'em.

 

[Whipsnade]

flykiller chimed in: yes, regale us with sea stories. always love 'em.

C'mon Fly, as an ex-squid like me, you should have some too!

 

[flykiller]

yeah, but they're mostly personal or "had to be there". not much relatable to traveller.

well, I'll try a few.

told to go fix number two shaft torsionometer. went down, opened it up, found the problem right away. one of the capacitors had exploded, spread this brownish-yellow goo everywhere. spent all morning wiping it up with rags, went to eat lunch, came back and finished cleaning. got the part number off the popped capacitor, ordered it, went away. two weeks later the part shows up. I open the box and look at the capacitor, and printed on the side in nice big friendly yellow letters is, "this capacitor contains no PCBs". I sit there staring at it for a few minutes, then go to the ship's library to look up PCBs. yep, brownish-yellow liquid. I head over to hazmat to fill out paperwork for exposure to the substance. the guy at the hazmat office asks me, "what are PCBs?" I pull out his materials manual and show him the entry, explaining it to him. he gets irritated and yanks out the report sheet and starts to fill it out, asking me, "ok, how do you spell PCBs?" I walked out. shouldn't have, but I did.

in port christmas eve, two hundred men left on-board the carrier, everyone else completely gone, the base almost shut down. we're all mad as wet cats, morale is tanked. general announcement, "fire in the island". worst possible place to fight a fire, no CAT, mostly just junior men. very bad, not good. they called muster in hanger bay two to fight it and I went expecting maybe a handful. but everyone was there, all two hundred not on watch. no-one ditched. I was always very impressed by that. turned out to be just a trash can fire, but we were all there.

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by flykiller:
yeah, but they're mostly personal or "had to be there". not much relatable to traveller.

Fly,

Yeah, some of my stuff is hard to 'Traveller-ize' too - unless you set it on a backwater, low-tech, world and don't involve starships! Working the hi-tech angle in the tough part.

Let's see:

ORSE examination and, during a fire drill in the engineroom, some eager beaver actaully charges the AFFF-PKP system. AFFF is a fancy term for foam; you fight oil fires with it. PKP, or purple-K, is a chemical extinguisher. Nozzles for the two are linked side by side on a handling bar. You use them in concert; PUFF to knock down the fire then FOOOAAAMMMM to smother it and prevent reflash. You work your way across the fire like that; PUFF-FOOOAAAMMM-PUFF-FOOOAAAMMM etc.

So now this air pressure; around 100 PSI IIRC, needs to be bled off the tank filled with PKP powder. Old Phil 'The Slug' Harvey gets the job and immediately botches it. Not even looking for a bleed off line or valve, he UNSCREWS a hose from the tank and - WHAMMO - #2 engineroom middle level is suddenly filled with a giant purple cloud. EOS shut their watertight doors and we had to haul a half dozen guys up to sickbay where they were put on O2.

Next one:

Duty day for me and general weekday workday too. Some fellows working in a forward pump room below the water line sheer off a sensing line between the hull and the isolation valve. Okay, its a leak but the line is less than a 1/4 inch ID. They call away flooding; rightly so, and I'm in charge of the Fire & Flooding party thanks to being on duty. The pump room is way up forward near the sonar dome and down a trunk about five decks deep.

My gang gets up there; the trunk access is in 1st Div berthing, and it looks like a freakin' khaki party. Every damn ossifer and chief on board is up there milling around, climbing up and down the trunk, and acting like a pain in the ass. My guys with the flooding kit can't even get in the compartment let alone the trunk.

I finally turn to the CHENG and ask him if he can get all these *ssholes out of here so we can do our job. He looks around like he hasn't realized he's been standing in the middle of a rubber-necking cluster f*ck and, mercifully, starts ordering people out of the compartment. We get down the trunk, plug the trickle, ring up #1 ER to pump the little bit of water that came in, and start setting up to braze a new valve in place. End of problem.

It took us about 2 mintues to stop the leak, around 4 minutes to climb down the trunk, and more than 10 mintues to get through the khakis.


Bill

 

[flykiller]

It took us about 2 mintues to stop the leak, around 4 minutes to climb down the trunk, and more than 10 mintues to get through the khakis.

(laugh) yeah, same on the carrier. only more of 'em.

insurv. got us up at 0200 and told us that the shade of red on the fourth deck starboard side was not the same shade of red as the fourth deck port side. told us to repaint it all and have it done by 0700. we milled around angrily for half an hour, no brushes, just cans of paint. how are we going to do this? one of the first classes grabbed a can, upended it, grabbed a broom, and started sweeping the paint around. we all did the same. got it done, threw the now useless brooms overboard. the khaki commended us. the next week they were asking where all the brooms went. we just looked blank.

let's see, high tech ...

when the vinson (my boat) was building someone noticed a nimitz-class carrier screw lying in a corner of the yard. no history, no papers, just laying there in all of its $100,000 glory. they snatched it and stuck it on 2 shaft, saved a pile of money, somebody got promoted. the vinson sailed out and they found out why the screw had been abandoned. when it turned in the water it chirped. loudly. CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP. submariners told us they could hear us from two hundred miles away, well enough to target us if they had a missile that could go that far. at night during our high speed runs we must have sounded like some kind of giant canary. CHIRPCHIRPCHIRPCHIRPCHIRP. sailed around the pacific with that thing for maybe five years before they finally yanked it off. probably stuck it in the corner of the yard, someone'll find it ten years later and say, "hey, why don't we ...."

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by flykiller:
probably stuck it in the corner of the yard, someone'll find it ten years later and say, "hey, why don't we ...."

Fly,

Oh, yeah. That's the Yards.

I report aboard the Pig in '83 just at the tail end of her yard period. She's in Norfolk NS (which is actually in Chesepeake) and she's covered in scaffolding. The word comes to remove it and the 'birds start working. The fellows on the side next to pier are disconnecting everything and craning it all down. The fellows outboard are disconnecting everything and throwing into the slip! Splash - splash - splash. After we moved, they had a crane dredging it all up!

The shops had bicycles painted with their colors and numbered. The 'birds would ride around on them. There was this huge bike rack by the brow. I can't count the times I saw a 'bird peddle up, fail to find a spot to rack his ride, and then throw the bike in the slip! They dredged all those up too after we moved.

One 'bird at Hunter's Point took a dump in his lunch sack and left it behind some switchgear for us to find and take care of. Thanks!

We went into Hunter's Point right after they reactivated it as sort of a drydock test run for Enterprise. We steamed across the Bay, winched in, pumped down, and got the bottom painted. The Navy wanted to see if they could handle a nuc what with all the special discharge piping and tanks.

Okay, so we're obviously not making any steam and you cook and heat water with steam. Want hot chow and hot showers, give us steam. They plunk some kind of pre-packaged donkey boiler near the drydock and lay a hunded feet or so of insulated pipe out to the ship. It works fine.

One morning I'm the mid to 6 SMO (shutdown mechanic) and I'm bouncing between enginerooms keeping the SRO, SEO, and rovers awake. We get as call from the mess decks. It's like 3am when they start to prepare for breakfast and they got no steam. They say WTF? I check pressure, no steam, and start backtacking along the system. No steam, no steam, no steam. Finally I'm on the weather deck checking the shore connection. No steam. I can see the donkey boiler shack and the SOB is chugging away, so I trudge off to check it out.

I walk in the boiler hut and collar the 'bird running it. You making steam? Sure, he says. Then why haven't we got it? Oh, the boiler tripped for some reason and I had to secure the steam outlet until I brought her back up. Makes sense, but why isn't the outlet open now? Well, the piping to the ship needs to be blown down after the outlet is opened. Let's do it then. Oh no, that's Shop XX's job and they won't be here until 8am.

Suffice it to say, after nearly putting a boot in this guy's *ss, I opened the outlet, blew down the piping, and got steam back aboard the Pig. 500 some odd squids were going to have cold showers and cold food IN PORT because of some union rules? The 'bird took my name and rank so he could rat me out to the Yard but I heard nothing about it. I think the CHENG scotched it all.


Bill

 

[Ran Targas]

^ Had the opposite happen to me. I was AUXO on a LST and was awoken before reveille on three consecutive mornings by the XO, each day that much more infuriated. Seems someone was turning off the steam to the hot water heater that serviced his head. He naturally thought only an A-Ganger could be responsible so he took it out on me each time it happened. The last day, he threatened me with some pretty harsh punishment as I didn't seem motivated sufficiently to solve his problem.

So I got with my chief and we dressed A-Gang down on the flight deck where only we could hear. No one fessed up but they all got a good laugh out of it.

Well, as it happens, the XO sat up the next night, posting a watch on the valve. Come to find out, it was some fireman on mess duty who was turning the valve because diverting the steam gave the scullery hotter water. Needless to say, he was moved from the scullery to trash detail immediately.

No apologies rendered by the XO.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Wonderful stories, you two! Now, put just enough thought in to translate some of those incidents to TU write-ups! I have always thought Traveller starports/ships would be more industrial - more like Navy ships (and shore installations), and less like our nice, cushy shore jobs.

Let me give one of your stories a try, Bill:

Whipsnade:
{QB]So now this air pressure; around 100 PSI IIRC, needs to be bled off the tank filled with PKP powder. Old Phil 'The Slug' Harvey gets the job and immediately botches it. Not even looking for a bleed off line or valve, he UNSCREWS a hose from the tank and - WHAMMO - #2 engineroom middle level is suddenly filled with a giant purple cloud. EOS shut their watertight doors and we had to haul a half dozen guys up to sickbay where they were put on O2.[/QB]

DATE: 278 - 1054
LOCATION: CLASSIFIED, Spinward Marches
VESSEL: INS CLASSIFIED, DD-CLASSIFIED

PROXIMATE CAUSES(S): Unnecesary pressurization of fire-fighting system, Improper bleed-off of fire-fighting system pressurization

ROOT CAUSES(S): Failure to follow safety procedures, Poor training in safety procedures

DESCRIPTION: During Damage Control (DC) exercises aboard the INS CLASSIFIED, DC Team Beta pressurized the fire suppression system. For procedural and safety reasons, the fire suppresion system is normally left unpressurized during drills. When the drill concluded, and after DC team personnel had begun removing vacc suit helmets, a new DC team member (REDACTED) was assigned to depressurize the system.

REDACTED did not open the bleed-off valve, which would have removed the pressure and filtered the fire suppression agent out of the pressurizing atmosphere. Instead, he disconnected a fire suppression hose from the tank upstream from the spill valve. This caused immediate evacuation of the fire suppression agent from the tank at high pressure into the engineering space. Several DC team members could not replace their helmets quickly enough, and succumbed to the agent, as well as several non-team engineering crew. The engineering space hatches immediately closed and locked, preventing initial escape. An emergency evacuation of the space was planned after all crew-members had donned protective gear, and successfully cleared most of the agent from the space.

Several systems had to be shut down due to contamination with the fire suppression agent, including water reclamation and the manuever drives. All systems were back online 24 hours later. Personnel who succumbed to the fire suppression agent were treated with O2 and released, except for REDACTED, who received a very high dose of the agent and was hospitalized for two weeks of treatment.

Subsequent investigation was unable to determine if REDACTED had been trained in the proper bleed-down of a pressurized fire suppression agent tank. It was determined through interviews, however, that he did not attempt a search for the bleed-off valve, and went immediately to the accident scenario actions. REDACTED has mustered out of the service, and no charges were laid to any member of the DC Team Beta.

As a result of this investigation, the spill valve on all fire suppression systems is being moved to the tank, itself, to prevent the possibility of this incident repeating in the future.

 

[ChaserCaffey]

Let's see what I can do with the shipyard stories:

DATE: 182-1098
VESSEL: INS Catamarca (DE-5129), Chrysanthemum-class DE

PROXIMATE CAUSE(S): Jump relativity error caused by fuel contamination
ROOT CAUSE(S): Poor inventory control in shipyard during refit.

DESCRIPTION: On the date in question, Catamarca had just completed a major refit and was returning to her assigned squadron in company with INS Nxiotl (DE-5253), a sister ship returning to the same duty station. The two ships planned to jump in company for a projected four-jump voyage before arrival at the naval base at Classified.

At the first planned refueling stop, however, Catamarca had not arrived when her companion precipitated seven days after entering jump. By the tenth day, she still had not emerged. Concerned, Nxiotl's CO made the decision to remain in-system for another week on the chance that a jump relativity error had occured. On the fifteenth day, Catamarca precipitated at her planned emergence zone. The COs of the two ships conferred and decided that since Catamarca's life support systems appeared to be functional, Nxiotl would return to the refit yard and summon a repair vessel rather than risk another misjump.

Upon examination of Catamarca's jump drive, it was discovered that during her recent refit yard workers assigned to repair her fuel tank's insulation layer had been using the space between the insulation and the tank's surface to store tools and other personal belongings. Items retrived from the tank included two vac suit gloves, a total of 18 miscellaneous tools, an entertainment chip, the remains of three lunches, and a small drum of sealant. The latter had apparently released its contents into the tank prior to jump, contaminating the fuel and causing the misjump.

After repair and cleaning of the tank aboard the mobile repair vessel, Catamarca safely completed her voyage and had an otherwise unremarkable tour. The Imperial Navy billed the shipyard for the cost of the mobile vessel's deployment, setting off rounds of litigation that ultimately ended with promises by the shipyard to reform their inventory control procedures. The individuals responsible for the contamination were never identified, and efforts to fire two foremen foundered when they filed union grievances.

(N.B.: I'm not a vet, but does this sound about right to you guys?)

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Let me give one of your stories a try, Bill:

Sure thing Fritz, go right ahead. {Big snip of a great write-up}

... a new DC team member (REDACTED) was assigned to depressurize the system.

Redacted? Yeah, 'Slug' Harvey certainly should have been redacted. At his best he made you scratch your head, at his worst he was an oxygen thief. Here's another gem involving 'Slug'...

Three levels in the engineroom, so three big tool boxes. Trouble is lower level borrows from middle and doesn't return, middle steals from upper, etc., etc., etc. Big tool daisy chain. Solution? Mark the tools with paint. 'Slug' gets the job. What can go wrong? Oh boy...

It's a nuc ship and certain colors mean certain things, certain bad things. Purple and/or yellow mark radioactive or potentially radioactive materials. They have been handled a special way, stored a special way, controlled a special way. RadCon is very important.

'Slug' collects his paint and marks each set of tools for #2 engineroom. Chief Mann checks them out and nearly has a stroke. The colors? Red, blue, and YELLOW. 'Slug' has just marked a third of our tools as radioactive!

Making matters worse ORSE is aboard. As in Operational Reactor Safeguard Examination. As in NavSea 08. As in Rickover's hatchetmen. Quick hide those yellow marked tools and get the #!@%#@ paint off them! 'Slug' bundles them up and hurries down to the M-division office.

Not a shaft alley, not an aux room, not anywhere else on a 598-foot cruiser. He beelines straight for one of only FIVE compartments on board where ORSE will be doing document checks.

He bursts in, drops the tools on the deck, and blurts out to the M-div supply PO, M-div training PO, ship mechanical calibration PO (me), and DCPO; "Quick guys, help me get this yellow paint off!" Thanks to his frantic tunnel vision, he only saw us blueshirts...

... and not the four or five ORSE team members we were presenting our various documents and records to.

M-Divison office, one deck below M-Division berthing, is now a Spill Area - an area where radioactive or potentially radioactive materials are not under control - and everyone in it is now potentially contaminated.

Thanks 'Slug'. Why don't you take a break and go a REDACT yourself?


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by ChaserCaffey:
(N.B.: I'm not a vet, but does this sound about right to you guys?)

CC,

Does it sound right? It sounds PERFECT!

Great accident report, some GM is sure to use it.


Have fun,
Bill