Learning to Use the Old Ways -- Just in Case
<< ABOARD THE APL SINGAPORE, June 15—At 4:58 this morning, in the foggy solitude of San Pedro Bay, a two-way radio started squawking in the engine control room of this 64,000-ton cargo ship with an alarming message from the captain: "Ron, the engine is not responding."
That same instant, a piercing klaxon and a series of flashing lights alerted Chief Engineer Ron Gerde to the crisis at hand: The Singapore, hauling 1,109 massive steel containers stuffed with everything from tennis shoes made in Malaysia to stereo equipment from Taiwan, had hit a digital iceberg. A year 2000 computer glitch had crashed a critical electronic system that controls engine thrust, causing the vessel, whose bow-to-stern measurement exceeds the length of three football fields, to head uncontrollably toward the Port of Los Angeles.
This time, though, the computer failure was only a simulation. The Singapore's owner, APL Ltd., was staging this emergency at the behest of the U.S. Coast Guard. Today's drill, the first in a series of port inspections nationwide, illustrates a new focus in year 2000 mobilization ... more ... >>
washingtonpost.com
Interesting test of a ship's manual systems which apparently went well. |
