Titanic II model test held in Germany
Blue Star Line Chairman Clive Palmer today said the company in conjunction with German hydrodynamic service and consulting group the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (HSVA) has conducted the first model testing of the proposed Titanic II in Germany, the Company said in a press release.
Mr Palmer said in what was HSVA’s 5000th model test in the company’s centenary year, a 9.3m wooden model of Titanic II was put through propulsion and power testing in a 300m long tank at HSVA’s Hamburg facilities over four days from September 9-12.
Titanic II is scheduled to be launched from its construction base in China in 2016, before her maiden passenger voyage retracing its original journey from Southampton to New York.
“The model testing by HSVA, including resistance and open water tests, is an important part of the process in the Titanic II project,” Mr Palmer said.
“The Titanic II model was tested by HSVA at speeds of up to 23 knots and this testing is crucial for assessing the speed and power performance of this prototype vessel design.
“Blue Star Line was represented at the tests by the World Project Director of Titanic II, Baljeet Singh. We look forward to receiving the results later this year.”
HSVA Director of Resistance and Propulsion, Dr Uwe Hollenbach, said HSVA was delighted to be part of the historic Titanic II project.
“The Titanic II model was given the HSVA model number 5000,” Dr Hollenbach said.
“In honour of Titanic II and Blue Star Line, we also held a naming ceremony and launched the model on a traditional slipway.”
Dr Hollenbach said model testing was the only accurate and reliable method for a passenger vessel prototype such as Titanic II.
“Titanic II is a prototype as present day passenger vessels have a completely different type of main hull parameters and therefore are unsuitable as references,” Dr Hollenbach said.
“The speed and power performance model testing is one of the critical aspects for a prototype vessel and needs to be verified before a construction contract is completed.
“Self propulsion tests determine the optimal sense of wing propeller rotation, the neutral wing thruster angle and optimal load distribution between wing and centre units.”
On April 30, 2012, Mr Palmer announced to the world his intention to build and launch Titanic II. The announcement came 100 years after the original vessel last sailed.
The RMS Titanic was commissioned by White Star Line and was the largest liner in the world at just under 270m long, 53m high and weighing approximately 40,000 tonnes.
Mr Palmer said Titanic II would have similar dimensions as its predecessor, with 840 rooms and nine decks. The only changes to the original Titanic would be below the water line including welding and not riveting, a bulbous bow for greater fuel efficiency, diesel generation and enlarged rudder and bow thrusters for increased manoeuvrability.