All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s08e04 Worlds Strongest Ship.eng

In this episode...

In my opinion, there's no other
vessel like this in the world.

...the planet's largest
heavy lift ship...

We can carry the Eiffel Tower

and the Statue of Liberty
at the same time.

This is absolutely

a game changing
piece of engineering.

...and the groundbreaking
innovations from the past...

Whoo!

For something 60 years old,

this is really,
really incredible.

This was the first system
of this kind in the world.

It's totally unique.

...that make the impossible
possible.

Captions by vitac...
www.vitac.com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

The world's oceans are home
to some of mankind's

most extraordinary
engineering achievements.

Out at sea,
the megastructure is king.

And ships, oil rigs,
and floating factories

are all growing
to an unprecedented scale.

But these oversized objects
present engineers

with a giant challenge.

What happens
when they need to be moved?

Marine engineer Michele Seij
is part of the team

designing a solution.

The structure for this industry

are the biggest in the world
that need to be transported.

In front of us,
you can see an oil rig

which is operating
around the globe

and is difficult
to move by itself.

The cargoes that we have
to transport are,

in some cases, five times
as heavy as this platform.

They need to be transported
a distance of over 10,000 miles.

That's a trip about
half around the world.

In order to transport
these cargoes,

we need to build
unique piece of engineering

that's bigger and more capable

than anything
presently available.

But now...

...there is an answer.

This is the Boka vanguard.

This is absolutely
a game changing

piece of engineering.

She carries some of the largest
machinery built on the planet...

Hundreds and thousands of tons,
she carries on her back.

And she carries it for thousands
and thousands of miles.

And the way
this vessel pulls it off

has to be seen to be believed.

The Boka vanguard
can deliberately sink itself.

By submerging below the surface,

the vanguard can load cargo
of a truly astonishing size.

She's absolutely amazing.

Everything on this ship

is different from
the standout vessel.

Then the Boka vanguard

does something
even more extraordinary.

It rises from the depths

and plucks its mega cargo
from the sea.

It's unbelievable
if you start thinking about

a vessel like this
that you're actually able

to lift cargoes out of the water

that are weighing over
100,000 tons or even more.

At 902 feet long
and 230 feet wide,

the Boka vanguard is the world's
largest heavy lift ship.

Onboard is a 12-story
superstructure

that contains the bridge
and living quarters.

It's four
90-foot buoyancy towers

can be reconfigured
for unique loads

and it can sink
66 feet below the waterline

before lifting massive cargo
weighing up to 120,000 tons.

In order for vanguard to deliver

the planet's largest cargo
around the globe,

engineers have had to solve
a series of problems.

How can a vessel sink
and reemerge at will

while lifting
unprecedented weight?

We had to change
our traditional designs

and come up
with something totally new

to move cargoes that no other
vessel in the world can move.

What does it take
to maneuver this monster machine

through the world's
most dangerous seas?

She has to go around the horn
of Africa, which is some of

the most treacherous waters
on the planet.

And how does the crew
of this prized megastructure

protect it from disaster?

So the worst case scenario

is damage
to the hull of the vessel,

flooding of the vessel,
and sinking of the vessel.

First mate Rudolph Limanis
and the crew are regularly faced

with these seemingly
impossible challenges.

We can see, actually,
another is standing there,

and you obviously cannot use
any kind of crane

for lifting this thing
out of the water.

It's too big, too heavy.

There are no cranes in the world

that can lift something
as big as this.

The other option
might be towing.

So use tugboats and just tell
them wherever they need to be,

but it means that it takes
a lot longer time for us.

And it also might be
more dangerous.

The weather
can be perilous outside.

And if this structure like this
is being towed,

it means that she's out there
in any kind of weather.

There might be storms
or high waves.

So this is when the submerging
of the vessel comes into play.

But is it possible to sink

and then raise
an enormous vessel

and its cargo
at the flick of a switch?

To find out,
the vanguard's engineers

will need to look to the past.

On the shores of
the Gulf of Mexico...

Are we ready?

Okay. Gonna start.

...marine engineer
Krijn Haasnoot

is rallying his crew
for an off-shore adventure.

What we basically do is that
we install rocks on the seabed.

Today, the tideway rollingstone

is used in
pipe laying operations,

but she has a hidden past.

Everything behind me
was not there

before the conversion in 1994.

From here to the casings,

it was all just flat deck.

When it was built in 1979,

this ship changed the world.

This was the super servant I,

the first ever large scale
heavy lift ship.

Capable of sinking at will,

she could lift loads
heavier than anything

that had come before.

And the bones of this vessel
hold the key

to how the Boka vanguard works.

The whole deck
was empty so they could take

as much cargo as possible.

You can see we put
a lot of equipment there,

but the structure
is still the same.

If you know where to look,

you can see the structure
of the old super servant

all over the boat.

First mate Floris Zeijlmaker

is on the hunt
for the tell tale signs

of historic
engineering innovation.

By filling 24 huge tanks
in her hull with water,

the super servant
was able to sink its deck

21 feet below the surface.

This allowed cargo to float
directly above it.

Before the tanks were emptied,
buoyancy increased

and the payload
lifted from the water.

The secret behind
this game changing system

lies below deck.

The super servants' compressors
were capable of pumping

over 88,000 cubic feet of water

in and out of the hull
every hour,

allowing the ship to achieve
the seemingly impossible.

The now-converted super servant
led the way

for a new form
of heavy lift ship,

and few know
of its trailblazing past.

We, as a crew, are very proud

to work and live on this vessel
with such an amazing history.

Super servant was one of

the most innovative ships
in the world.

The Boka vanguard
is almost seven times

the size of the super servant

and can lift many times
the weight.

It's the largest
semi-submersible lift ship

ever built.

All thanks to
a supersized version

of the technology used
on the super servant,

which is hidden
in one of Boka vanguard's

most hard to reach locations.

We're at the top of one
of the buoyancy casings.

There's very few people
get to come up here.

When megastructures
need to be moved

across the world's oceans,

it calls for engineering
on an epic scale.

This is the "Boka vanguard,"

the biggest heavy lift ship
on the planet.

And it's no ordinary vessel.

The vanguard has
the astonishing ability

to sink itself
below the surface of the sea

before lifting
its giant floating cargoes

straight out of the water.

Yes? Okay, copy that.

Start the ballast down.
Thank you.

Onboard, engineers
rely on cutting edge technology

to help pull off
this complex procedure.

This is the main console
on these monitors here.

We can see all
our ballast system,

the piping, the pumps.

These blocks,
they represent our ballast tank.

Total 96.

Each ballast tank
is connected with a valve.

And on these screens here,

we can open and close
the valves as needed.

When the valves are open,
the water is flowing in.

The vanguard's 96 ballast tanks

can take on more than
52 million gallons of water,

allowing her
to lift weights heavier

than any vessel
has ever been capable of before.

So in the beginning,
when I start my operation,

most of the tanks are empty.

We start pumping water
from outside of the vessel

through the ballast system
that goes all around the vessel.

By deliberately
flooding the hull,

the vanguard's deck is submerged

to as deep as 66 feet
below the surface.

As these tanks
are being filled one by one,

the vessel is going
more and more underwater.

And then when we have reached
our target draft,

we just close the tanks,
stop the flow of the water,

and then the vessel
is in the position.

But the sinking
is only the first phase

of this incredible exercise.

Superintendent Don Kemler
is responsible for maneuvering

the massive floating
megastructures

above the vanguard's deck.

The seas, they don't care
what your cargo weighs

and they will move it around
quite easily.

The stakes can be quite high

because everything
that we're moving

is in the hundreds
of millions of dollars.

And the biggest issue that you
have with the largest weights,

when you've got
a 100,000 ton cargo is momentum.

The faster something is moving,
the harder it is to stop it.

And if you can't
stop it in time,

then you run the risk
of causing damage

to either the cargo
or the vessel itself.

The solution to keeping

these gigantic structures
under control...

See, an elevator
would've been much easier.

Whew.

...Can be found in a spot

that few get to experience
on this extraordinary vessel.

We're at the top of
one of the buoyancy casings.

There's very few people
get to come up here.

Not only
is the view spectacular,

this off-limits location

holds the key
to helping avert disaster.

This is one of
our cargo winches.

We have two of these on
every one of these casings.

The winches are specifically
to pull, in a controlled manner,

the cargo above the deck.

We will have this line down
on one of our work boats,

which will then run the line out
and attach to the cargo.

Often we find ourselves,
especially with this vessel,

working with loads anywhere
upwards of 100-110,000 tons.

So these winches are capable

of putting on a tremendous
amount of force on these objects

and able to move them
quite easily through the water.

It's a technique
that allows the crew

to precisely maneuver

the giant structures
into position,

reducing the risk of collision.

I'm in communications with
all the winch operators.

And I will say,
"heave up on line one,"

and he will heave up on his.

Or I can give him
specific directions,

"heave up one meter."

And maybe I'm telling
the other winch

to slack one meter.

And that's how we can control it
and move really slowly.

Every time we do
one of these projects,

or one of these operations,

it never ceases to amaze me

how impressive
and how awe-inspiring it is.

We could not do our job
without these winches.

Thanks to the vanguard system,

96 ballast tanks,
four buoyancy casings,

and 10 winches,

she can achieve
the incredible feat

of sinking below
the surface of the sea

and safely moving giant payloads
above her deck.

But this act
of deliberate sinking

is just one piece of the puzzle.

It will take even more ingenious
engineering to pull off

this seemingly impossible
exercise.

This is a very huge scale
operation.

Using 96 ballast tanks,

four buoyancy casings,
and 10 winches,

the Boka vanguard can sink
below the surface of the sea

and safely move heavy cargo
above her deck.

But that's not all
this heavy lift ship can do.

First mate Rudolph Limanis
oversees the next step...

Lifting the massive cargo
out of the water.

When we look out of this window
during the cargo operations,

we only see the casings kind of
sticking out from the water.

And then we see
this huge structure.

When somebody asks
how big is it, I say,

"well, imagine
a 10, 12 story building."

At the final stage
of the loading,

you just see a wall here
of whatever cargo there is.

To finally land
the monster payload

onto her deck,

what goes down must now come up.

So after the cargo
is in position,

everything is confirmed.
My pumps are running.

Then I open the valves
to the tanks

that I need to de-ballast.

The water is being pumped out
from the tanks

outside of the vessel.

This way,
the buoyancy is increased

and the vessel
comes out of the water.

As the vessel rises,
it can lift up to 120,000 tons.

But as project manager
Ronald Goetheer knows,

when you're carrying
a massive megastructure,

entering the confined space of
a port is a tricky proposition.

Not all ports are happy

to receive this vessel,

especially not
with the large cargo

because it scares them off.

It's not a usual vessel.
It's not the usual size.

Because of these challenges,

it's important
that this vessel can sail

halfway around the world
without stopping.

Lead engineer Andrii Kurochkin

maintains the machinery

that makes
these voyages possible.

That's equivalent
to the horsepower

of eight freight trains.

These powerful engines
allow the vanguard

to achieve the unthinkable
on each and every voyage.

To complete
these global missions,

captain Oleg Maryasov

must maneuver the vanguard
and her payload

across the world's
most dangerous seas.

That the vessel carries
a big and massive cargoes.

The wind chart is very high

and adverse weather conditions
with strong winds,

the winds can stop the vessel
and swing the vessel.

It's like a big sail,

and different winds blow through
this sail against

and stop the vessel.

We have a time frame to deliver
the cargo from the one port

to another port.

Definitely lost speed,
we lost time,

and cannot deliver
the cargo in time.

So during the operation,

the captain must keep
everything under control.

The answer
to keeping the vanguard

moving in all types of weather

may lie with the pioneers
of the past.

For something 60 years old,

this is really,
really incredible.

The Boka vanguard,

the largest heavy lift ship
in the world.

This game changing
semi-submersible vessel

can deliberately sink itself
before rising

to lift and transport
the largest cargo on the planet.

The vanguard can fill

her 52 million gallon capacity
ballast tanks

at a rate of over
five tons per second

and submerge six stories
below the waterline.

She's kept afloat by four
92 foot tall towers

filled partially with air.

But out on the open sea,

there is an ever present risk
of high winds

that could swing and even stop
the massive vessel

in its tracks.

Could the answer to keeping
the vanguard moving,

whatever the weather, lie with
the pioneers of the past?

The river Rhine in Germany.

Mechanical engineer
Aoife Considine

has traveled to
this landmark waterway

to get her hands on a piece
of aquatic engineering history.

Ready for this?

This is just incredible!

Whoo!

So you got 17 tons of vessel
here out of 15 meters.

I mean, you can just see
the wake going at the back.

For something 60 years old,

this is really,
really incredible.

In 1963, engineer Josef Becker

launched the Forrelle,

a pioneering boat
designed to solve a problem.

Now, in a conventional
boat system,

when you have
a separate propeller and rudder,

you have to have
forward movement and momentum

before the boat can actually
even start to turn.

For a boat such as this
that is 15 meters long

and it weighs about 17 tons,

you are gonna have a tough time

navigating around tight inlets.

It's actually quite difficult
to maneuver.

What Becker came up with

allowed the Forrelle
to move on the water

in a way that had previously
been impossible.

He managed to combine
both the propulsion of the boat

with the maneuverability in
a 360 degree rudder propeller.

On conventional vessels,

thrust and steering
are separated,

meaning changes in direction
are delayed.

By integrating
rudder and propeller

into a single unit,
reactions are instantaneous.

The way it works is the engine,

which is the main powerhouse,
that provides the energy

down the driveshaft
towards the back of the boat,

which then does a 90-degree turn
going downwards,

a second 90-degree turn,
and then that actually leads

straight onto
the rudder propeller,

which provides both

your horizontal degree
of axis turning

for your maneuverability

and also has a propeller
turning at the same time.

Becker's innovative system
was the perfect solution

for improving
the agility of boats.

Now, to try and do this kind of
maneuver in a conventional boat,

you have the propeller
on the rudder, both separate,

so it isn't that
instantaneous movement

that we're having right now.

So how it actually works,

if you look
at these gauges here,

your arrows point
in the direction of travel.

So say, for instance, we wanted
you to turn right quite quickly.

All we'd do is turn the wheel
twice for 45 degrees

and already you can see
the boat is moving.

And actually what's happening
is as I turn this wheel,

the propeller underneath the
boat is mimicking that movement

and allowing
for that instantaneous

change of direction.

Turn it two more times again.

And as you can see,
the dial is moving with me,

which is exactly what's
happening with that propeller

to be able to push us
in this clockwise direction.

And it really is
just that simple.

The rudder propeller
allowed for control

and maneuverability
previously thought impossible.

So let's spin this girl around

and see what she's got.

It really does
just react immediately

to what you're doing.

The boat is literally
spinning on its own axis.

Becker's invention
is now the standard

on ships around the globe.

On the vanguard,
chief engineer Andrii Kurochkin

has access
to a supersized version

of Becker's
innovative technology.

Manufactured in China...

...each propeller measures
just over nine feet across

and is precisely engineered
from copper alloy.

The massive props are housed
inside a cast steel pod,

allowing them
to rotate 360 degrees,

just like on
Josef Becker's Forrelle.

But the versions found
on the vanguard

have an extra trick
up their sleeve.

Normally stored inside the hull
to reduce drag,

the vanguard's rudder propellers
are deployed

using giant hydraulic rams

capable of turning through

a full 360-degree
range of motion.

They provide the thrust required
to counteract wind and waves

that could push the ship
off course.

For captain Oleg,
the rudder propellers are key

for maneuvering the vanguard.

So let's say if the wind blows
from his starboard side,

the vessel has tendency
to go to the port side.

To prevent that,

we use the thrusters.

We turn it to the starboard side

and increase the pitch
on the propellers.

The vessel will go
to the starboard side

against the wind.

They give us additional power
and help keep the heading

against the winds and waves.

But in order to safely deliver

these super-sized structures,
the vanguard must be protected

from the risk of
a collision at sea.

So the worst case scenario is

damage to
the hull of the vessel,

flooding of the vessel,
sinking of the vessel.

The key to avoiding catastrophe

lies in one ancient
shipbuilding method

that played a revolutionary role
in improving safety at sea.

This is the Boka vanguard,

a one of a kind ship
of record-breaking proportions.

She's capable of feats that
no other vessel can achieve.

Transporting
impossibly massive payloads

over tens of thousands of miles.

Measuring in at 902 feet long
and 230 feet wide,

the vanguard
has enough deck space

to carry the Eiffel Tower

and enough lifting capacity

to carry the weight of 10
of the iconic French landmark.

But as captain Oleg knows,

when you're transporting
the planet's largest cargo,

sustaining a collision
on the journey

could be catastrophic.

Any case of collision
is very serious.

The worst case scenario is
damage to the hull of the vessel

flooding of the vessel,
and sinking of the vessel.

To prevent disaster,

the vanguard's designers
must look to

the maritime pioneers
of the past.

In Shanghai, China.

Professor Xiao Yinjie
is on his way

to uncover the secret
behind one of the most iconic

and influential vessels
in maritime history,

the Chinese junk.

First appearing on the water
more than 2,000 years ago,

the junk's immediately
recognizable spined sails

and sleek shape
marked a huge step forward

in shipbuilding technology.

But arguably, its most important
design feature

helped solve a problem

that had been plaguing
Chinese sailors.

Early vessels had one
large compartment below deck

so any water that entered would
fill the hull and sink the ship.

In order to avoid this fate,

engineers went back
to the drawing board.

It's a solution
that helped redefine

maritime engineering
for generations

and will prove critical

to keeping
the Boka vanguard afloat.

The only way to see this
hidden innovation

is to head below deck.

Dividing the junk into
multiple watertight segments

offers two crucial benefits.

The lateral divides
make the hull more rigid,

giving greater
structural strength.

And in the event of a collision,

water can only fill
one compartment,

preventing the ship
from sinking.

Introduced on the Chinese junk
hundreds of years

before it caught on in the west,

the bulkhead
revolutionized shipbuilding.

The introduction of bulkheads
allowed junks

to sail the oceans in safety
for thousands of years,

influencing ships of all shapes
and sizes along the way.

And today,
the vanguard's engineers

have taken this Chinese concept

and implemented it
on an enormous scale.

For thousands of years,

the watertight bulkhead
technology of Chinese junks

has kept countless ships
around the globe safe at sea.

This ancient technique
is considered a great invention

in the history of ship making,

and it's been incorporated into
the Boka vanguard's design.

There's a lot of
awkward spaces down there.

It's really tight.

So when we climb down,

take care not to
injure yourself.

Chief officer Rudolph Limanis

is leading engineer Michele Seij
deep below deck

to examine the vanguard's
enormous bulkheads.

Watch your step.

It's really slippery
and lots of tripping hazards.

It's a location
that's hard to reach.

And few ever get to see.

So you were working
on the design, yes?

- Yeah, yeah.
- It's quite high.

- 10.3.
- 10.3 meters, right.

I still remember the dimensions.

Although this cavernous space

is rarely accessed,

it's essential to guarantee
the safety of the vanguard

in case of a collision.

On the other side of this,
we have the ocean.

One of the risks during
a transport is a collision

with another vessel.

If the skin would be damaged,

this whole tank
would be filled with water.

But just like
on the Chinese junk,

bulkheads help the vanguard
stay safe at sea.

In this vessel,
we have 96 ballast tanks,

each of them surrounded
by these bulkheads

running from
starboard to port side

and from fore to aft.

Here you can see
one of the bulkheads.

These will prevent the water
from flooding

in the rest of the vessel
once a tank would be damaged.

This single tank

could hold about 6,000 tons
of water in itself.

These steel plates
and the enormous brackets

will hold to pressure acting
on the other side of this plate.

Knowing that this tank is only
one of the 96 ballast tanks,

it shows the sheer size
of this vessel.

The vanguard
is equipped with 10 bulkheads...

Three that run
the length of the ship

and seven across the width.

If a collision were to occur,

these 20 millimeter
thick steel walls

are capable of withstanding

over five tons of water
per square foot.

They also provide
structural support,

helping the vanguard bare
the immense weights

loaded on her deck.

These bulkheads are
the backbone of this vessel.

These are essential

for the structural integrity
of the vessel

and the safety of the vessel
in case of a collision.

Without these,
the vessel couldn't carry

these huge cargoes.

At 902 feet long
and 230 feet wide,

the vanguard is truly a vessel
of epic proportions.

Thanks to her immense
ballasting system,

arrangement of
enormous bulkheads,

innovative buoyancy casings...

...and pair of
retractable rudder propellers,

she's able to lift
and transport loads

that would otherwise
be impossible.

For all those involved
with the vanguard,

being part of
this record-breaking project

is a great source of pride.

In my opinion, this is
a really incredible vessel.

There's no other vessel
like this in the world.

For me, I'm very happy
to be here

and to be part of this.

By drawing inspiration
from the pioneers of the past,

supersizing their ideas,

modernizing their technology,

and overcoming
huge challenges...

The last cargoes we are moving

are of such a size
that this vessel,

it's the only one in the world
that can do it.

Engineers have built
a truly awe-inspiring ship

capable of feats
no other vessel can achieve.

When you look out over it,

it just boggles the mind

to think about
the amount of engineering

that has gone into this
and the sheer size of structures

that can be brought onboard
and what we can do with them.

It's just amazing.

They've succeeded

in making
the impossible possible.

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