The Story

On 26 September 1974, the American flag tanker TRANSHURON drifted aground on Kiltan Island in the Indian Ocean. This vessel, a T-2 tanker with a 6000 SHP turbo-electric-drive propulsion plant, had suffered a fire in the propulsion control cubicle 2 days earlier. When finally extinguished by ship's force, the electrical propulsion switchboard was beyond repair.

The cause of this casualty was the failure of a 3/8-inch diameter, black iron pipe nipple which was threaded into the head of a heat exchanger to accommodate a pressure gauge. This pipe nipple, placed in salt water service, corroded and broke away from the heat exchanger head, allowing salt water, under pressure from a circulating pump, to spray upward and come in contact with high voltage electrical components. Thus, the scene was set for the electrical fire which followed.

The engineers aboard the TRANSHURON fought bravely in the early hours of the morning and managed to extinguish the fire. After drifting ashore two days later, the TRANSHURON became a total loss, along with much of her cargo. Her crew was able to get away safely in lifeboats and they suffered no injuries.

Lesson Learned

Had this pipe nipple been of a nonferrous material, and similar to the material in the head of the exchanger to which it was connected, this casualty would not have occurred. Instead, this failure resulted in the total loss of a ship.