I haven't been following this story of the broken cruise ship stuck in the Gulf of Mexico very closely, but now that they have finally pulled into Mobile, I did a read a summary, and HOLY CRAP, it makes my underway's in the Navy look like a pleasure cruise, which is kind of backwards.
As near as I can tell, these folks have been bobbing around in the Gulf for almost 4 days with no power thanks to an engine room fire. No power means no ventilation, no bilge pumps, and no septic system. People have been sending out messages about the lowest decks of rooms starting to flood, and having to poop in bags.
I had to hold it once or twice because we running drills, and I'll admit there was a time or two I could not get relieved from watch, and so I had to pee in an empty soda bottle...but I never actually had to poop in a bag in the Navy.
One thing about a Warship, even something potentially as fragile as a submarine...it's built with redundancy and survivability in mind. I'm just fascinated that an 'engine room fire' can knock out power to the whole ship. I can't think of ANY casualty that we could have suffered on the submarine that would have left us bobbing in that condition, without actually sinking the ship.
At least those folks on their honeymoons can hand their hat on the fact that things can only go up from here in their marriage.
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