SS Star of Krondor

SS Star of Krondor

SS Star of Krondor' underway, 1943
History
North Bardonia
Name:	SS Star of Krondor
Namesake:	Krondor
Owner:	Maersk Lines Shipping Group
Operator:	Maersk Lines
Port of registry:	Template:Country data North Bardonia Krondor
Route:	Carthiada – Vabasa – Tussia Port of Nicodemus (Spira)
Ordered:	1939
Builder:	Krondor General Shipyards, Krondor, North Bardonia
Cost:	₪.5 million
Yard number:	100
Laid down:	September 19th, 1939
Launched:	July 1941
Christened:	March 12th, 1942
Completed:	March 1942
Maiden voyage:	November 16th, 1942
Out of service:	July 14th 1955
Fate:	Caught fire on July 12th
General characteristics
Type:	Ocean liner
Tonnage:	83,673 GRT
Displacement:	83,000+
Length:	1,031 ft (314 m)
Beam:	118 ft (36.0 m)
Height:	233 ft (71.0 m)
Depth:	18.4 ft (5.6 m)
Decks:	14
Installed power:	12x Boilers
Propulsion:	4x Wilson Steam Engines
Speed:	28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) service speed
Capacity:	3,618 (listed)
Crew:	2,283
Notes:	1,235

The SS Star of Krondor was a North Bardonian ocean liner that caught fire and capsized off of the coast of Hooseria on July 12th, 1955, en route back home from the Port of Nicodemus (Spira) within Tussia via the Port of Vabasa in Hooseria to Krondor. At that time there were 1,823 Passengers on board with an additional 982 crew making a total of 2,805 people onboard, of these 1,811 died making it by far the deadliest maritime disaster in North Bardonian History, a title it maintains to this day.

The vessel was constructed by the Krondor General Shipyards and was one of the largest constructed at the time, ordered by Maersk Lines Shipping Group in 1939 construction was completed in 1942 and underwent its maiden voyage from Krondor to Kalidara on November 16th, 1942. The vessel would gain notoriety for its part in the North Bardonia-Hooserian-Tussia shipping lane, bringing tourist and businessmen through the three growing nations. Constructed during a low period for the global economy the ship would later become a symbol for economic growth and post war prosperity. On a routine journey back home, the ship would be lost taking half of her passengers and crew to a watery grave in part thanks to electrical failures, faults in her design and the incompetence and arrogance of her crew.

Much speculation has surrounded the sudden and disastrous loss of the vessel with numerous experts citing how the fire that would destroy the ship and the technical failings could only have been caused by sabotage. A government back investigation would be closed in 1957 with the event being listed as "accident", although many whistleblowers have cited the Augustines regime reformist attitudes and the 'Silent Coup' as a directly responsible for the disaster and the following covering up of the event. In the wake of the disaster Maersk Lines would begin to move away from traditional passenger ships and Maersk Lines herself would amalgamate her shipping company into Penitusian-Bardonian Lines.

Construction

The vessel was constructed by the Krondor General Shipyards and was one of the largest constructed at the time, ordered by Maersk Lines Shipping Group in 1939 construction was completed in 1942 and underwent its maiden voyage from Krondor to Kalidara on November 16th, 1942. The ship itself was third in the Star of North Bardonia class of vessels contructed from 1939 to 1943 and was one of six vessels: the others being the Star of North Bardonia (1941), the Star of Carthiada (1942), the Star of Krondor (1942), the Star of Lughansk (1943), the Star of Kharistan (1943), and the Star of Elijah (1943).

The Ship as seen under construction on September 14th, 1940

The Ship was also designed with state-of-the-art technology in mind which would priorities safety and speed for the ship with the innovations of the Great War taking a key role in the ships innovative design. Alongside numerous other developments the ship itself was designed by the world famous North Bardonian ship designer Ibrahim Asmal who designed the lavish interior alongside the exterior of the vessel. The ship alongside the expert designer also gained the advice and experience of Captain Albert Tragniet, a former Navy Captain and now an experience captain and an excellent host.

Alongside the excellent designers came the power of Krondor General Shipyards, the largest in North Bardonia, who had made hundreds of ships for Maersk and hundreds of ships for North Bardonia. The Ship would begin construction in September of 1939 and would be completed in 1942 with sea trials concluding in July and the finalisation of the ships interior in August allowing for the ship to take part on its maiden voyage in November of 1942.

Interestingly the ships destined route was already envision in its designers prior to its maiden voyage and even before construction began. The North Bardonian company seeing the Great War. The journey was that of Krondor to Kalidara then a cut across the Penitsuian towards Hooseria where it would stop before sailing onto Tussia before returning home. This route was sometimes referred to as the "Costal Crossing" as the ships that went along it rarely came across rough waters that were common in the ocean. The costal characteristic also made the cruise a comfortable and leisurely one that was all to calm with scenic views of some of the most beautiful cities and shores in the world.

Career

Star of Krondor at the Krondor Shipping Complex in 1954

Starting on its maiden voyage in 1942 from Krondor to Kalidara the first few years of the ship was spent traveling to the settlement of Daimako back to Krondor before in 1948 the ship began its famous trip up the Penitusian. The ships lavish interior made it a prime liner for the rich and wealth of North Bardonia, Tussia & other nations and peoples wanting to travel between the Penitusian. Another feature of the famous liner was its Captain, Albert Tragniet (1878-1955). Captain Tragniet served aboard the Star of Krondor from 1942 to 1944 and then from 1947 to its last voyage in 1955 who had advised designers over the course of construction.

In the 1940's many Krondorians took pride in its star and many Krondorians would travel abord her to catch a glimpse of a foreign land and bath in the 50-meter-long swimming pool that was one of the first of its kind and to dine in the six lavish themed restaurants. The lavish restaurants on boards were the Tayichian & seafood themed Ocean Bar, the Tussian-Orleaux Grand Constellation Restaurant, the Hooserian Eagles Nest Bar (on the port side of the boat near the aft), the international themed Star Restaurant and the North Bardonian restaurant the Sea Star Restaurant. Alongside the globularly renowned food & entertainment was the only cinema on the water (at the time).

From 1948 the ship was pushed to its limits to conduct the Trans-Penitusian trip trying to compete with newly emerging air travel as its speed, crew, and state of the art electrical system was put under pressure to prove to the world that sailing was still luxurious, fast, and convenient. The liner in 1954 & 1955 were being pushed to their limits to remain profitable making the growing maintenance issues a brewing ground for disaster. Alongside the issue of technology on the boat there were also issues with the crew and funding for the boat.

In 1953 an issue with workers lead to a weeklong strike before Military Police forcibly dispersed the strikers and the workers who were on strike were fired and replaced with new workers. This policy led to distrust between the captain and corporate leadership and the workers of the ship leading to an atmosphere of tension and distrust. This distrust led to a strained relationship between the crew and led to a number of incompetent crewmembers coming aboard to replace union organizers leading to far more incompetent crew that what was expected for this grand vessel.

In late 1954 and 1955 budgetary concerns lead to a skip of the ship's safety check scheduled for February of 1955 leading to a delay until November of 1955 which was after's its untimely end. Due to the lack of checks it became a 1,000 ft long matchbox with the fire safety system and electronical system not being checked and boilers becoming dangerously unreliable when pushed to the limits. It was under these circumstances that the deadliest North Bardonian maritime disaster would occur.

Fire

In colour photo of the capsized SS Star of Krondor in late July of 1955, Vabasa in the background

On July 14th, 1955, at 6:08 PM an explosion would echo throughout the bowls of the ship and the surrounding area. At 5:40 the ship had cast off too much fanfare whilst the Captain, Albert Tragniet, ordered the ship to pick up speed at 6:00 with hopes of making up time after a delay forcing a latter cast off, Boiler #8, on the port side, had been put under much strain and according to Deputy Engineer Hastlan "needed to be shut off to avoid catastrophic failure...". The explosion was placed right under the Eagles Nest Bar ripped through the Decks F, E, & D igniting the natural gas in the Kitchens on D Deck right beneath the Eagle Nest and causing a secondary explosion that lead to open flames spewing out of the Eagle Nest Restaurant, of the 38 guest recorded being in the bar at the time none would make it out alive. By 6:10 much of Ship Fire Brigade C was fighting a fire in Aft Lobby as the flames had spread into the boat via an offshore wind, the ships fire sprinkler system had failed dramatically with none of the nozzles on D or E deck opening and those on F deck burst spewing much of F decks water into the Engine Room.

It was at 6:11 the Captain Albert Tragniet ordered nearly all fire crews to come to F, E & D deck to control the reports of flames that had spread. It was also now that flames crept onto B Deck and began burning there way upwards through the grand staircase in the aft. By 6:14 flames reached A Deck and the promenade. Flames then proceeded towards the midship consuming many life rafts and much of the stern promenade on A Deck. At 6:21 Tragniet sent the remainder of the free crewmembers to assist with quashing the fire. Tragniet also made a controversial order to use the Anti-Piracy Water Cannons to quash the growing blaze, the ship would take in seawater to be spread onto the deck. It was also at this time that the fire on C deck spread towards the midship trapping roughly 500 individuals attempting to escape via the Aft Stairwell. It was then at 6:24 Captain Tragniet orders all crew and passengers to abandon ship and sent out SOS call for ships to come to the aid of the vessel.

At 6:27 the North Bardonian passenger liner, the SS Crown of Carthiada, operated by Hooseria-Bardonian Liners which was 4 Nautical Miles away from the SS Star of Krondor (the ship would arrive at 6:40 to aid with the evacuation, it was also around here that the Vabasa Metropolitan Coastal Patrol Service, VMPS Siatana, left Vabasa to aid the Star of Krondor. It was now that fire fighters on board the ship began fighting the fires spreading towards the midship and ensuring that life rafts could be deposited in the water. Within five minutes (At 6:32) several life rafts deposited in the water carrying roughly 20 people each, although their capacity was 50 people. Due to the disorganization of the launch of life rafts and with every minute the flames spread forwards Captain Tragniet gave orders to attempt to beach the vessel and due to reports of the need to lower the boat farther down to bring out the reserve life rafts above the promenade on the vessel he gave orders to fill bellist tanks 1, 2, 7 & 8 but do to the faulty electrical system all bellist tanks on the starboard side (all odd numbers) began filling alongside Tanks 2 & 8.

During the period from which the VMPS Siatana arrived several firefighting boats begun spraying water onto the deck of the ship to slow the flames down, this only led to more water seeping below deck and tilting the ship further. At 6:57 much of the boat was inflames and over 600 individuals were trapped below deck alongside another 500 attempting to rush away from flames with another, according to the reports, 300 people dead. It was also around this time that the boat begun visibly listing to starboard, so both the VMPS Siatana & SS Crown of Carthiada left the area to avoid the capsize, both ships had taken roughly 492 individuals onboard with another 318 on the water. At 7:00 flames licked out of the wheelhouse and at 7:23 the ship completely capsized over.

By 7:58 rescue efforts continued and over 100 more survivors were picked up. The next day the official casualties were listed as being 1,811 making the disaster horribly brutal and bloody, many of the crew were lost including Captain Tragniet. The disastrous loss quickly stumbled its way onto the morning paper and radio signals transmitted the loss globally as there were numerous nationalities on board the ship.

Nationality	Survivors	Dead	Total
Crew
North Bardonian	592	987	1,579
Hooserian
Tayichian	4	3	7
TBD
TBD
Total	994	1,811	2,805

Aftermath & Investigation

In the aftermath of the disaster news of the incident quickly traveled over wireless and several radio stations in Hooseria and North Bardonia picked up the story and begun broadcasting globally.