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A. New Evidence |
| 2. The Rabe-Bemis Diving Expedition in August 2000 |
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| 2.3.5 The port front bulkhead - Page 7 |
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Pointer 5
The openings for the lug and the hook of the locking devices of the visor.
The image below – produced by the divers in August 2000 – shows for the first time very clearly that the bulkhead plating between the opening for the lug (above) and the hook (below) was cut through – most probably by the hook – when the visor was pushed ca. 0.4 m upwards which will be explained in Chapter 16.
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Arrow 1 points to this cut. Above this cut the bulkhead longitudinally welded to the visor is visible and further above – see arrow 2 – the pushed up steel.
The dotted vertical line marks the edge between the front bulkhead and the recess – see arrow 3, while arrow 4 points to the welding seam of a temporary mounting opening during newbuilding through which the hydraulically operated locking bolt with actuator was moved into the narrow space behind the bulkhead.
This means that the bolt – still engaged through the mating lug – see arrow 5 – was initially positioned in approximately the centre of the mounting opening – see arrow 6. When comparing this level with the level of the hole through the lug as visible on the image, it becomes obvious that this lug – with or without bolt - had been pushed upwards with considerable force whereby the steel of the bulkhead was punched through and pushed together.
It is furthermore obvious that the visor did not move upwards in a rotating movement as if opened by the actuators, but moved upwards along the front bulkhead which implies that the visor hinges as well as the welds between the lug and visor broke at the same moment, because if the visor hinges and these welds would have failed before the visor would not have been that close to the front bulkhead anymore and the lug would not have been pushed up against and through the steel – see arrow 2. This was only possible as long as lug and visor were connected by the welding seam. |
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