MS Monarch of the Seas

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Career
Monarch of the Seas
MS Monarch of the Seas rides at anchor off Avalon, Catalina Island, California.
Flag	Norway
Port of Registry:	Oslo
Maiden Voyage:	November 17, 1991
Status:	in service
General Characteristics^[1]
Builder:	Chantiers de l’Atlantique; St. Nazaire, France
Gross Tonnage:	73,937 gross tons
Displacement:	47,508 tonnes
Length:	268.33 m (880 ft, 4 in)
Beam:	32.20 m (105 ft, 8 in) waterline
Draft:	7.55 m (24 ft 9 in)
Power:	21,840 kW
Propulsion:	Two controllable pitch propellers rear; two thrusters each side forward
Speed:	22 knots (25.3 m/h)
Complement:	2,852 passengers

MS Monarch of the Seas ( Monarch)is the second of the three large cruise ship of the Sovereign class owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International. The ship was built in 1991 at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards in Saint-Nazaire, France.

At 73,941 gross tons, Monarch was one of the largest cruise ships in the world at time of her completion. She can carry up to 2,744 Passengers. Her godmother is Lauren Bacall.

Monarch has an outdoor basketball court, two shuffleboard courts, and a signature rock climbing wall, which is marketed as an "exclusive" entity of Royal Caribbean International. The ship also has a theater that hosts numerous shows. It also has two full-sized salt-water pools on deck 10.

[edit] December 15, 1998

After evacuating a sick passenger at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, the Netherland Antilles on December 15, 1998, Monarch of the Seas grazed a reef while departing. The ship started taking water and began to sink by the head. Three of her watertight compartments were completely flooded and several others partially flooded. She was intentionally grounded on a sandbar to prevent further sinking. All passengers were evacuated and no lives were lost. A small fuel spill resulted as well as severe damage to the ship. A joint investigation by the Norwegian Maritime Investigator and the United States Coast Guard found that the accident was due to “…a myriad of human performance deficiencies.”^[2]

The ship was drydocked for repairs for three months at Atlantic Marine’s Mobile, Alabama facilities. One-hundred fourteen of the ship’s compartments had to be cleaned. The work also included the replacement of machinery, 460 tons of shell plating, and 18 miles of electrical wiring.