42 years ago today, a severe storm hit the “Ocean Ranger” in the Atlantic. The world’s largest oil rig at the time was considered unsinkable. But a severe hurricane and meter-high waves swallowed her – and with her all 84 crew members.
When a storm hits the “Ocean Ranger” on the evening of February 14, 1982, the crew members don’t immediately panic. After all, they have often experienced severe storms at their place of work in the northwest Atlantic on the largest oil rig off the coast of Newfoundland. Just a year earlier, the 25,000-ton platform, built in 1976, was brought to the Newfoundland Bank, an area known for high seas. The “Ocean Ranger” is used when it is too dangerous for smaller drilling rigs. Due to its size, it is considered unsinkable.
The 121.5 meter long and 90.7 meter wide rig, which is as high as a 35-story building, was designed as a semi-submersible vehicle. The drilling platform is placed on eight columns attached to two parallel pontoons. These rest 24 meters below the water surface. Tanks in the pontoons ensure a consistent water level and an appropriate depth. Once at a drilling site, twelve anchors are set and the ballast tanks in the pontoons are filled with seawater until the appropriate drilling depth is reached. The platform’s buoyancy is controlled via a series of pneumatically operated valves, operated by a crew member in the ballast control room via an electrical control panel.
Severe storm hits the “Ocean Ranger”
Unlike other oil platforms, the ballast control room on the “Ocean Ranger” is located inside a column on the starboard side of the platform and is approximately eight meters above the water. In order to observe the current sea state, the worker on duty has to look through the four portholes. The small round windows have a steel cover that can be attached from the inside so that the windows are not damaged in a storm.
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Despite the storm, drilling on the “Ocean Ranger” continues. But as the evening progresses, the storm becomes more and more severe. Normally, in heavy seas, drilling is suspended so that the drilling rig can be raised above the high waves. But when the tool pusher who oversees all work on an oil drilling rig decides to raise the rig, it is already far too late.
The storm sometimes blows over the drilling rig at speeds of 150 kilometers per hour. Waves almost 30 meters high lash against the steel colossus. At around 7:45 p.m. a large wave hits the “Ocean Ranger” and breaks two windows in the ballast control room. The incoming salt water soaks the electrical panel, which now begins to flash. Then water suddenly penetrates the front ballast tanks and puts the rig in a dangerous tilt.
It remains unclear whether an operating error or a short circuit is responsible for the valves opening. The fact is: Hardly any of the men on board are adequately trained to deal with technical problems. And neither the rig captain nor the ballast control operator understands the pumping system well enough to use the only technique that can effectively pump the water out of the ballast tanks.
Crew of the “Ocean Ranger” escapes into the lifeboats
It is around one o’clock and is now February 15th when the workers realize what they thought was impossible: the “Ocean Ranger” is sinking. The crew makes an emergency call. But far too late. The rescue helicopters alone need two hours’ lead time for such a case. However, there is no other option than to evacuate the facility as quickly as possible – under the worst possible conditions. It’s not only stormy, but also freezing cold. And none of the men have adequate protective clothing, let alone emergency equipment to protect them from hypothermia.
As the oil rig continues to tip over, the men run through the drifting snow to the lifeboats. These have to be lowered 24 meters into the raging sea on ropes. In the howling wind, the boats rock violently back and forth, hitting the legs of the platform. When one of them quickly becomes full of ice-cold salt water due to a leak, the panicked occupants jump onto the edge of the lifeboat and cling to the canopy, causing it to tip over and the men to fall into the icy sea.
Of the four lifeboats on board the “Ocean Ranger”, only three were later recovered. Two of them are damaged during exposure. A third is apparently not used at all; it can be found stowed on deck later. In their panic, some crew members probably jumped directly into the ice-cold Atlantic.
Archive photo of the “Ocean Ranger” oil platform in the Atlantic
© Imago Images
Several boats and helicopters immediately set out to help the crew members, but the heavy storm made it difficult for them to approach the scene of the accident. The first ship in the area is the supply ship Seaforth Highlander. It comes within a few meters of the men and throws nets over the side of the ship to them. But the workers are too exhausted and hypothermic to take them. They are quickly overwhelmed by the ice-cold water masses and lose consciousness. The oil platform is eventually completely swallowed by the raging Atlantic. At around 3:30 a.m. she sinks to the bottom of the sea.
Three hours after the men got into the lifeboats, the helicopters also reached the last known position of the “Ocean Ranger”. At 4:56 a.m. they radioed saying they couldn’t find the rig, but could see bodies and strobe lights on the life jackets.
None of the 84 crew members survived the accident. Only 22 bodies can be recovered, some of them still hanging in the straps of a capsized lifeboat. The autopsy shows that none of them drowned, but that all died of hypothermia.
After the accident, the wreck lies only around 32 meters below the sea surface and poses a danger to large ships. Three divers die while trying to refloat the sunken platform. On August 22nd, the rig was finally towed upside down into deeper water, where it still lies. To this day, commemorative events take place in Newfoundland every year on February 15th.
Sources: NASA, History Channel, CBC/Radio Canada, US Coast Guard