I never heard of parbuckling. Now I know WAY too much.
I've seen pictures of the USS Oklahoma. That was a tough operation. No computers, no video, all manual operation. The ship needed to bury the keel to avoid sliding and the bottom profile allowed that. Basic lever operation. Big, big lever operation.
The Costa Concordia is the opposite. They are pulling it away from shore to get off the rocks. The ship wasn't designed to have all of the weight pushing on one side and be beat by the waves for over a year. I'm sure that the huge gash from the collision and the last year being beat up will leave that side a real mess. The ship will be far more underwater when it is upright. The ship is going to roll down hill against the cables to a platform that will hold the ship.
They have it un-impaled from the shore and are working towards getting it upright. 12 million pounds of force to get it moving. As it becomes more upright the big tanks will be filled with water to finish pulling it upright. Then they can do what ever underwater repairs are necessary to refloat it. After that the same tanks will be attached to that side so that they can pump out the water and refloat it.
Trapped inside the upturned hull are more than 24,000 lbs of fish, nearly 5,500 lbs of cheese, 1,500 gallons of ice cream in tubs, 24,000 lbs of pasta, 2,000 lbs of onions, more than 2,000 pots of jam and nearly 17,000 tea bags. Rotting beneath the waterline are more than 17,000 lbs of raw beef, nearly 11,000 eggs, 2,346 hot dog buns, 815 lbs of rabbit meat and more than 1,000 gallons of milk.
Oh, and happy day, the contents of your stateroom will be returned to you! That's right, the soggy, stinking mess belongs to you, doesn't it?
