The Vasa reminds us that nothing changes with a muddled design process.
Much as we read about Public Sector IT contracts which have been a disaster when specifications are continually changed, has design ever been any different? It is just so risky to change your mind once the show is on the road.
I can’t tell you whether Sarum Hydraulics’s local landmark, Stonehenge suffered from “mission creep” during design and construction but I can say that I was amazed to see the 1628 warship Vasa sitting in its museum in Stockholm last week and with a familiar sad story.
The ship was a cutting edge design and King Gustav’s pride and joy. Dutch shipbuilders ran the local ship yard and A German wood carver had been commissioned to decorate the vessel with carvings of monsters and warriors. When you see the vessel, they are all still there along with 95%of the timber structure. It is just stunning. A real wonder of the world.
When you see it, it appears strange that the transom castle towers up four storeys with windows and these wonderful carvings, yet there does not seem to be very much below the water line. The story is that King Gustav changed his mind during construction and insisted on an extra gun deck with all its associated extra guns and raising of the centre of mass. He wanted to be a pioneer, which normally rings warning bells for any designer.
Just like our own Mary Rose, the vessel capsized and sank just a few hundred metres from the shore in full view of the King. It lay in mud and was recovered in the early 1960’s.
The Audio Visual presentation in this lovely museum tells the story of the subsequent Court of Enquiry. There were whistleblowers who noticed that if the crew ran backwards and forwards across the deck, the vessel healed alarmingly. When sails started to be hoisted, she was incredibly tender. Somebody else had complained that there seemed very little room for ballast but they had filled up the available space and done their bit. If these complaints were raised at the testing and validation stage, they were ignored or ” spun”.
And the verdict of the enquiry? “Nobody was to blame.” I am sure that the wise men deliberated and that “lessons were learnt”. It all sounds very familiar all these centuries later.
Clearly, changing the design dramatically on the hoof did not work out too well for the Swedes in 1628. Three hundred years later it still rarely works out well, as designers know.
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