Cunard’s Queen Victoria Gets SAM Electronics

Cunard’s new Fincantieri-built 90,000gt cruiseliner, Queen Victoria, due to be named in Southampton by the Duchess of Cornwall accompanied by the Prince of Wales in December, has been fitted with a SAM Electronics’ NACOS 65-5 integrated navigation command system featuring a radar-controlled trackpilot, Ecdis and other state-of-the-art sensors.

Designed to DNV NAUT AW and LR IBS standards and also featuring particularly high levels of system redundancy, the complete assembly functionally integrates radar, ECDIS and autopilot operations. In a track mode, planned routes and turn radii can be steered with an accuracy of better than half the beam of own ship using precise position and speed measurement sensors. An earlier NACOS model has been in service aboard Cunard’s QE2 for a number of years. The Queen Victoria NACOS assembly is complemented by a Damatic DNA Integrated Automation System (IAS) produced by Valmarine of Norway in collaboration with APSS of Italy, both associate members of SAM Electronics Group. Specifically developed for cruise vessels and comprising more than 5,000 individual measuring points, similar modular Damatic IAS systems have also been commissioned for six other liners presently under construction by Fincantieri on behalf of Carnival Group companies.