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Baltimore Bridge Disaster

mitch21

mitch21

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Cannot believe what I have woken up to!!!
Those poor souls on that bridge ln the US ,
How on earth has this happened????
Any Ex Royal Navy or Merchant Navy guys out there who may have some insight into this disaster, how does a 300m long ship
Crash into a bridge stantion with all modern
Navigation systems on board,and I am sure
ALL my fellow AGF members will spare a thought for the poor souls on the bridge at the time mitch21
 
The video showing that collapse were quite chilling. 300 meter cargo ship into 50-year-old bridge there is only going to be one outcome. Condolences to those in the water and their families. The litigation starts now and the sum involved will be astronomical☹️☹️
 
Unbelievable how quick it collapsed, with today's technology you'd think accidents like that would ever happen. I doubt that Captain will ever be in charge of a ship ever again.
 
When an immovable object is acted upon by an irresistible force. The only consolation, as @Attempting accuracy states, is that it happened in the relative quiet of the night rather than the middle of the day. Tragic for those on the bridge and their families.
 
Senna916 said:
Unbelievable how quick it collapsed, with today's technology you'd think accidents like that would ever happen. I doubt that Captain will ever be in charge of a ship ever again.
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If I read it correctly there were two port pilots on board who would have had command until they were in clear water. From the BBC website:

"The press officer handling communications for Synergy Marine Group, which operated the vessel that crashed into the bridge, tells the BBC it was an all-Indian crew with 22 people on board.

Pat Adamson says there was a scratch on the head of one crew member but no injuries.

Two members of the company’s US team are heading to Baltimore to investigate - from Miami and Oklahoma.

Adamson said it was unusual to have an incident like this with two pilots on board and it could have been caused by a myriad of reasons."

"What caused this incident is still unclear, but BBC Verify has been looking at video of the collision and the Dali's travel history on ship tracking platform MarineTraffic.

The container ship set off from Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal at around 00:24 local time (04:24 GMT) on 26 March.

Its speed steadily increased and it maintained a straight route south east along the Patapsco River.

Then at 01:25 MarineTraffic data shows that the ship suddenly diverted from its straight course and began to slow down.

Around this time, video shows that all lights on the exterior of the ship suddenly turned off and smoke began emanating from the ship's funnel.

The Dali then hit a portion of the bridge at 01:28, causing it to collapse."

No doubt we shall soon learn if this was caused by human failure or a technical problem.
 
Just wow, thoughts are with families of those caught up in it. ☹️
Certainly makes you wander how a collision like that can happen with two pilots on board as well.
 
I looked on streetview at the bridge, it is not a nice thought, to imagine all that tarmac steel and concrete, dropping 140ft to the water and on.
It all looks so flimsy once the normal stress directions are removed, like paper straws.
 
The captain must have been asleep! How on earth could he miss the MASSIVE opening under the bridge,It was like a scene from a film
 
I don't think a ship that large stops or turns very quickly, so may have been hard to avoid hitting the bridge once it was on its course and to late to change, not sure tho. As previous post mentions, it may have lost power and could do nothing to avoid the bridge
 
As an old seaman, back in the '60-70's, the usual routine in situations like this, there would be a pilot (or two) on the bridge, almost certainly the captain and the officer of the watch two watchmen, AB type seaman, one would be on the wheel as helmsman, the other on the bridge-wing on lookout.
Technically the captain is in overall charge but would be taking "advice" from the pilot - In reality, the pilot says "Steer 265" and the helmsman repeats the order, maybe "Starboard 10" and again repeated by the helmsman. If there's two pilots on board, one is usually the close or docking pilot and the other would be the river pilot who would take over when clear of dock.

The Chesapeake bay is a huge expanse of water and very busy with many ports, around 70 miles long from Newport News to Baltimore.
My guess is this is a mechanical problem with a total loss of power - with no power you have no steerage. With the ship traveling at, maybe 7-10 knots down stream, it just keeps going - there is no emergency backup or manual steering system or suddenly dropping the anchor. She will probably have cast off her tug boats soon after leaving the dock.
 
Chandelierman said:
How on earth could he miss the MASSIVE opening under the bridge,It was like a scene from a film
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Under normal circumstances the ship should have gone where intended, however, if something occurred such as a loss of power, once it is moving in a certain direction it will just keep going.

As @1066 rightly states there is no back up manual steering system or emergency brakes.

Anyway speculation doesn't help, let's wait and read what the follow up investigation reveals.
 
Greybeard said:
According to the lunchtime news its not the first time that ship had had a substantial collision.
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For some reason some ships do have unlucky lives. They hit other ships or harbour walls. It is not unknown for a ship to sink and be recovered then suffer another accident a few years later and sink again.
 
i feel for the poor ones that were in there cars on the bridge --fingers crossed for them --they say that the ship lost all power and said that it could crash!! Imagine how much weight is behind that fully loaded!!!! what i do no for sure that's going take some clean up
 
Cozzamec said:
I don't think a ship that large stops or turns very quickly, so may have been hard to avoid hitting the bridge once it was on its course and to late to change, not sure tho. As previous post mentions, it may have lost power and could do nothing to avoid the bridge
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I believe that oil tankers can take 8 miles to come to a standstill so a ship f similar weight/volume like that one probably has a similar stopping distance.
The last time I read anything on it sounds like a technical failure rather than human error.
Either way it is tragic for the families that have lost loved ones.
 
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