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Baltimore Bridge Disaster

Just read this on the BBC News.
It suffered a "power issue" and issued a distress call moments before the crash, officials say, but was travelling too quickly to change course
 
Enfield2band said:
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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The normal routine to crash stop one of these large vessels is put the engines full astern and weave the ship side to side and stopping in a couple of miles. In the current situation, although the ship would have been going slow, assuming loss of power it wouldn't have the option. Chesapeake Bay is really a huge estuary with the Potomac, York, James, Clarke and half a dozen other rivers all draining into it so quite possibly a 3-4 knot downstream flow - So - using your ballistic app - 100,000 tonnes at 5 knots = a lot of energy.
I spent a fair bit of time on VLCC tankers in the 200,000T class.
 
Chrisj said:
Just read this on the BBC News.
It suffered a "power issue" and issued a distress call moments before the crash, officials say, but was travelling too quickly to change course
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If you have a full power outage you will have lost steerage too.

The thing that struck me was the speed in which the whole bridge collapsed - just seconds. And looking at the wreckage it really does look a flimsy bridge - no doubt a masterly exercise in efficient design and engineering but almost like a framework of a Sopwith Camel before the fabric was added.
I wonder if they will rebuild it the same?
I can see that they will soon legislate that large ships will need tugboats in attendance until clear of such obstacles.
 
I reckon a power failure caused a loss of steerage. The lights went off just before and an indicated track of the ship had it steer to starboard as well. Total power failures are not as rare as you would think on ships.
 
1066 said:
The thing that struck me was the speed in which the whole bridge collapsed - just seconds. And looking at the wreckage it really does look a flimsy bridge
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Apparently the bridge had been there for fifty years and coped with its day to day working loads.

It wasn't flimsy, but, it wasn't designed for the imposed loading of the ship hitting it and the effects of gravity do happen quickly once a structure becomes compromised.
 
Baltimore bridge.JPG


The person responsible for the destruction of the Baltimore bridge has been found. It turned out to be the captain of the container ship that rammed the bridge.
His name is Sergei and he is Ukrainian (allegedly).
His id. 33401 was swiftly removed from the register......Mmmm!
The DALI Master....

Dali Master.JPG


Shadenfreude0.jpg


muttley.gif
 
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Normally a critical pier in a navigable waterway is protected, at least by filling and leaving in place the cofferdam used in construction.
With the increased size of container ships it becomes necessary to dredge, to ensure sufficient depth in the main channel.
Dredging, encourages scour around piers, which may account for lack of protection.
This bears the hall mark of a situation where the danger is obvious but the cost of prevention clouds judgement.
 
1066 said:
If you have a full power outage you will have lost steerage too.

The thing that struck me was the speed in which the whole bridge collapsed - just seconds. And looking at the wreckage it really does look a flimsy bridge - no doubt a masterly exercise in efficient design and engineering but almost like a framework of a Sopwith Camel before the fabric was added.
I wonder if they will rebuild it the same?
I can see that they will soon legislate that large ships will need tugboats in attendance until clear of such obstacles.
Click to expand...
That bridge did look very flimsy compared to the Forth rail bridge but that was built by Victorians not modern "engineers".
The Forth road bridges look like they would collapse if a pier was hit by a ship!
 
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