The only thing that will stop ship of that size is beach.
Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore) hit by Cargo Ship and Collapsed
- Thread starter ctechbob
- Start date
Yes, that is a toll bridge.
That is also the primary HazMat/Overside load route for trucks that can't go through the tunnels.
Route 301 through Annapolis is going to get busier as north south I-95 traffic seeks to bypass Baltimore
What am I missing here? The ship went under the bridge and turned around and hit the bridge?
Am reading that Baltimore is a major port for new cars to arrive in!
I have some experience working on ships from years ago And maybe I can explain a few things on the workings on board. First the electrical system onboard a ship is nothing like a car or truck. They have a large engine that only supply's the power to the prop to move the ship. They make from 30,000-60,000 housepower @ 900-120 rpm's. The individual cylinders can be "turned off" if needed. Onboard there is usually 2 generator rooms that each have giant diesel generator in it. One is for main usage, and the other is a backup. They operate independently from the main engine. These supply power for all the lighting, heating and air conditioning, pumps, refrigeration and navigation equipment. What's shown at the time of the crash on tv, the lights were flickering, indicating they were having a problem. It could have been several reasons for that. But the main thing to remember is if the ship was on the correct course, it would have passed under the bridge without hitting the support. That kinda tells me they were not on course. I'm not sure of the laws governing there, whether they needed to have a Pilot onboard while heading outbound. A Pilot is a local Captain familiar with the waters where the ship is going, and directs the ships pilot where to steer. Even if they did notice they were not on course, it takes a couple miles to stop or alter the course of the ship. There are no quick maneuvers with ships. It was amazing how fast the Bridge collapsed after being struck, even tho the ship wasn't moving fast. Like everything else in the world today, they have been changing over to electrical equipment to operate everything . No more large ship's wheels, just a joystick like from a video game. If you loose power, you can loose the ship.,,,
Hopefully this incident is of a technical nature and not negligence from the crew members.
Your post reminds me of an episode of Futurama where they crash a tanker with 6000 hulls.
You can never anticipate the future, no matter how hard you try.
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Their reporting 2 pilots were on board which it’s common to have a pilot on in the harbor - not sure why they had Two? In fact the pilot drives the ship in harbor - not the captain. It is very strange they were this far off course to begin with.
Reports are that the ship declared mayday and vehicles were prevented from entering the brige.
Key Bridge collapses into Patapsco River in Baltimore after vessel hits support column; state of emergency declared
Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a support column was struck by a container ship, sending at least seven cars into the Patapsco River, launching a se…
www.baltimoresun.com
Before the collision, the ship’s crew notified authorities that the vessel had lost power. That “mayday” allowed Maryland Transportation Authority Police on the highway above to prevent many cars from driving onto the bridge just before the catastrophe.
Someone said the containers were too high thus striking the bridge. If so my understanding is that they are supposed to shear not take out whatever. Second I also thought from an engineering standpoint that similar to a submarine where you can isolate flooding the bridge was supposed to break in an area and not completely collapse.
Given the lights flashing out twice and the heavy smoke coming from the ship IMO it's very likely there was an equipment malfunction on the ship. Plus the crew called out a mayday, which indicates something was going very wrong.
That is not the issue here.
Watch the video.
Direct hit to one of the main supports in the water.
When entering into a critical navigation situation, would it be a standard practice to keep both generators running?
So if automated, they should have every license plate of every vehicle and know exactly to whom the vehicles belonged. So it would be the families who would help with who might have been in the cars. Then there are the construction workers...pothole crews.
It should not be hard for investigators to figure out how many and who are missing. That is a good thing. Sad still, but good.
Prayers are up for all effected by this.k
ls1mike
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They technically don't drive the ship, the Commanding officer or Master is overall responsible. They are there to provide navigation data based on that particular area. Like where the shallows are, mark the turn for this vessel at this landmark, this is incorrect on the chart. They may recommend a course, speed, or movement of the ship but the commanding officer or whoever has control gives the orders.
They have to understand handling characteristics of all types of vessels and they have to know the area and currents very well.
Most ships will have have one on board where required, they board Naval vessels as well to include submarines.
They may have had two because one is training or it is just a challenging navigation channel and they need an extra set of eyes.
Maritime law says "While on board the pilot will remain under the masters authority (commanding officer)"
The CO has full responsibility and they can relieve the pilot if he feels he is putting the vessel in harms way.
When I went through training ,as I recall, the only place where the pilot has full responsibility is the Panama Canal.
Edit: I thought about it some more. I can't tell you how glad I am to not have to navigate any vessel via the radar and/or GPS ever again. That crap gave me grey hair and heartburn.
The latest info I'm seeing is saying that after the mayday, they cleared the bridge. The only people on the bridge were MDTA construction crews. Not sure why they stayed on the bridge, but those are the casualties.
While I'm glad most of the cars got off it but it's sad that the workers remained. Perhaps not ample time to get off the bridge?