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Post by jazzguy on Mar 26, 2024 21:11:11 GMT -5
Just an awful tragedy early this morning when a freighter crashed into a trestle of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
8 workers were filling potholes, 2 have been rescued the other 6 are presumed dead.
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Post by rickyguitar on Mar 26, 2024 22:10:53 GMT -5
This same ship hit another bridge previously?
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Post by reverendrob on Mar 27, 2024 11:03:21 GMT -5
This same ship hit another bridge previously? Bumpercars is fun on water. |
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 27, 2024 11:19:22 GMT -5
That's a weird sequence of events. The power off/back on, puff of smoke, turn, crash. Not suggesting anything worthy of the conspiracy theory thread, just wondering what led to it all. Also wonder if anyone at the helm sustained injuries from the collapse.
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Post by LTB on Mar 27, 2024 11:26:20 GMT -5
Yeah, really weird how it appeared to turn right into the support pillar structure. Very strange!
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leftrightout
Wholenote
Sometimes I pretend to be normal and then it becomes boring..............
Posts: 206
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Post by leftrightout on Mar 28, 2024 3:08:55 GMT -5
The sharp turn looks like it was swinging on an anchor with the tide/current.
Work a lot with boats and if there is an issue with power first response is to drop anchor if you can smoke looks like they were trying to fire up the generators .
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 28, 2024 11:37:42 GMT -5
From what I've read, it was low tide and the ship did not have a lot of room with respect to draft when in the channel and that the channel depth changes sharply as you get to the edges. If so, drifting off a bit would make the bow hit bottom and pull it farther off course.
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Post by K4 on Mar 28, 2024 13:06:59 GMT -5
The sharp turn looks like it was swinging on an anchor with the tide/current. Work a lot with boats and if there is an issue with power first response is to drop anchor if you can smoke looks like they were trying to fire up the generators . Reports I see say they did drop anchor. Reports I see say they did drop anchor. |
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 28, 2024 13:25:03 GMT -5
The sharp turn looks like it was swinging on an anchor with the tide/current. Work a lot with boats and if there is an issue with power first response is to drop anchor if you can smoke looks like they were trying to fire up the generators . Reports I see say they did drop anchor. Reports I see say they did drop anchor. Yep, a bow anchor from what I read. That would make the stern swing if it had to to set. |
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Post by Laker on Mar 28, 2024 18:39:38 GMT -5
A friend is an engineer who has built stuff like nuclear plants around the world and we were talking today and he said, when watching the videos of the crash, he wondered where the fender system around the piers was that would prevent such a collision.
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Post by themaestro on Mar 28, 2024 21:59:53 GMT -5
he wondered where the fender system around the piers was that would prevent such a collision I think I saw something that said the bridge was built (1971)?? before fender structures were a thing. |
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Post by Laker on Mar 29, 2024 19:52:11 GMT -5
he wondered where the fender system around the piers was that would prevent such a collision I think I saw something that said the bridge was built (1971)?? before fender structures were a thing. I’m 77 years old and grew up in a town with multiple lift bridges through our area that have always had protective fenders going back as far as I can remember. In the early 1900s when there were swing bridges there were still pilings in place to protect the mechanism. It just struck my friend and I how odd it was to have such a high traffic span with no protection. As new maritime rulings are passed aren’t facilities forced to upgrade much the same as our highway systems are? |
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Bopper
Wholenote
Motor City USA
Posts: 507
Age: 72
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Post by Bopper on Mar 30, 2024 10:32:49 GMT -5
before fender structures were a thing From today's Wall Street Journal:
Today, federal guidelines require bridges over a navigable waterway to be protected from a potential vessel strike. Among the safeguards are “dolphins,” or independent barriers, meant to deflect a straying ship away from a bridge’s piers, and “fenders” that attach to piers to absorb a vessel’s impact.
The Key Bridge predates these guidelines, though it was built with a set of concrete and wood barriers around its vertical supports that absorbed a containership strike in 1980.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 30, 2024 10:44:49 GMT -5
I still would like to know "why" this happened. What caused the malfunction, was there negligence by the crew, maintenence of the vessel, etc. When the Exxon Valdez incident occurred it was days before we learned the captain and crew's names. There is an abundance of info on how/why the bridge collapsed but if there's any info as to what led to the collision I've yet to find it.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 30, 2024 12:12:46 GMT -5
After some digging I've seen some speculation that "dirty fuel" used by the vessel could be a possible explanation for what went wrong.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 30, 2024 15:13:31 GMT -5
There’s a good piece in the WSJ on this topic. There are 8 more port bridges, like this one, at risk for the same sort of accident.
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Post by LTB on Mar 30, 2024 23:41:13 GMT -5
There’s a good piece in the WSJ on this topic. There are 8 more port bridges, like this one, at risk for the same sort of accident. Well, maybe they have learned something from this incident and can modify any that do not have a bumper around them. |
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Post by K4 on Mar 31, 2024 12:22:40 GMT -5
They should have waited to throw anchor.
***************Tin foil hat content.*************
They wanted to take out the bridge without causing any cries of terrorism so they cut engines and threw the anchor knowing it would swing into the bridge.
Hey it's possible...................... right??? Huh???
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Apr 1, 2024 13:12:48 GMT -5
I think I saw something that said the bridge was built (1971)?? before fender structures were a thing. I’m 77 years old and grew up in a town with multiple lift bridges through our area that have always had protective fenders going back as far as I can remember. In the early 1900s when there were swing bridges there were still pilings in place to protect the mechanism. It just struck my friend and I how odd it was to have such a high traffic span with no protection. As new maritime rulings are passed aren’t facilities forced to upgrade much the same as our highway systems are? I've seen bridges with them in front of the supports on either side of the area where boats are supposed to go through but leave the other supports unprotected. I guess the thinking was boats might miss the opening and hit on either side, but they weren't concerned about them being way off and hitting one way off to one side or the other. I'd like to see a detailed post-mortem on what happened. From what I've read, most, if not all, ships this size have back up systems to ensure the steering system doesn't go out due to a loss of power. As long as the ship's speed was higher than the water (assuming they were going with the current), if the steering system was working they'd have directional control. So, what happened? No redundancy in the steering system? Multiple failures? In short, how did this happen? What's the series of events that allowed this to occur? Why is there so little info? |
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Post by Leftee on Apr 1, 2024 13:58:33 GMT -5
It’s my understanding that the detailed investigation is underway. Meanwhile there’s urgency to open up the port.
The WSJ again posted a great story about this situation.
When that bridge went into service in 1977 container ships carried 2000 - 3000 containers. This ship was carrying 4700. These bridges were never adapted for these increased cargos.
Not that this addresses this ship’s loss of power.
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Post by markfromhawaii on Apr 1, 2024 16:03:22 GMT -5
Then this past Saturday, a barge struck a bridge in Oklahoma. Luckily there were no injuries reported, and the bridge was reopened after inspection. The barge hit one the supports.
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Post by Laker on Apr 1, 2024 18:52:59 GMT -5
So, what happened? No redundancy in the steering system? Multiple failures? In short, how did this happen? What's the series of events that allowed this to occur? Why is there so little info? I thought I had heard the ship lost propulsion, so no means of steering? |
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Apr 2, 2024 9:05:22 GMT -5
So, what happened? No redundancy in the steering system? Multiple failures? In short, how did this happen? What's the series of events that allowed this to occur? Why is there so little info? I thought I had heard the ship lost propulsion, so no means of steering? Most ships that size are driven by a fixed driveshaft and prop with a rudder behind it. As long as you have motion through the water, you have steering. They were moving at almost 8 knots when they hit the bridge, so unless there was an 8 knot current in the same direction, they should have been able to steer (assuming they could operate the rudder). I believe the initial claim was that they lost power and rudder control along with it, but most, if not all, ships of that size have battery backup for the steering system along with other redundancies. |
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Post by Laker on Apr 2, 2024 14:26:11 GMT -5
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Post by Taildragger on Apr 2, 2024 15:30:48 GMT -5
The cause?  |
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