Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse

[CaptUSA]

Cargo ship hits bridge in Baltimore causing bridge to collapse with several cars still on the bridge. Dramatic footage of collapse at link:

https://www.the-sun.com/news/1088776...dge-collapses/

[sparebulb]

BWA

boating while asian

In all fairness, it wouldn't surprise me if there was something messed up with our navigational system and markers/lighting as our infrastructure erodes.

I'll let @AntiFederalist weigh in on this.

[Anti Federalist]

Holy $#@!...that's a bad one.

Pray for the folks that were lost.

At first glance, it appears to be an accident. Bridge strikes by large ships or barges are, while not very common, are certainly not unheard of.

Based on the video it looks like a total "dark ship" incident and then the e-gen kicked in, but that will not provide propulsion or steering.

From the amount of stack smoke, it looks like they got the main engine online just before collision and tried "backing down" as hard as they could, but it was too late.

There would have been a US pilot onboard at that time, so it will be interesting to review his account and electronic nav data.

[WarriorLiberty]

Holy $#@!...that's a bad one.

Pray for the folks that were lost.

At first glance, it appears to be an accident. Bridge strikes by large ships or barges are, while not very common, are certainly not unheard of.

Based on the video it looks like a total "dark ship" incident and then the e-gen kicked in, but that will not provide propulsion or steering.

From the amount of stack smoke, it looks like they got the main engine online just before collision and tried "backing down" as hard as they could, but it was too late.

There would have been a US pilot onboard at that time, so it will be interesting to review his account and electronic nav data.

It appears that the ship lost power and control afterwards.

[osan]

Holy $#@!...that's a bad one.

Pray for the folks that were lost.

At first glance, it appears to be an accident. Bridge strikes by large ships or barges are, while not very common, are certainly not unheard of.

Based on the video it looks like a total "dark ship" incident and then the e-gen kicked in, but that will not provide propulsion or steering.

From the amount of stack smoke, it looks like they got the main engine online just before collision and tried "backing down" as hard as they could, but it was too late.

There would have been a US pilot onboard at that time, so it will be interesting to review his account and electronic nav data.

The first video I saw was cropped. It appeared that the entire structure collapsed in unison, leading me to suspect this was another 9/11 job. Just this morning I saw the uncropped harbor video and the progression of collapse from the initial failure point, outward is clearly visible. As to whether it was an accident, I say hold judgement and let us see what the "experts" say in a report.

It will be interesting to watch for the economic effects this propagates, which I'm sure there will be some. It may come to well illustrate just how highly we depend on these assets for our daily existences. Time will tell.

[Valli6]

'Ship Lost Power Before Hitting Key Bridge in Baltimore' (6:39)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZbUXewlQDk

[Brian4Liberty]

'Ship Lost Power Before Hitting Key Bridge in Baltimore' (6:39)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZbUXewlQDk

So according to this guy, the actions taken to slow the ship (dropping anchor, reversing engines) would have turned the ship towards the bridge support.

I wonder if they have let it drift on original course if it would have cleared the bridge near the middle?

[charrob]

So according to this guy, the actions taken to slow the ship (dropping anchor, reversing engines) would have turned the ship towards the bridge support.

I wonder if they have let it drift on original course if it would have cleared the bridge near the middle?

It looks like the power went off two times. The ship was going forward without power, but with a good amount of momentum, the first time and when the power came back on, the pilot put the engine in reverse. Doing so caused the prop walk (the ship to turn). Normally prop walk can be corrected by going slightly forward. However the pilot would have been unable to do this because the power went off a second time.

i agree; in hindsight it seems like the ship had a lot of momentum without power so allowing the ship to get past the bridge seems like it might have been a better alternative.

[Anti Federalist]

It looks like the power went off two times. The ship was going forward without power, but with a good amount of momentum, the first time and when the power came back on, the pilot put the engine in reverse. Doing so caused the prop walk (the ship to turn). Normally prop walk can be corrected by going slightly forward. However the pilot would have been unable to do this because the power went off a second time.

i agree; in hindsight it seems like the ship had a lot of momentum without power so allowing the ship to get past the bridge seems like it might have been a better alternative.

Outstanding, I was going to bring that up: prop walk.

Single screw vessels, large or small will have their stern deflected when in reverse due to the effect of the prop blades on the water and hull.

A single screw vessel, like this ship, will walk its stern to port when backing with a right hand rotation prop.

This is true with either a fixed or variable pitch prop.

Walking its stern to port induces a right hand turn to starboard, that would be impossible to correct with no electric power, because you will have no steering.



As far as just letting the ship drift and maybe getting through unscathed, that's a pretty risky proposition.

Large vessels in shallow waterways, tend to suffer from "squat" and also are prone to "sheer" and need constant rudder input to maintain heading, especially as speed increases.

As master or pilot, you'd get crucified if it came out that you did essentially nothing to stop the collision.

Which, by the way, in marine terminology that is not what this was, it was an allision, a moving vessel hitting a stationary object.

Me?

I would have given a hard right rudder command as soon as the power came back for a couple of seconds, and beached in it shallow water on the west side of the channel.

That creates it's own problems, but it's better than hitting the bridge.

That trick has saved my ass on a couple of occasions of "dark ship" in a constricted area.

[susano]

The conspiracy theories going around about this are absolutely bat$#@!. Soon it will get tied to Kate Middleton.

[Brian4Liberty]

It looks like the power went off two times. The ship was going forward without power, but with a good amount of momentum, the first time and when the power came back on, the pilot put the engine in reverse. Doing so caused the prop walk (the ship to turn). Normally prop walk can be corrected by going slightly forward. However the pilot would have been unable to do this because the power went off a second time.

i agree; in hindsight it seems like the ship had a lot of momentum without power so allowing the ship to get past the bridge seems like it might have been a better alternative.

Outstanding, I was going to bring that up: prop walk.

Single screw vessels, large or small will have their stern deflected when in reverse due to the effect of the prop blades on the water and hull.

A single screw vessel, like this ship, will walk its stern to port when backing with a right hand rotation prop.

This is true with either a fixed or variable pitch prop.

Walking its stern to port induces a right hand turn to starboard, that would be impossible to correct with no electric power, because you will have no steering.



As far as just letting the ship drift and maybe getting through unscathed, that's a pretty risky proposition.

Large vessels in shallow waterways, tend to suffer from "squat" and also are prone to "sheer" and need constant rudder input to maintain heading, especially as speed increases.

As master or pilot, you'd get crucified if it came out that you did essentially nothing to stop the collision.

Which, by the way, in marine terminology that is not what this was, it was an allision, a moving vessel hitting a stationary object.

Me?

I would have given a hard right rudder command as soon as the power came back for a couple of seconds, and beached in it shallow water on the west side of the channel.

That creates it's own problems, but it's better than hitting the bridge.

That trick has saved my ass on a couple of occasions of "dark ship" in a constricted area.

Yep. That was discussed in the video I referenced. Throwing it in reverse turned the ship, possibly combined with a dropped anchor, directly towards the pier.

It's all Monday morning quarterbacking, mostly by people who don't know anything about a large ship. I don't know anything about it. Just intuitively, I would want to first take into account where the ship was heading with current momentum and direction. Like I said, I am no one to judge, but it seemed like they were in panic mode, and did not take into account that their actions steered it into a direct hit.

And yes, as AF says, they would be crucified if they didn't take drastic measures and they hit anything at all. Well, they took action, but the result was the worst possible. Did they cover their asses by just doing something, anything? (* Why does that sound familiar?)

It's likely that if they hadn't done anything that turned the ship, they would drift under but hit something less directly, which would also lead to a crucifixion. But maybe not catastrophic damage.

The best outcome is that they would drift under without touching anything. There would be no praise, no news, and probably some kind of reprimand for that too.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.


(* Reminds me of officials during Covid. "We have to do something! Doing nothing is not an option!")

[ClaytonB]

Well, that's not good.

[spudea]

Looks deliberate, turns right into the bridge support. Any mechanical/electrical failure excuses could easily cover up a deliberate act.

[WarriorLiberty]

Looks deliberate, turns right into the bridge support. Any mechanical/electrical failure excuses could easily cover up a deliberate act.

There were some Urkanians on twitter celebrating the destruction of the bridge.

[Bern]

... according to the Baltimore Banner's Justin Fenton, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has confirmed that the whole incident could have been much worse — and thanks to timely actions from the ship's crew, many lives may have been saved.

Per the governor, the ship's collision was due to a power loss that disabled their ability to navigate — but those on board issued a mayday call to emergency officials onshore, and they were able to restrict the traffic going over the bridge. As it was, some cars were reportedly on the bridge when it went down, but many more might have been otherwise.
...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...se/ar-BB1kz6Wd

[Brian4Liberty]

https://twitter.com/RichardStiller4/...39173058482191

[vita3]

Tanker Wars

[dannno]

Francis Scott Key Bridge COLLAPSES, Rumors FLY Of CYBER ATTACK Or DEI Pilot, Black Swan Event FEARED (via Ron Paul)

[Anti Federalist]

Francis Scott Key Bridge COLLAPSES, Rumors FLY Of CYBER ATTACK Or DEI Pilot, Black Swan Event FEARED (via Ron Paul)

Rumors, that is all that they are at this point.

This $#@! happens, not every day, but often enough to know that it does not need a massive conspiracy to cover for it.

This cigar is just a cigar.

[sparebulb]

Rumors, that is all that they are at this point.

This $#@! happens, not every day, but often enough to know that it does not need a massive conspiracy to cover for it.

This cigar is just a cigar.

Why did God give us knees if he didn't want us to jerk them.

[Anti Federalist]

Why did God give us knees if he didn't want us to jerk them.

LOL

[Snowball]

Definitely not normal.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...video-analysis

[Anti Federalist]

Definitely not normal.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...video-analysis

What do you see in that video that is abnormal?

[Snowball]

What do you see in that video that is abnormal?

just off top of head? it could have been hacked, or an inside job. i'm not prepared to spend a lot of time on this, but..

1) ship navigating off-center of waterway under a lower part of the bridge - why?
2) ship power cut - why?
3) ship power returned, but then smoke seen - why?
4) ship was already headed too close or on target to the column
5) no current or water influence made it happen
6) ship lost power JUST AS it was atempting to avoid the column
7) ship power restored JUST AS it was situated fore to the column (keep acceleration)

it was manipulated either externally, internally or both. imo.

[dannno]

Rumors, that is all that they are at this point.

This $#@! happens, not every day, but often enough to know that it does not need a massive conspiracy to cover for it.

This cigar is just a cigar.

https://twitter.com/BrianRoemmele/st...50824021192754

[Occam's Banana]

Rumors, that is all that they are at this point.

This $#@! happens, not every day, but often enough to know that it does not need a massive conspiracy to cover for it.

This cigar is just a cigar.

https://twitter.com/neontaster/statu...01353661305025
& https://twitter.com/neontaster/statu...01356727373847

[sparebulb]

In B4 Trump blames this on Biden being soft on Hamas and Russia and promising a new big beautiful bridge.

[vita3]

Putting aside this 1.6 mile bridge that just was taken down.... The motor boat drone game in Ukraine has really advanced......


Build Back Better.

[unknown]

That was crazy, the way it collapsed like it was made out of toothpicks.

Doesn't look like there would have been any time to get off the bridge after the impact, before the collapse.

[WarriorLiberty]

One of the Ship Captain was a Ukrainian