Baltimore bridge collapse

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

Sally Vix wrote:

On USA Today it mentions a "massive recovery effort underway." Not sure they will be recovering any survivors.

Outside of the 2 they got, I'm with you. I ready somewhere that the water is like 48 degrees right now. You're not surviving very long in that, at all.

I've been in 53 degree water and it was damn cold. I remember going in and it was like all my limbs just cramped up and felt really, really heavy.

In this case, if they survived the fall, some of the initial adrenaline to get up to the top of the water would help keep them warm, but then they'd also have to swim to shore and based on where that section of the bridge is, you're probably talking at least a quarter mile I would think...and that's not a slow moving river so you'd be dealing with a current, too.

00007 wrote:

Just Very Scary wrote:

This is terrifying and will have severe ramifications beyond those poor souls killed in the accident. They are the priority, but a major port has been shut down for the foreseeable future and I cannot even imagine the traffic issues this will cause throughout MD and even the NCR.

On another note, this was surely being piloted by a local harbor captain who could do this in his sleep. I would be very surprised if a Maersk ship was not properly maintained. I am worried this is the result of a cyber-attack on Maersk, but I hope that I am wrong.

This is the stuff of nightmares. Prayers to all of the people who were involved or know someone involved. Horrible.

I watched some of the livestream, and I think it must have been a mechanical failure/maintenance issue on the ship. At around 1:23am, the ship's lights blinked out as it was approaching the bridge. Then the lights came back on for a while, then back off, all the while heading towards the pylon. It hit the pylon at 1:28:44 am.

During the five minutes I watched, I could see vehicles crossing the bridge. There were no headlights moving across the bridge when it collapsed, so it could have been worse. There was a crew on the bridge doing concrete work on the decking though, so those are probably the people that went into the water. I didn't watch beyond the collapse to see if any vehicles sailed off the edge after it collapsed. Hopefully not, but it's very possible that vehicles coming through later might not notice anything until they are suddenly dropping off the edge.

pupil3142 wrote:

00007 wrote:

I watched some of the livestream, and I think it must have been a mechanical failure/maintenance issue on the ship. At around 1:23am, the ship's lights blinked out as it was approaching the bridge. Then the lights came back on for a while, then back off, all the while heading towards the pylon. It hit the pylon at 1:28:44 am.

During the five minutes I watched, I could see vehicles crossing the bridge. There were no headlights moving across the bridge when it collapsed, so it could have been worse. There was a crew on the bridge doing concrete work on the decking though, so those are probably the people that went into the water. I didn't watch beyond the collapse to see if any vehicles sailed off the edge after it collapsed. Hopefully not, but it's very possible that vehicles coming through later might not notice anything until they are suddenly dropping off the edge.

just watched the live stream.

the ship clearly blacks out a few minutes before hitting. you can see the main engines restart, probably in hard astern. she may black out again just before hitting. the wind was such to blow her into the pylon if the lost steerage (coming from port bow).

why did she blackout? normally generator failure, but she should have been running 2 out of 3 in synch.

Overload? why? Preferential trips should protect systems.

cyber attack - one for the conspiracy theorists.

I am impressed she started again so fast after a blackout. i have blacked out container ships and its taken hours to start going again. rumours of a mayday before hitting allowing some semblance of reaction.....

Tug captains in the us are going to be rubbing their hands in glee - no more leaving harbour under bridges wtiut tug escort.

Oh, and the captin will be under arrest by now.

to be fair, if she blacked out, as seems obvious, the chief engineer will be joining him. be interesting to see if they were on duty for port departure at that time in the morning - they should have been, but....

RichardRider wrote:

pupil3142 wrote:

just watched the live stream.

the ship clearly blacks out a few minutes before hitting. you can see the main engines restart, probably in hard astern. she may black out again just before hitting. the wind was such to blow her into the pylon if the lost steerage (coming from port bow).

why did she blackout? normally generator failure, but she should have been running 2 out of 3 in synch.

Overload? why? Preferential trips should protect systems.

cyber attack - one for the conspiracy theorists.

I am impressed she started again so fast after a blackout. i have blacked out container ships and its taken hours to start going again. rumours of a mayday before hitting allowing some semblance of reaction.....

Tug captains in the us are going to be rubbing their hands in glee - no more leaving harbour under bridges wtiut tug escort.

Oh, and the captin will be under arrest by now.

to be fair, if she blacked out, as seems obvious, the chief engineer will be joining him. be interesting to see if they were on duty for port departure at that time in the morning - they should have been, but....

I find this post incredibly amazing for a running site to be frequented by a maritime expert who has restarted a ship after a blackout.

Just incredible.