Baltimore Bridge collapse

[Blackpool Rock]

Still a breaking news story but an Interstate Highway bridge in Baltimore has been hit by a cargo ship and has totally collapsed 

Thankfully it was the middle of the night so quieter than normal however there are believed to be vehicles and workers on the bridge at the time

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[RandomGuy99]

Something must have gone wrong with the steering.

Apparently the ship had 2 pilots onboard at the time.

[bigden40]

Looks like ship lost power whilst leaving the port of Baltimore and due to crosswinds hit a bridge support bringing the whole thing down.

Reports are that about 10 cars were on the bridge as were 20 workers.   

[RandomGuy99]

Looks like ship lost power whilst leaving the port of Baltimore and due to crosswinds hit a bridge support bringing the whole thing down.

Reports are that about 10 cars were on the bridge as were 20 workers.   

Isn't that where you drop every anchor you have to slow and stop the ship?

[FLYING BLUE]

I have driven across that bridge on many occasions.

Very sad to see this on the BBC news this morning.

Let's not speculate on the cause until the true cause is revealed

[RandomGuy99]

They'll be wanting to stabilise that ship to stop all those containers falling off and causing more problems.

The ship did seem to have power before the crash, but possibly not steering.  The crew all survived so it'll be pretty clear what happened.

[bigden40]

They'll be wanting to stabilise that ship to stop all those containers falling off and causing more problems.

The ship did seem to have power before the crash, but possibly not steering.  The crew all survived so it'll be pretty clear what happened.

The footage seems to show that it had lost power (and steering?) then regained it about a minute and a half before the bridge strike and then lost it again.

[RandomGuy99]

The footage seems to show that it had lost power (and steering?) then regained it about a minute and a half before the bridge strike and then lost it again.

Shit happens... sometimes

[bigden40]

I have driven across that bridge on many occasions.

Very sad to see this on the BBC news this morning.

Let's not speculate on the cause until the true cause is revealed

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that it’s anything other than an accident. 

Data suggests loss of power (and main steerage?) while doing 13 knots in a crosswind.

[RandomGuy99]

And you thought you were having a bad day.

[JontyR]

Let's not speculate on the cause until the true cause is revealed

I think it was caused by a whacking great ship crashing into it.

[chrishornx]

Isn't that where you drop every anchor you have to slow and stop the ship?

how do you know they didn't?

[RandomGuy99]

how do you know they didn't?

Maybe they did?

Funny that cops have said they haven't spoken to the pilots of the ship yet.

[timsussex]

Let's not speculate on the cause until the true cause is revealed

I think it was caused by a whacking great ship crashing into it.

on behalf of the Bridge Equal Rights Assoc - we must protest that the headline "Bridge Collapses" was unfair and no blame can be attached to our lost colleague and "Ship destroys bridge" should be used.

[catweazle]

on behalf of the Bridge Equal Rights Assoc - we must protest that the headline "Bridge Collapses" was unfair and no blame can be attached to our lost colleague and "Ship destroys bridge" should be used.

Hmm, on behalf of the F-ing Great Ships Equal rights,  we believe it should read "Bridge impedes passage of ship".

[Bertiebeenthere]

If she was fully laden it would be approximately 210,000 tonnes hitting the bridge.

[FLYING BLUE]

I think it was caused by a whacking great ship crashing into it.

In the case that I wasn't clear enough, I am talking about the cause of the vessel's failure, to avoid hitting the bridge.

[Thephoenix]

Something must have gone wrong with the steering.

Sounds more like the gearbox to me.

[scutty brown]

Whatever caused it, the Russians will be happy.
Sealing off Baltimore docks would severely degrade the USA ability to supply Europe with military equipment in the event of war: it's the biggest RO-RO equipped port on the east coast.

[mills_and_bhuna]

Whatever caused it, the Russians will be happy.
Sealing off Baltimore docks would severely degrade the USA ability to supply Europe with military equipment in the event of war: it's the biggest RO-RO equipped port on the east coast.

I was wondering who was going to jump the shark.
I guess the Russians must have hacked into the steering....Maybe Trump passed them the info through his Trump Tower server...

[RandomGuy99]

It was a pretty shit bridge just waiting for something to hit it and those defences it had don't look like they're designed to stop modern big cargo ships hitting it.

[mr.bluesky]

It was a pretty shit bridge just waiting for something to hit it and those defences it had don't look like they're designed to stop modern big cargo ships hitting it.

It was probably built when there wasn't the level of river traffic that there is now 

[Doc Holliday]

I was wondering who was going to jump the shark.
I guess the Russians must have hacked into the steering....Maybe Trump passed them the info through his Trump Tower server...

Please don't try and pollute yet another thread with your usual political provocation.

[mills_and_bhuna]

Please don't try and pollute yet another thread with your usual political provocation.

As you're such a paragon of 'balanced' debate maybe you should forward similar advice to the UKP spokesperson for NATO.....

[scutty brown]

Please don't try and pollute yet another thread with your usual political provocation.

He can't help it:
One of Pavlov's dogs reacting to the bell again. You just know he has to react

[chrishornx]

Whatever caused it, the Russians will be happy.
Sealing off Baltimore docks would severely degrade the USA ability to supply Europe with military equipment in the event of war: it's the biggest RO-RO equipped port on the east coast.

the mindless idiot will be clicking his lips at this news

[mills_and_bhuna]

He can't help it:
One of Pavlov's dogs reacting to the bell again. You just know he has to react

Pot.Kettle.Black.

[mills_and_bhuna]

the mindless idiot

The irony

[ProjectFun]

Why didn't they sound the loud horn they have on ships continually before hitting the bridge at least the workers might have realised something was wrong and had a chance to run for it.

[RandomGuy99]

Why didn't they sound the loud horn they have on ships continually before hitting the bridge at least the workers might have realised something was wrong and had a chance to run for it.

Perhaps they did but there just wasn't enough time.

[chrishornx]

Perhaps they did but there just wasn't enough time.

they had two minutes at least so had time

how does anybody here actually know if they did or didn't sound the horns ?

[alabama1]

Maybe they did?

Funny that cops have said they haven't spoken to the pilots of the ship yet.

Maybe because ships don't have them 

[mr.bluesky]

Maybe because ships don't have them 

Pilots are in charge of the tug boats that guide Large ships in and out of ports

[chrishornx]

Pilots are in charge of the tug boats that guide Large ships in and out of ports

the Pilots were onboard the actual ship not a tug boat

[chrishornx]

Maybe because ships don't have them 

don't have what?

[RandomGuy99]

Pilots are in charge of the tug boats that guide Large ships in and out of ports

And there's also pilots that come onboard a ship to assist a ship's captain in navigating the waterway in and out of a harbour or in places like the Suez canal.


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[Thephoenix]

don't have what?

Gearboxes?

[mr.bluesky]

Gearboxes?

Ships do have gearboxes. Some of them for large ships are fucking huge 😳

[RandomGuy99]

Ships do have gearboxes.

Yeah, what do you Scotty is doing on the Enterprise when Kirk says warp factor 8?

He's sticking it in 8th gear. Obviously

[chrishornx]

Gearboxes?

nope think he is referring to horns or ship pilots just not sure which.

ships do have gearboxes

[RandomGuy99]

nope think he is referring to horns or ship pilots just not sure which.

ships do have gearboxes

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[mh]

It was probably built when there wasn't the level of river traffic that there is now 

When it was built, container ships were a third of the size they were now. The pillar protection should have been improved over the years but it is a massive span so would not be seen as a priority compared to bridges with narrower gaps.

[chrishornx]

When it was built, container ships were a third of the size they were now. The pillar protection should have been improved over the years but it is a massive span so would not be seen as a priority compared to bridges with narrower gaps.

Agree nothing to do with the level of traffic more the size of the traffic

[Colston36]

I was wondering who was going to jump the shark.
I guess the Russians must have hacked into the steering....Maybe Trump passed them the info through his Trump Tower server...

Immediately one of Trump's loonies blamed Biden. 

[RandomGuy99]

The US government is going to pay for replacing it. They'll probably get the Army's corps of engineers all over it working 24x7 to get it fixed. It's pretty obvious what the cause was, so perhaps they won't spend much time investigating it and just get on with fixing it.

[scutty brown]

I was wondering who was going to jump the shark.
I guess the Russians must have hacked into the steering....Maybe Trump passed them the info through his Trump Tower server...

I know it's unlikely, but things like that are possible.
I once had to clean up a laptop for a chap who worked for a Russian oil exploration company after it had got contaminated by Stuxnet. It was infected when he downloaded something off the drilling ships IT system to the laptop with a USB drive.
There's no way of knowing how the infection got on the ship, but it happened.
As for the laptop, that cleanup was a nuclear option: new hard drive, new BIOS chip

As for the ship, I've no idea how they fixed it (assuming they did), but in theory the infection would have enabled a remote back door into its onboard control systems.

[mh]

The US government is going to pay for replacing it. They'll probably get the Army's corps of engineers all over it working 24x7 to get it fixed. It's pretty obvious what the cause was, so perhaps they won't spend much time investigating it and just get on with fixing it.

But they can't just replace like with like. New foundations may be needed too, for a more protected design. Every bridge is designed to requirement. They will do what they can, but it will take a year or more to even start. At least they can clear it quickly.

[timsussex]

But they can't just replace like with like. New foundations may be needed too, for a more protected design. Every bridge is designed to requirement. They will do what they can, but it will take a year or more to even start. At least they can clear it quickly.

I think you will be surprised how quickly things can move in USA  Look up the story of how long it took to fix the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain after hurricane Katrina

[RandomGuy99]

But they can't just replace like with like. New foundations may be needed too, for a more protected design. Every bridge is designed to requirement. They will do what they can, but it will take a year or more to even start. At least they can clear it quickly.

The US has lots of standard bridges that were built by the Army corps of engineers. There must be some standard bridges that could be built relatively quickly.

I guess the main drive is to clear the bridge to allow ships to pass in and out of the harbour.  Thar should be doable in weeks or months throwing enough effort at it.

Building the new one can take longer and traffic will just be a problem until it's resolved.

[catweazle]

There's a few videos floating around, which  are interesting; as the ship approaches  the bridge,  all its lights go out. It drifts for  a bit, the lights come back on.  Thick black smoke starts billowing from the funnel, then all the lights go out again.

Very shortly thereafter, the impact  happens.