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Major Bridge in Baltimore Collapses After Being Struck by Cargo Ship

CDA 455 II said:
Reminds me of this episode:
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The only thing I don't think it accounts for is I am pretty sure you will knocked out on impact at a fall from that height, so it's all about long it takes you to recover.
I don't think there is any planning for something like that, you just need to relies on a higher power that it's not your turn.
 
SanDiegoCJ said:
That's the latest I've seen. I spent 5 out of my 10 years in the Navy on aircraft carriers and they "dropped the load" (electrical power) on occasion.
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So a ship like this,,, is it a diesel electric system? like a locomotive? diesel powerplant running electric motors?

it looks like it was rolling coal the whole time, but had an electrical failure.

Serious question, cause I have no idea.
 
CDA 455 II said:
Exactly.

I read there were two pilots onboard?
Pilots usually live local.
Get a pilot that's pissed off/depressed/suicidal/in the middle of a divorce/going through bankruptcy etc, and you might end up with something like the F.S. Key collision.

It's happened enough in the airline industry.:eek:
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Ifffffff it was on purpose, it wasnt a depressed guy. It was a guy paid to do it. Because there is a politician getting paid under the new omnibus spending bill for "infrastructure" to build a new bridge.
 
Stingray said:
So a ship like this,,, is it a diesel electric system? like a locomotive? diesel powerplant running electric motors?

it looks like it was rolling coal the whole time, but had an electrical failure.

Serious question, cause I have no idea.
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The diesel in that might be so big the crankcase might be open/exposed. Ginormous.
 
welndmn said:
The only thing I don't think it accounts for is I am pretty sure you will knocked out on impact at a fall from that height, so it's all about long it takes you to recover.
I don't think there is any planning for something like that, you just need to relies on a higher power that it's not your turn.
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With enough drop, I would think that you're going nose in, (assuming a front engine vehicle), so airbags should go off and help...at least initially until you had to fight the bag to get out.:laughing:
 
Roc Doc said:
So say your driving your car over the bridge and you have the situational awareness to realized that "Holy shit that ship is going to hit the bridge." or realize that the ship has hit the bridge and you're going into the drink, what do you do? I've heard of people going into the water in their vehicle and not being able to open the door to get out, or not being able to roll down the windows due to a shorted electrical system, so what do you do? Stay belted, roll down front windows, and hope the car is nose heavy and an air pocket will form in the back half of the cabin, (Sedan or 4-door truck), hit the water and climb out the open window to swim to the surface...in this case, in 47* water.

Any of you survival experts out there have another idea. (Not you Yota Up, you don't know shit about fuck).
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Way to many factors thinking about it.

You also have to consider the speed your driving and the speed you impact the water. Water isn't a gentle pillow. The airbag may also hang you up. Factor in coliding with foreign objects.
 
Motorcharge said:
It's definitely not all Baltimore. It's a major port for cars but far from the only one. I know for a fact we get some through the Port of Richmond. All Nissans come through here iirc. I know Baltimore gets all Subarus for the US that are imported.
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Mercedes, Volvo, volvo trucks, Miscellaneous chinese equipment, mining rigs, euro tractors, liebherr, windmill stuff, aluminum ingots, pleasure boats and yachts from across the world, and thousands of containers all ship into here

Chevy, John Deere, Cat, Dodge, tesla, hyundai, Heavy equipment, cranes, commodities, sugar, coal, all ship out of here.

Only 1 RoRo, 2 bulk carriers, 1 pleasure boat shipping ship and 4 ready ships are currently in port and stuck there.
 
xr-nut said:
not if it was on purpose.

can someone say anything definitive about ships being under tug control until after that bridge?
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Definitively, the tugs drop off as soon as the ship is turned outbound and in the main channel well before they go under the bridge. I'm on the water here weekly and sail around the ships coming and going. They drop off as soon as it's under its own power, and the rudder has enough speed to control it.
 
Stingray said:
So a ship like this,,, is it a diesel electric system? like a locomotive? diesel powerplant running electric motors?

it looks like it was rolling coal the whole time, but had an electrical failure.

Serious question, cause I have no idea.
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Not diesel electric according to wiki.

In terms of its characteristics, it is a Neopanamax ship with a gross tonnage of 95,128, length of 300 meters,[4] and a beam of 48.2 meters. The depth of the ship is 24.8 meters.[4] It is powered by a 41480 kW MAN B&W 9S90ME-C9.2 2-stroke, single acting, 9-cylinder diesel engine,[6][2] and has a fixed pitch B-1-3000 thruster for propulsion. The ship can reach a speed of 22 knots. The ship has a capacity of 10,000 TEU.[4]
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But I believe those big ships have separate engines for generating cabin electricity.
 
JR4X said:
I live in the desert. I used to carry a glass breaker in my door pocket for some dumb reason, I think because I saw it on a tv show pre 2010. I quit worrying about it 12 or so trucks ago.
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BTW, the best glass breaker is a spring-loaded center punch. Use it on any corner of the glass. Advantage is that it does not require a swing.
 
bgaidan said:
Not diesel electric according to wiki.




But I believe those big ships have separate engines for generating cabin electricity.
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Correct. Two-stroke engine is started backwards to reverse. Direct mechanical coupling from crank to prop shaft - no transmission. Separate gensets for ship's power and backup.
 
Interesting stuff in the wiki article

Dali left the Port of Baltimore at 00:44 EDT on March 26, 2024,[17] bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka.[18] Shortly afterwards, the vessel, which had two pilots embarked,[10] reportedly notified the Maryland Department of Transportation that they had lost control of the vessel and a collision with the bridge was possible, citing a loss of propulsion.[19] A mayday was issued, which allowed traffic crossing the bridge to be halted.[3][20][21] The ship's lights were seen to go out and then come on again some moments later, just prior to the collision.[9] At 01:28, the ship struck a support column of the bridge. The bridge strike and partial collapse were recorded on video.[22]

The bridge broke apart in several places,[23] leaving sections of it protruding from the water and the roadway's approaches cut off where the spans began. Dali caught fire,[10] and a section of the bridge came to rest on the tip of its bow,[1] rendering it stationary.[24] A Baltimore City Fire Department spokesperson said vehicles were on the bridge at the time it collapsed, including one that was the "size of a tractor-trailer".[10] A Maryland Transportation Authority representative on scene told rescuers that at least 20 workers were repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse.[22] Paul Wiedefeld, the secretary of transportation for Maryland, said that there were contractors undertaking concrete deck repair on the bridge at the time of the collapse.[25]

Emergency teams began receiving 911 calls at 01:30.[1] The Baltimore Police Department was alerted to the collapse at 01:35. Mayor of Baltimore Brandon Scott said that emergency personnel were on scene[26] and that he was en route to the site.[27] Large-scale rescue and recovery efforts were initiated.[22] The U.S. Coast Guard deployed boats and a helicopter as part of rescue efforts.[1] Rescue divers were also dispatched to search for people who fell in the river.[28]
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Wonder when they dropped the anchor in this timeline?
 
But all the controls are electric I would assume.

I would hope on a redundant kind of power system, but who knows. Maybe they just figured we'll always have control from the engine room and said fuck it.
 
SanDiegoCJ said:
That's the latest I've seen. I spent 5 out of my 10 years in the Navy on aircraft carriers and they "dropped the load" (electrical power) on occasion.
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I was a QM. We had duty to man the aft steering gears underway in case just an event happened. Better hope that we maintain over a couple knots or steering was unresponsive.
 
plym49.2 said:
BTW, the best glass breaker is a spring-loaded center punch. Use it on any corner of the glass. Advantage is that it does not require a swing.
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That’s what I carried because they work, they’re less than 10 bucks, and even a woman or child can operate it. No swing as mentioned. I’ve seen some YouTube videos doing comparisons and all the fancy stuff isn’t as fast or effective compared to that spring loaded center punch especially under water.
 
Stingray said:
So a ship like this,,, is it a diesel electric system? like a locomotive? diesel powerplant running electric motors?

it looks like it was rolling coal the whole time, but had an electrical failure.

Serious question, cause I have no idea.
Click to expand...

Main propulsion is likely a very large slow speed diesel direct coupled to the prop shaft. There's also likely several diesel generators for hotel electrical power.

Rudder is likely electric over hydraulic. On Navy ships there's considerable redundancy in control systems and power, and specific doctrine for operating in restricted waters like this. Merchant navy undoubtedly has significant less, but should still have some redundancy.

Important to note that a large vessel like this responds impossibly slowly to maneuvering commands. Also, single screw ships exhibit stern walk where the prop generates a side force as well as ahead/astern thrust. Consequently, a strong backing bell would also push the stern sideways which could have contributed to why she was heading out of the channel.

To me, highly unlikely this is planned - it's actually quite hard to hit something like this, especially at a oblique angle, and unlikely anyone would have predicted this level of structural collapse ahead of time. Lots of bridges that are hit with minimal damage. Also, this isn't as simple as the guy on the helm turning the rudder the wrong way. Beyond that, if it was terrorism why did they pick about the least optimal time? Take it out at rush hour insead.
 
Stingray said:
So a ship like this,,, is it a diesel electric system? like a locomotive? diesel powerplant running electric motors?

it looks like it was rolling coal the whole time, but had an electrical failure.

Serious question, cause I have no idea.
Click to expand...
The bigger ship I worked on was all three. Normal operation was direct drive diesel. The prop shafts went through the 2 main generators providing power. If the main engines went down, we could feed power back into the main generators and use them as motors. We had multiple backup generators stationed around the ship. one at the highest point. Switching to backup was automatic, but the time frame this happened in probably wouldn't be long enough to get control back in time.

There was also a diesel bow thruster along with a backup electric thruster.
 
sdmuleman said:
Beyond that, if it was terrorism why did they pick about the least optimal time? Take it out at rush hour insead.
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The Nashville bomber did it in the middle of the night and played warnings on a loud speaker. If you wanted to interrupt infrastructure and not necessarily kill people, that is a perfect time to do it
 
Roc Doc said:
So say your driving your car over the bridge and you have the situational awareness to realized that "Holy shit that ship is going to hit the bridge." or realize that the ship has hit the bridge and you're going into the drink, what do you do? I've heard of people going into the water in their vehicle and not being able to open the door to get out, or not being able to roll down the windows due to a shorted electrical system, so what do you do? Stay belted, roll down front windows, and hope the car is nose heavy and an air pocket will form in the back half of the cabin, (Sedan or 4-door truck), hit the water and climb out the open window to swim to the surface...in this case, in 47* water.

Any of you survival experts out there have another idea. (Not you Yota Up, you don't know shit about fuck).
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Figure odds of dying on impact are bigger than anything else. I don't think anyone going in the water in this exact scenario is making it.

I don't think I could actually survive driving off this bridge and not die from impact, of hypothermia, etc. My response was meant to be generic.
 
Poke said:
What about the melody?
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IIRC, the melody was taken from a popular drinking song of the era.

Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics originally as a poem.

Not sure how the two were merged into our national anthem; I'm sure Google/Bing/Whatever could tell you.
 
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