Baltimore bridge hit by ship, collapsed

aspeck

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After watching the video of the collision, I am thinking someone wasn’t paying attention at the helm and is going to be in trouble. That is a busy bridge! About 31000 vehicles cross it daily.
 

Grub54891

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Yeah. What a mess. Sorry for the people that are probably not ok. A foreign ship with bad inspections.
 

FLATHEAD

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Amazing how that bridge seemed to domino so easily. My wife has clients that get literally tons of product shipped daily from that port. It’s a bit chaotic right now.
 

racerone

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Here on the Sinclair river / Detroit river foreign ships MUST have a pilot on board.-----I am sure that is the policy there.-------You would think tug boats accompany ships in areas where this tragedy could happen.-----Perhaps a review is in order on how bridge supports need to be protected from failures ( mechanical ? ) on these monster ships.
 

southkogs

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Just saw the news and bounced over here after reading the headline. Best wishes and all hopes for no casualties for those in Baltimore.
 

aspeck

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This gives an interesting perspective of the possible reason for the ramming of the bridge. Did the ship lose power ... twice? If so, why? Hmmmm ... And the ship dropped anchor before colliding with the bridge ...

8 people have been reported in the water ... 2 were rescued, one is critical condition. 6 unaccounted for.
 
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airshot

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Latest info states ship was under command of port captain, loss of power, mayday sent, anchor dropped so must have been loss of control. Prayers for those involved. That is the nature of suspension bridges, when a main support is severely damaged, everything fails. Not a pleasant thought but that is how they work. Have a good friend that helps build and design major bridges, will be interesting to see what his thoughts might be. The ship moved way off course, probably from power loss.. Sad day......
 

racerone

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From far away this looks like another example of steer by / fly by wire technology gone wrong.------You need back up for the back up systems.----You can not see failure coming on these systems.----When they fail the people in charge are " powerless " so to speak.------I remember the skipper of a 40' sailboat handing me the broken pieces of a mechanical steering system.-----Aluminum junk with garbage welding on it.-----I made an exact copy out of stainless never to break again.
 

aspeck

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From far away this looks like another example of steer by / fly by wire technology gone wrong.------You need back up for the back up systems.----You can not see failure coming on these systems.----When they fail the people in charge are " powerless " so to speak.------I remember the skipper of a 40' sailboat handing me the broken pieces of a mechanical steering system.-----Aluminum junk with garbage welding on it.-----I made an exact copy out of stainless never to break again.
I remember well when my stick steering box broke at 3/4 throttle. The pucker factor was pretty high, and that was in a 15 foot vessel ...
 

dingbat

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Here on the Sinclair river / Detroit river foreign ships MUST have a pilot on board.-----I am sure that is the policy there.
Pilots are required to be onboard once a vessel enters the mouth of the Bay at Virginia Beach.

Have had 3 run aground in the past 15 years and now this.
First one cut of the corner at Sharps Island and in bedded itself 40' into the face of the bar a 1/2 mile off course.

The last one ran aground within eye sight of the Key Bridge. Sat there for over a week before they dredge enough materiel around the hull to refloat the boat
 

aspeck

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Officials warned of the ship approaching the bridge, according to a Broadcastify recording of the transmissions.

"I need one of you guys on the south side, one of you guys on the north side, hold all traffic on the Key Bridge. There's a ship approaching that just lost their steering so until we get that under control, we've got to stop all traffic," the person said.
 

FLATHEAD

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Officials warned of the ship approaching the bridge, according to a Broadcastify recording of the transmissions.

"I need one of you guys on the south side, one of you guys on the north side, hold all traffic on the Key Bridge. There's a ship approaching that just lost their steering so until we get that under control, we've got to stop all traffic," the person said.
Good to know lives were saved by someone doing the right thing after the Mayday was sent out. Certainly no consolation to those construction guys that are injured and unaccounted for.
 

aspeck

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Here is a report from the fire department side ... There is a 45 minute clip of the fire department radio traffic. very interesting if you are into the fire service inner working ...
 
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