Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse

If look at Queen Mary they had a backup at the rudder. A lot guys working the big steering wheel.
Even a backup generator

Dave
 
Smithdoor said:
If look at Queen Mary they had a backup at the rudder. A lot guys working the big steering wheel.
Even a backup generator

Dave
Click to expand...

That was my question as regards to what modern standards are as regards emergency manual controls and emergency backup equipment.
 
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Smithdoor said:
If look at Queen Mary they had a backup at the rudder. A lot guys working the big steering wheel.
Even a backup generator

Dave
Click to expand...
GrifterGuru said:
That was my question as regards to what modern standards are as regards emergency manual controls and emergency backup equipment.
Click to expand...

It takes a while to change course, stop or reverse course. Are you aware of when the failure occurred or what the course and speed of the ship were? No, me neither.
Let the investigators do their jobs. The answers will come.
 
7milesup said:
It takes a while to change course, stop or reverse course. Are you aware of when the failure occurred or what the course and speed of the ship were? No, me neither.
Let the investigators do their jobs. The answers will come.
Click to expand...

That is not the question that was raised. The question raised was, what systems are in place for emergency control of the vessel.

If they were any emergency systems, did they help lessen the disaster and if there were zero systems in place, how could they have helped, if at all had they been in place.

Yes, investigations need to happen, but that will by neccessity dig into what, if any, systems were in place, or not, for emergency control of the vessel.

Tide, current, vessel speed, vessel drift, vessel inertia all play a key role. Not disputing that.
 
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According to the Baltimore Sun, the ship was adrift at 9 mph (8 kts in the original report) when it hit one of the bridge supports. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/
The investigators will uncover what happened and the sequence of events.

The Port of Baltimore is closed to shipping as the bridge debris is blocking the channel.
 
No news out yet but everyone around knows the outcome of at least 5 of the missing . So sad .
 
So the workers were all on their break in the trucks when the bridge collapsed . All were working for the same company , which my son's GF also works for . :(
 
mmcmdl said:
So the workers were all on their break in the trucks when the bridge collapsed . All were working for the same company , which my son's GF also works for . :(
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Has your son been in touch with her?

Our daughter lives in DC and her boyfriend lives in Baltimore. He is ok so that is a relief.
 
GrifterGuru said:
Correct me if I am wrong here, but my understanding was that any ship over a certain weight/size had to have mandatory MANUAL primary (rudder) control ability in cases of power loss as well as backup power to any/all secondary manouvering control systems (thrusters) should the use of such systems be required?
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Not familiar with civilian ship construction & control requirements, but warships have redundant systems that run along different sides of the ship and backup power generators. That said, there can be a momentary delay in transferring control/power to the backup. It’s my opinion that the black smoke seen in the video was from a backup diesel generator starting up.

Steering gear on large ships does have a variety of manual backups:

  • Separate control (helm) away from the bridge using the same power systems
  • Manual control via hand hydraulic pump(s) or gear reduction
  • Block & tackle with people power physically moving the rudder
Other than the backup helm, the manual options are not fast acting.

Based on the limited information available on tides, winds, actual location of the ship when it lost control it’s not possible to make a determination of exactly what happened. I can say based on personal experience that when you lose steering control on a large ship while maneuvering things happen very quickly, even with tugs close at hand.
 
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