Baltimore bridge collapses after ship collision, "Mass Casualty Event"

[FunkMonk]

Supposedly this is the fault of woke terrorists trying to distract us from TikTok and Joe Biden.

[Valmy]

Supposedly this is the fault of woke terrorists trying to distract us from TikTok and Joe Biden.

Yeah it will distract most of the country for about 10 minutes.

[grumbler]

I also don't see any indication that the ship was frantically slowing

What about that big plume of smoke inbetween the blackouts? Could that indicate an emergency reverse?

That's quite possible, though I thought it indicative of the failure of the main engines and the lighting-off of the emergency diesel generator (which apparently never came on-line enough to provide power to the rudder).  The pilot did order the anchor dropped, so there was emergency action taken.  It was just too late.

So, apparently the main diesel engine failed and then the emergency generator failed.  My guess at this point is some kind of fuel contamination.  I don't see any other immediately-obvious way for both diesel systems to go down at the same time.

[The Brain]

You sometimes see protective arrangements around bridges to keep an errant ship from striking an actual pillar. What determines if you put those in place? I wouldn't have been surprised if this major bridge near a major port had been protected like that, but I can also see a number of possible reasons for not doing it.

[Maladict]

I also don't see any indication that the ship was frantically slowing

What about that big plume of smoke inbetween the blackouts? Could that indicate an emergency reverse?

That's quite possible, though I thought it indicative of the failure of the main engines and the lighting-off of the emergency diesel generator (which apparently never came on-line enough to provide power to the rudder).  The pilot did order the anchor dropped, so there was emergency action taken.  It was just too late.

So, apparently the main diesel engine failed and then the emergency generator failed.  My guess at this point is some kind of fuel contamination.  I don't see any other immediately-obvious way for both diesel systems to go down at the same time.

Interesting,thanks.

You sometimes see protective arrangements around bridges to keep an errant ship from striking an actual pillar. What determines if you put those in place? I wouldn't have been surprised if this major bridge near a major port had been protected like that, but I can also see a number of possible reasons for not doing it.

The bridge did have protective barriers. I think you can see them break just before the bridge goes down. I don't think any reasonable protection can work against a head-on impact by a ship this size. Except raising the riverbed enough so the ship grounds itself.