OT: Baltimore bridge replacment

Fair, enough. I obviously remembered that there was no reverse and the engine moving with the wheel, but was wrong about how far it turned.

A later addition though. The original did not have such an option.

Sounds about right.

I've taken a look at that wiki and it does, indeed, show a kick-start.

There is a useful YouTube site called "Whats going wrong with shipping" or something very similar that shows a lot of interesting data about this incident and others affecting shipping.

The famous "Detroit Diesels" that were used everywhere, are two-stroke, but still have a conventional sump full of lubricating oil.

See YouTube Channel "Bus Grease Monkeys"

That's "on" not "wrong"

There's also this

So why did it veer so far off course so quickly? Or was it not on course before the power failure?

In message snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net, at 02:07:55 on Wed,

I heard one report that it was because they dropped an anchor on one side, which then caused the ship to veer around. Perhaps they should have dropped it on the other side?

That it was off course long before the power failure and collision is what I was suggesting.

Or it was steering a course to follow an underwater channel and power failed just when it needed to make a turn to stay within the channel.

Or was actually making a turn, and the rudder became useless when power failed

This is a replay of the track.

"MV Dali Hitting Key Bridge in Baltimore - Track and Video Analysis"

Paul

The claim was, they not only dropped one anchor, they also railed the rudder to one side, for usage as a brake. Which of course, it's not all that much of a brake.

"At 1:27 a.m., the Dali’s pilot ordered the left anchor to be dropped and issued additional steering commands"

One thing you should notice is.

When the ship passes the 50 foot deep Y-shaped channel, the ship steered to its right.

I think the pilot knows the water velocity in the unused fork of the Y in the plot. And one of the reasons the ship was traveling at 9 instead of 6, was to compensate for the expected sideways push. It was an attempt to maintain rudder efficiency when the ship was still steering straight.

I don't think there have been any comments from the pilot. The flight recorder will have most of the details captured. The rudder setting at least, will be there.

I think additional anchors were dropped, when it came to a stop. That's why the right anchor seemed so "limp".

Paul