OT Epic ship launch disasters.

[harry]

[Brian Gaff]

I remember some time ago when I could see watching one from before the wars topple over and sink when it was launched. the nutters had not fitted the heavy engines in the bottom so it obviiously was top heavy. Brian

[Nightjar]

The second one looks like a self-righting test, although we don't stay long enough to see whether or not the boat righted itself after being inverted. Several of the others could be included in a 'how not to' instruction video for crane operators.

[Chris Hogg]

+1 A self-righting test. All RNLI lifeboats are put through such a test AIUI. Several of the others were a bit hairy, but not what you'd call disasters. The boats ended up in the water, afloat and upright, perhaps with a little paint damage, wet crews and red-faced operatives, but certainly not disasters, although a few clearly were.

[harry]

Yup. Several shots of exactly that. Pity you can't view them, some are hilarious to watch. Though not for the owners. Most look to be in third world places.

[dennis]

Some of them were not disasters at all but successful tests.

[Max Demian]

All right but not very shocking due to the lack of context and repetition.

Like "You've Been Framed": person falling over person falling over person falling over teenager doing something that would look daft even if he was doing it right.

[Andrew Mawson]

Many years ago when we had a ship building industry I understand that a large firm had problems with their plans being copied. They found that they had a 'spy in the camp' but instead of exposing him, they modified a design by changing plate thicknesses so the the centre of gravity was above the centre of floatation rather than below where it should be for stability. Sure enough the plans were stolen, a vessel built in far flung places, and it turned turtle on launching :)

Maybe a bit of googling can find references?

Andrew

[Nightjar]

I liked the sideways launch, where they omitted to check that the water was high enough to reach the slipway.

[Nightjar]

Launching a bare hull is normal practice, although somebody should have calculated its stability before fitting out and added ballast, if required.

[Bob Eager]

TL;DW.

However, I did see an episode of Mighty Ships recently. They were launching a giant tug, and had calculated that when launched, the 'front' end (I think it was actually the stern) would go deep enough off the slipway that there was a problem with some bit of the keel hitting what it shouldn't.

Solution: fit two enormous temporary flotation tanks, one each side at that end.