Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapses

[SawyerTed]

In Baltimore a ship has hit the bridge.  It has completely collapsed!

Search and rescue for occupants of vehicles that were on the bridge.   

What an awful tragedy!   

[SwampDonkey]

Yes it is, I heard it on the national news up here.

[21incher]

Watching it on the news and can't  believe how many sections went down. It was 50 years old and built before the big cargo ships existed. The power on the ship went out before the crash and then was turned back on after  hitting it looks really suspicious in the video.

[NewYankeeSawmill]

Having watched the video's.... OK, I'll admit, I've never piloted a ship like that, so maybe I'm wrong, but... HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU NOT SEE THE BRIDGE ABUTTMENT!?!?!?
I don't know about THAT port specifically, but I know many busy port area's require a trained and licensed pilot to maneuver the ship into the harbor, but come on man... Smacked that sucker dead in the middle.
Sorry, can't believe that's accidental. Negligence and incompetence will take you pretty far, glancing blow, maybe I could believe that... but he rammed that sucker straight on. That was on purpose.

[doc henderson]

Tragic. 

[SawyerTed]

There are reports that the ship lost power.  That would mean no control.  The ship was obviously out of the main channel in the video.  

There were also reports that two pilots were in command at the time.   

Of course a ship with no power has no way to stop.  Lots of black smoke appeared to be coming from the stack on the ship.  Maybe there were efforts to reverse.  

Two on the bridge have been rescued.  

[Nebraska]

Interested to see what Barge has to say, I thought a lot of the times tugs did the steering for those ships til they got out of harms way. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

That's what I was thinking, I'll be real interested to see what Barge says about it.   In the mean time how many cars went in the water?   No way to know really till people start being reported missing that use the bridge.  Can you imagine being the Fire chief or chief of the rescue company?  How in the world do you train for something like this?   Pray for the families and the folks working the rescue.      

[Jeff]

@BargeMonkey 

[Ron Wenrich]

There was a construction crew on the bridge at the time.  They have used sonar to locate vehicles in the water.  I think I saw it was at 1:30 AM.  Good thing it wasn't at rush hour.  The bridge is part of I-695, which is a loop around Baltimore.

[SawyerTed]

I have nightmares about bridge collapse.  IMO it's got to be a terrible way to go and maybe one of my irrational fears.  There was a collapse near here in 1975 on a foggy might.  There were 16 people killed.  EDIT: correction - 4 killed 16 others injured

My prayers continue for all affected-victims, ship's crew, families, first responders, rescue and recovery crews and others. 

[oldgraysawyer]

Back when I was driving the big toys I always worried about driving across any places like that due to all the idiots on the road. It appears at first glance it was a barge with mechanical problems but time will tell.

It's definitely a tragic day.

[beenthere]

Pray that lost lives are few. Tragic for those caught on that bridge.
There is a YouTube'r TimBatSea that I have enjoyed watching that explains quite well (IMO) as a pilot of a tugboat dealing with moving large ships, how long it takes to move them about the harbors, how the tide affects these ships, how knowing the currents, the dangerous situations, etc. that may be of interest. If anyone wants to check him out, likely bargemonkey experiences similar things after reading his posts.

https://www.youtube.com/@TimBatSea/videos

Sorry Jeff
Slow learner.

[WV Sawmiller]

  From what I have read it was a Singapore registered ship with an all Indian crew. Apparently it hit a quay in Belgium a few years back. I haven't seen anything yet that implies it was intentional but sure makes you question the competence of captain and crew.

[doc henderson]

a report on the internet said that sent a mayday a few minutes before impact that they had lost power.  reports are folks manning the entrance and exits of the bridge stopped traffic or it would have been worse.  

[rusticretreater]

I have been to Baltimore Harbor and have driven over and sailed under that bridge.  Years ago the harbor was dredged and there is a wide shipping lane.   There is no need for tugboats out that far.  The graphics of the ships course show that it left the loading zone, followed the prescribed route and was turned into the shipping lane.  News reports say the ship was being directed by harbor pilots who are in command until the ships pass under the bridge.

The video shows the ship went completely dark twice and was belching black smoke.  What was amazing is how quickly the entire bridge fell when the support was taken out.  There also seemed to be some kind of explosion on contact which is curious.  Since the generators failed, they had nothing but emergency power.  It just happened at the worst possible time.

Being in a moving vehicle and catapulted off the bridge at that height would be fatal on impact with the water. Sad so many innocent victims.  Events like this lead to many safety improvements, but man is the cost high.

[barbender]

 I caught up with Barge a little earlier, he said that they lost power at just the wrong time and they tried to call the tugs back I think but it was too late.

[gspren]

Back when I was working I crossed that bridge many times, it's a loooong way down to the water when you're near the top. As said traffic got stopped but there were some road workers on it when impacted. Since Baltimore news is local for us it's been on the news all day. Going to be a major traffic problem for a long time.

[Rodman]

What a tragedy. My thoughts are with all the folks of Baltimore

[rusticretreater]

Going to be a major traffic problem for a long time.

Guess they are glad they kept the old harbor tunnel.  Its gonna be a seriously expensive to replace the bridge.

Cost of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge near DC.
Starting in 2001 with a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)-approved financial plan budget of $2.44 billion (equivalent to $3.88 billion in 2022), the project completed its financial close in early 2015 at $2.36 billion (equivalent to $3.74 billion in 2022)

[SawyerTed]

In 1980 a freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida.  Thirty-five people died as a result.  The there was  heavy rain and wind at the time.  Ultimately it was decided that the bridge didn't have sufficient protection from a collision.

Large concrete puck-like constructions called dolphins were installed to protect the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and it is standard practice to install them on other bridges in danger of ship collisions.

The F S Key bridge has dolphins according to the charts.  Apparently, the ship didn't hit the dolphins/they were ineffective in preventing the collision and subsequent collapse.  Those pink circles on either side of the bridge at the channel mark the dolphins.   

[Ianab]

Yeah, bridge had some protection, but it wasn't going to stop that size ship running amok. 

Some engineering types online did some maths, and worked out that the energy that ship had, going about 8 mph, was roughly the same as 5 fully loaded 747's travelling at 560 mph. Basically the unstoppable force meeting the Movable object. 

I've had a quick watch of the video, and the ship definitely lost ALL power. Lights came back on, but that doesn't mean they had propulsion or steering, or maybe only partial. There was a lot of smoke coming from one of the stacks, but was that from trying to restart a main engine, or was it smoke from whatever crippled the ship? 

At least the ship is intact, and will have data recorders, plus the physical evidence in the engine room.  

The Pilots seem to be the heroes here, by getting on the radio with the SOS, that must activated some disaster plan that shut down bridge traffic. Most of the casualties seem to be a maintenance crew that couldn't get clear in time? But at least someone had thought about that "What if?" and had a plan to close the bridge, literally within seconds of the alert. 

[21incher]

A merchant marine on the news said the smoke from the ship was most likely from when they put it in reverse and opened  the engine  wide up to try and slow it down at the last minute.  At that speed even dropping  the anchor would not have stopped it. It would  have torn right off and probably destroyed many underwater power and communications cables in that area. I didn't  realize a ship that big only has one propeller  and a rudder for steering. Any problems with the rudder from a power outage in a tight channel can be problems.  Apparently at sea when  it happens it can take a day to get things fixed and  back on course. 

They are talking 5 to 10 years to replace the bridge with all the engineering and permits required.  Luckily the other ports in the area have the capacity to handle the backup of cargo ships building up now. I still can't  believe how fast the entire  bridge broke up. 

[doc henderson]

Yes, it did not crumble, it fell.

[rusticretreater]

1970's engineering. My wife hated that bridge.  They don't solely rely on the strength of steel for bridge building anymore.  Too much flexing over time plus corrosion and also, the entire bridge is lost in events like this.  A hurricane might have taken it out.

Now its massive reinforced concrete structures with modern chemical bonding agents.  Shows like modern marvels are informative in this regard.  The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge near DC and the new bypass bridge at Hoover Dam are good examples.  A large ship might take out one section of the new bridge, but the rest would survive.