Holy Moly!!! Deport the Mexicant navy … what a completely clueless thing to do … then again, there are no bridges, no height clearance considerations in the ocean … hate to think of NYC traffic after this incident …
Why is this in the jokes section? Two people - probably cadet age, were killed.
It is suggested that mechanical failure, coupled with strong wings/tides caused this and not incompetence or whatever else you are suggesting.
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Impact of the tragedy is fully recognized. In consideration of the wide wide range of serious topics this incident encompasses, i will answer only once - i dont want to get into a long drawn out ‘thing’ …
There is always an excuse… As if strong tides/currents are justifications for crew being on the masts where the vessel is under way, not to mention that these war ships (should) have fully independent redundant systems and rigging (or are supposed to). Couple it with the fact this was a training vessel. If situation and circumstance based emergencies are not taught and handled during training, then these life saving lessons will be taught out at sea? under war-like situations?
The senior officers are to be held accountable, in my humble opinion.
These are not the Windjammer’s of yesterday and the only reason to Mann the yardarm is for a good picture on instagram.
This, in my opinion, was showing off gone wrong.
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Clearly you neither read the technical issues nor have a clue what you are talking about. Two people are dead for heavens sake.
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That’s terrible. True. But the problem seems simple: The vessel’s masts were too high to go under the bridge and checking that I would guess is in lesson one of a captain’s education.
So who is the plonker who served as captain that day? In jail I should hope. Without the slightest chance to ever be back on a boat in his lifetime.
Judging from the video, it looks like they were doing a grand entrance at dusk with the ship illuminated and with the crew manning the yards. A magnificent sight for a tall ship, apparently they were under tow by tugs who lost control of steerage and the crew had no time to get off the masts.
A perfect storm as it were.
From what I have heard it sounds like the had a technical issue and lost propulsion (engine failure), causing the ship to go backwards into the bridge. They clearly knew the masts wouldn’t fit under the bridge and were not clueless and were not trying to go that way.
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Ships quite often are brought to dock bss ackward using the incoming tide and secured by tugs. It makes going out again easier than having to manoeuvre in a narrow channel.
Should this be the case then the ships main engine would not be running, only bow and stern thrusters for docking.
Just learned that the ship was actually leaving port and lost steerage.
Sad. Shows also require safety planning.
How did three tugboats let that ship drift so far? And wasn’t there a local pilot on board?
Well the cargo ship in Baltimore had tugs and a local pilot, but they couldn’t stop it taking out an entire bridge.
Reports I read yesterday said that the ship lost power, and indeed it’s clear from the video that it’s drifting backwards without the engine being engaged.
Tugs are routinely used to help manoeuvring, pushing and pulling the bow and stern as required, basically helping to steer a ship that’s under its own power, so they would not have been suitably positioned to provide forward movement in such a short timeframe.
A full investigation will uncover what the captain did or did not do, what the harbor pilot did,what the tugboat assisting the departing ship did, etc.
The crazy thing is that it crashed less than 1km from the place it was moored. It was during the depart maneuvers powered by the ship engine and the tugboat. Sailors were passengers, RIP.
Apparently there was a local pilot on board, but not sure if the pilot was just for docking or also for navigating the river. The ship left the bank under its own power going backwards. Allegedly, the specific tugboat in this case is designed for pushing, not for pulling with cables. Apparently, the tidal current was 5 knots (9-10 kmh) at the time, a well-known issue in this river. Apparently, it was 5 or less mins between starting to move and the crash. No time left to much once one thing goes wrong…planing, planing, planing.
First press release from the NSTB.
The National Transportation Safety Board gave its first update in its investigation of the Mexican navy ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend.
Investigators said the vessel departed Pier 17 with a tugboat and increased it’s speed just before the crash Saturday.
Officials provided a timeline of the incident, which they said started when the ship pulled away from a dock to sail down the East River.
8:20 p.m. - the ship began backing away with the assistance of a tugboat 8:24 p.m. - there was a request for assistance from other tugboats 8:24 p.m. - 45 seconds later, the ship struck the Brooklyn BridgeNTSB Board Member Michael Graham said a preliminary report would be available in about 30 days.
The captain is the ultimate responsible of the ship. But there was a NY state licensed pilot on board the tall ship and a tugboat assisting the maneuver. Somehow, things got out of control.
NSTB will investigate the event to make recommendations aimed at safety. In parallel, there will be court drama having the boat captain, the licensed pilot and the tugboat captain as main characters. Everyone will try to prove they were diligent enough in their duties and that the mishap was the result of unforeseen events.
Moving into speculation, it seems the tugboat had no ability for the job (speculation from YT video), because not equipped to pull. Or not positioned correctly to push against the tidal current (also seen in videos, the tugboat trying to catch up with the tall ship being dragged by the river current). Anyway, I’d expect a money settlement out of court, just before the trial. There is little interest from all parties involved to have regular headlines in the news about the event. If there was some complacency/lack of diligence from the harbor pilot or tugboat company, it won’t look well that the captain agreed with the maneuver plan instead of saying no, do it the safe way.
But were there any unforeseen events? It looks painfully routine to me.
It may be painfully routine to the whole corpus of human knowledge and experience. But, it may not be routine for the people in that place, in those ships, in that specific day and time.