The collapse of the Francis Scott Key (FSK) bridge in Baltimore on March 26th, after being hit by the MV Dali, was a terrible tragedy.
Six workers who were repairing potholes on the bridge are missing and presumed dead. As an aside, all were legal immigrants from Central America who had been in the United States for differing numbers of years. Just so no one blames “illegal aliens” for causing the collapse.
The costs and time of clearing the wreck site and rebuilding the bridge are still being estimated – but one can assume both will require more time and costs than forecast. And the long-term economic challenges to the country as a whole – given this was the main entry port on the east coast for goods for the Midwest and South will only be revealed over the next years.
Wild claims about the cause of the collision soon began to emerge almost immediately after the accident, which says a good deal about the nature of our society.
My wife got an email the same morning, within six hours of the collapse, from one of her conspiratorial friends who claimed this was an act of terrorism – citing a number of links “proving” terrorism.
Some reporters have seemingly put their reputations on the line with similar claims – asserting among other things a Ukrainian captain, electronic interference with the vessel’s navigation or steering, and other suspicious actions.
Similarly, some politicians across the country claimed it was due to DEI – presumably because one of the bridge commissioners is black. No comment is needed on that ridiculous assertion.
In terms of terrorism, well…
Anything is possible – but seems to me to be highly improbable. And most of those who are claiming terrorism have admitted they know very little about ships.
First, terrorism is a political act, directed at obvious targets, and to be blunt – with high body counts. The purpose is to frighten or intimidate a target population.
But, no one has claimed credit for the bridge collapse; I’m not aware of any act of terrorism where a video or statement hasn’t been released from a group claiming credit and explaining the political reasons.
And attacking a bridge in the middle of the night with little to no traffic – except for the unfortunate workers – doesn’t appear to make much of a political statement or indeed cause a massive loss of life.
Nope. This all just seems like a terrible tragedy.
The Dali is a 985-foot long container ship with a single screw (shaft and propeller). The channel under the FSK bridge is only 1,100 feet wide. That might seem like a lot but any steering issue would almost certainly lead to catastrophe.
Having spent time in the Navy driving a submarine out of a harbor – primarily the Thames River in New London Connecticut – provides me with some perspective. My submarine was 292 feet long; the channel under the I95 bridge was 500 feet, with a nearby railroad bridge only being 150 feet wide. Going under them always felt as if there’s wasn’t room for us to get through.
The Captain was on the sub’s bridge alongside whoever was Officer of the Deck. There was always tension for everyone until we cleared those parts of the channel. And we had a navigation team down in the Control Room taking almost constant bearings to navigation aids to ensure we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
And it was a reason we had a pilot onboard who communicated with the Navy tug who always followed until we we neared the harbor entrance (the tug picked up the pilot). A propulsion or steering problem would have brought the tug up almost immediately to keep us in the channel.
Coming out of the harbor at relatively slow speed means the rudder isn’t as effective as at higher speeds. US submarines have single screws and until you get up to 5 or more knots on the surface they didn’t turn well. You turn very slowly and the rudder itself at large angles also slows you down even more.
I don’t know what speed limits Baltimore harbor has for large merchant vessels but I think it’s safe to assume they weren’t at a speed that gave them effective steerage – particularly with a power failure.
They were also experiencing an ebb current that would have added to the ship’s speed, but without steerage they would have been basically a large floating barge with no ability to go where they wanted.
Reading the history of the Dali reveals an ongoing series of power issues – primarily in the ship’s electrical service systems.
The ship itself had hydraulic steering but it relied on the ship’s service systems to work; from what I’ve read there is a separate system that provides power to the shaft and the screw. So they might have been able to increase speed but with little to no steerage.
Even recovering from a loss of service power would have taken some finite amount of time – clearly not enough to recover the vessel. The videos of the collision appear to me to reflect that.
The definitive causes will be revealed through the work of National Transportation Safety Board and the US Coast Guard. It’s possible they will come up with a different set of causes, but I’d wager system maintenance and reliability are going to be primary factors.
