quote:
Not likely. All the black smoke was most likely going full back on the main engine. It could have possibly been the generators coming back online but they generally don't smoke THAT much. The speed reduction also indicates that the main engine was likely reversed before the hit. The anchor went down as well but I doubt that did anything.

At this point no one knows that I’ve seen?. I’d agree with you certainly and don’t have evidence not to. But the one thing we all know, is that the black smoke is almost perfectly in sequence with the lights on and off.

There maybe a better reason, but if the ship was veering starboard with forward thrust, why not reverse thrust immediately to pull it back to port? Im not suggesting the ship actually would reverse, I’m saying the screw reversing direction would generally steer the ship the other direction.

Neither of those two appeared to happen in the videos.

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Posted by tgrbaitn08

Member since Dec 2007

146214 posts

Posted on 3/27/24 at 10:06 pm to baldona

That ship likely had EMD's as main engines that are equal to locomotive engines.....think about that.

Think about a train trying to stop at a railroad crossing with a vehicle stuck on the railroad crossing.

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Posted by DownshiftAndFloorIt

Here

Member since Jan 2011

66763 posts

Posted on 3/27/24 at 10:26 pm to baldona

quote:
why not reverse thrust immediately to pull it back to port?

Because you lose all hope of controlling the ship. Same reason the titanic sequence of actions is so heavily critiqued. Going all back full headed down river might swing the bow a little, but the ship isn't going change course and the rudder becomes less effective as the ship slows.

If he didn't have rudder control and the course intersects the pylon there's nothing meaningful they could do except try to regain steering and steer out of it.

Eta: he likely didn't go full astern until he realized it was too late to miss the bridge and was just trying like hell to slow down. That thing going 8 knots with the current probably handles like a glacier even when it is all working correctly.

This post was edited on 3/27/24 at 10:35 pm

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Posted by achenator

Member since Oct 2014

2968 posts

Posted on 3/27/24 at 10:26 pm to baldona

quote:
There maybe a better reason, but if the ship was veering starboard with forward thrust, why not reverse thrust immediately to pull it back to port? Im not suggesting the ship actually would reverse, I’m saying the screw reversing direction would generally steer the ship the other direction.

none of these things happen that quickly. Think about the size of the prop and how long it takes to get it up to speed. Maximum revolutions of the propeller
may only be like 80rpm. These ships have less power in reverse than forward. Transverse thrust of the prop is not immediate and takes longer to take effect if the ship is moving forward. also most ships are right handed meaning when going astern the bow would go to starboard.

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Posted by pankReb

Defending National Champs Fan

Member since Mar 2009

64968 posts

Posted on 3/28/24 at 5:48 am to baldona

quote:

There maybe a better reason, but if the ship was veering starboard with forward thrust, why not reverse thrust immediately to pull it back to port? Im not suggesting the ship actually would reverse, I’m saying the screw reversing direction would generally steer the ship the other direction.

you......you realize just how much these ships weigh and how physics work on water don't you? This isn't like hitting the e-brake on a honda civic. And throwing the screw into hard reverse would just cause cavitation and just become worthless for a while.