How is this even possible????

Since Friday there have been three collisions involving six HUGE ships (we're talking 600-1000 feet long here) off the coasts of China, Taiwan and Texas. The first incident happened Friday morning off the west coast of Taiwan....
www.maritime-executive.com...
This was followed by another collision Saturday morning off the coast of China.......
www.chinadaily.com.cn...
And finally this collision at the Houston ship channel...........
abclocal.go.com.../local&id=8411273
I'm new to the maritime collision business and looking for trend data so if anyone has anything to offer please chime in. It just seems very odd that this should occur three times in less than 48 hours.

soon...

reply to post by Vandalour

That thing lives in Tokyo, I said Taiwan, China and Houston!
Jeez.........

Things always happen in threes. It's an international law.

As for Godzilla..

Wow. Does anybody on this site take anything seriously anymore? This person took time out of their day to come and discuss an issue and all you can do is mock? Immaturity at it's finest...

reply to post by atoptreetops


Agreed. As far as collisions goes maybe it has something to do with the recent solar activity that allowed so many to see northern lights. I gave my wife my gps so I can't speak for recent activity but earlier this year the garmin was showing us 3-4 blocks off of where we were actually moving. When we got home I learned that we (the earth) was taking a pounding from a cme. I had never seen any brand of gps be that far off before.

reply to post by atoptreetops


My friend. This site needs all the humor it can get. It doesn't mean no one took the OP seriously. It's just a little levity. Don't take yourself or the rest of us too seriously. It's bad for your heart. Peace.

Originally posted by Klassified
reply to post by atoptreetops

 

My friend. This site needs all the humor it can get. It doesn't mean no one took the OP seriously. It's just a little levity. Don't take yourself or the rest of us too seriously. It's bad for your heart. Peace.

I don't buy that. Posting a 'humorous' picture of reptare takes the thread and discussion absolutely NOWHERE. If you have something funny to say, bind it with some seriousness so you don't make the OP feel like he's wasting his time.

Ships crash all the time, bro. Just like cars crash. Cause people are only stupid cretins that can't drive or pilot a ship and pull out in front of me even though theres plenty of road behind me and I'm only doing like 65 and then the moron won't go faster than 35 cause thats like light speed for grannys wagon and wouldn't you know I can't pass and yeah this probably should be in the rant section and peace and I'm out.

reply to post by Trublbrwing


human error , it does not matter what navigation aids you have - if they are ignored / switched off / allowed to fall into disrepair

the bottom line is the last line of defence is eyball Mk I , the lookouts - and the timely and proper response of the helmsman

now if there was any global failing or conspiracy - vessels would be running aground [ at night ] - as during this time navidation aids [ AIS , gps , radar , echosounder are most critical ]

but for two vessels to collide requires the final failure of the lookouts and helmsman

I would think that this happens more than most people realise. Some big merchant vessels, especialy the large gas and oil tankers actually take a few mile to come to a stop in the water once their engines are cut. Add to this the time it takes one of these ships to turn even one degree and that fast manovering is out of the question, once two ships are on a collision course it's pretty hard to stop the innevitable. Also most merchant ships once in open water actually desert the bridge at night (sounds crazy I know) they rely on an automatic pilot and a computerised RADAR system to work work out CPA (closest point of approach) at predetermined distances. If the ship veers off course by more than say one degree for over one minute then alarms go off and the officer of the watch will jump out of bed and attend to the bridge alarm. Also if the computer works out that a vessel is going to pass less than a mile or so of the ship then the same alarm will go off and again a crew member will attend the bridge. The only time most large merchant vessels have a manned bridge is when they are close to land or during blind pilotage (fog, bad sea state etc). During my time in the Royal Navy we had the operations room and bridge manned 24 hours per day and if the computer system failed that worked out CPA and CTI (course to intercept) we could work it out manually with good old ruler and sticky pencils on the RADAR screen (coupled with some mathematical abilities). These days however due to computer back up systems etc they just don't teach it anymore until you get to a senior level.
To give you some idea of why the merchantmen often feel that it is OK to leave the bridge unmanned, we once went 3 whole days in the Indian Ocean without seeing one RADAR contact, and even when we did get a contact the bridge didn't have it visual due to the distances involved.

When the +$1 Billion dollar missile cruiser, the USS Port Royal grounded itself in Hawaii.....


I got to thinking.....Ships today are so advanced they just type in where they want to go and the ship steers itself via GPS Satellites.


What if somebody spoofed bad GPS data.......which the computers picked up and turned the ships where they shouldn't be going?


Military tactic. Technology is being thwarted.....very simple to do really.

Remember that scene from one of the Austin Powers movies where the security guard was just standing there screaming because a steam roller was going to run him over, only the steam roller was like 20 feet away and was barely moving? I would imagine that's probably what two ships colliding would be like.

I grew up on the ship channel. Pasadena, Deer Park, Galena Park. It's a long stretch from the gulf up the channel and if you know when to go and what to look for, you can see pilots playing Nautical Chicken. In the gulf, only a Houston Pilot is allowed to pilot a ship up the channel. They have to learn every nook, cranny, and rock to get through and into the refineries. There are points along the channel where two ships would have a difficult time passing each other, so the two houston pilots will aim their ships directly at each other and speed up, break at the last second and use the opposing ship's wake to rise up from the shallows and manuever around each other. It's pretty awesome to see.

But sometimes, $#!+ happens.

reply to post by atoptreetops

That is a picture of Godzilla, not Reptar, one is a cartoon and one is special effects. To be honest with you I did not take offense at the post as it was not directed at me personally. I was amused and impressed with how quickly the reply was posted, and to be honest it was the only reply with any substance.
I don't believe human error had anything to do with it and as for the Indian ocean example these all happened within 25 miles of port in relatively clear skies. There have been at least two ships that have run aground in the last week as well. I believe the navigation systems as well as the skies above are unreliable.

Originally posted by Pervius
When the +$1 Billion dollar missile cruiser, the USS Port Royal grounded itself in Hawaii.....


I got to thinking.....Ships today are so advanced they just type in where they want to go and the ship steers itself via GPS Satellites.


What if somebody spoofed bad GPS data.......which the computers picked up and turned the ships where they shouldn't be going?


Military tactic. Technology is being thwarted.....very simple to do really.

Exactly.... Certain type of hacking is taking place and "they" don't want us to know because even though there are different "factions" ruling the world, each of them want us to have an image of a "united front" because like the mafia and how one of their rules was to never argue with another family member in front of an outsider, the image of unity has a lot of power. If we knew how divided they really are, we could easily influence one or another "family members" decisions against the others and we would have more control. So, even if one faction is against another, they will all act like best friends in public because it serves all their needs... It's better to "lose" a battle against another faction and retain the power you have rather than the whole house of cards collapsing and everybody losing their power and the masses having more control.

Originally posted by Trublbrwing
Since Friday there have been three collisions involving six HUGE ships (we're talking 600-1000 feet long here) off the coasts of China, Taiwan and Texas. The first incident happened Friday morning off the west coast of Taiwan....
www.maritime-executive.com...
This was followed by another collision Saturday morning off the coast of China.......
www.chinadaily.com.cn...
And finally this collision at the Houston ship channel...........
abclocal.go.com.../local&id=8411273
I'm new to the maritime collision business and looking for trend data so if anyone has anything to offer please chime in. It just seems very odd that this should occur three times in less than 48 hours.

Sounds to me like people are starting to shift into the 4th dimension.

Originally posted by atoptreetops

Originally posted by Klassified
reply to post by atoptreetops

 

My friend. This site needs all the humor it can get. It doesn't mean no one took the OP seriously. It's just a little levity. Don't take yourself or the rest of us too seriously. It's bad for your heart. Peace.

I don't buy that. Posting a 'humorous' picture of reptare takes the thread and discussion absolutely NOWHERE. If you have something funny to say, bind it with some seriousness so you don't make the OP feel like he's wasting his time.

I couldn't agree more. Humor is great, humor is wonderful, in fact, its necessary. However, this is not a humorous thread and humor has its place and humor can also be a big F-U in the face of civility. In this setting, it would have been acceptable had it been coupled with some real intellectual content... Class clownery should be left in grade school where it belongs. Of course, if you could actually throw in some actual real thought, then its no longer tomfoolery, then its useful AND funny, which is in good taste for this type of setting.