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As the article points out, the USS Iowa used to be anchored up there. Then it was transferred down to Los Angeles to become a museum. It was first towed by tugb
by CalChris 8y ago
As the article points out, the USS Iowa used to be anchored up there. Then it was transferred down to Los Angeles to become a museum. It was first towed by tugboats to the Port of Richmond for some inspections and work before it would be towed down the coast to LA.
There was a call for volunteer shore support on one of the sailing lists I was on. I thought, sure, I can do that. When the morning came, I was there with my trusty Harken sailing gloves. Pretty much on time, the Iowa comes up the channel making the Portrero turn into the harbor channel. It's just freaking huge and getting bigger. All of my fellow hands have their cameras out, recording the event.
Finally, it was slowly positioned next to the dock by the tugs and then someone yells down, at me, are you the shore crew? My fellow deckhands were still busy with their cameras. So I said, yes!, and he tossed down a line, a massive eyespliced hawser, to wrap around the dock bollard along with a bit of anti-friction paper to slip between the two. And then the Iowa came to a halt.
I had just tied up a battleship, single-handed.
- Aloha 8y agoHaving seen an Iowa class ship (New Jersey) this made my jaw drop. You don't realize the scale of these things until you're next to one.
- CalChris 8y agoThe Iowa class was designed to be able to transit the Panama canal, but then only just barely, with its 108 feet and 2 inch beam just fitting inside the 110 feet canal. https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/iowa-class-battleships-are-the-widest-ships-to-ever-use-1680273877 https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/iowa-class-battleships-are...
- ggm 8y agoI read a write up on the square law scaling on ships and moving resistance in water. A guy there swore that if you leaned on a battleship with loose cables long enough you could overcome static resistance and move it, irrespective of the enormous mass differences between you and the ship. Basically, you can 'pull it along' if you keep trying.
- Johnny555 8y agoI'd think that it depends more on the wind load than the mass of the ship. An Iowa Class battleship is around 887 ft long and around 30 feet from the waterline to the deck (ignoring everything above the deckline), so that's 26,000 sq ft. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, it seems that it wouldn't take much wind speed to exceed the force a single human can exert.
- ggm 8y agoOh sure. The point being, there is no huge static resistance in a floating ship, absent other forces. It might take a while, but you can move one with human-scale force. Wind would defeat you for sure. Or current.