5 ms·
If the wave is big enough, bow-first won't save you. If you go over the wave, half your ship ends up cantilevered over the peak. A ship isn't built to hold hal
by slavik81 7y ago
If the wave is big enough, bow-first won't save you.
If you go over the wave, half your ship ends up cantilevered over the peak. A ship isn't built to hold half its weight in the air like that. It will break.
If you go through the wave, the upper decks get hit by a wall of water. The windows blow out, the bridge is destroyed, the computers are toast and the ship is swamped.
- HenryKissinger 7y agoForce shields it is then.
- eloff 7y agoAgreed, that if the wave is big enough you're toast anyway, but bow-first still gives your best chance as I understand it. So if you had warning you'd want to get your crew into less vulnerable positions where they can evac more easily, and ensure you're facing bow-first into the waves.
- irrational 7y agoAll that is left is to go under the wave.
- gamegoblin 7y agoFWIW, this is exactly what surfers do ("duck diving").
- echelon 7y agoWhy don't we design submersible container ships? Are the energy costs of displacement while moving entirely underwater too expensive?
- learn_more 7y agoPerhaps the density of the cargo is, on average, too low. The amount of ballast needed would make it impractical.
- eloff 7y agoIt would definitely use more energy, and container shipping is all about efficiency. It's a non-starter.
- petschge 7y agoare you sure? wave drag is a big part of the total drag ob a ship. which is also why dolphins go pretty fast with much less than one horse power.
- usrusr 7y agoMany military subs are actually faster submerged than surfaced. The wave drag (or wave resistance, to disambiguate from the shock wave drag of supersonic aerodynamics) referenced in sibling comment is the energy contained in the waves created by a surface vessel. The details that you'd have to understand to optimize a hill shape are quite complicated, but for a simple surface vs sub comparison it's enough to know that surface waves exist and that they contain energy that is projected away. A sufficiently submerged vessel does not create those.
- ceejayoz 7y agoSubmarines require a fantastically higher amount of maintenance to keep running.
- porknubbins 7y agoAfter reading Outlaw Sea I think even the maintenance that is required on container ships is frequently skipped or corners cut, at least by smaller operations.
- usrusr 7y agoCargo handling time at port is a big cost factor, it would be very hard for a sub to provide comparable access for loading/unloading.
- mjevans 7y agoAre you suggesting a submersible that might run underwater only temporarily, during the storms, to avoid the undulating surface?