3 ms·

It would be interesting to know whether the ordinary rules of nautical operation change at a scale like this. For instance, ordinary waves would have no effect

It would be interesting to know whether the ordinary rules of nautical operation change at a scale like this. For instance, ordinary waves would have no effect at all on something this size (aside from rocking the structure, of course). You could probably be in 10-20' swells and it wouldn't any kind of danger. Rogue waves? A 100' wave would be like normal choppy seas for a small boat. The scale is incredible. It's less of a boat and morelike a small metal island that's self-propelled.

stoolpigeon 12y ago
I've been in 80 foot swells on a Nimitz class carrier - tossed it around like nothing. Dented the bow all in - and did some other damage. I realize this is quite a bit bigger but I think you underestimate what the ocean could do to it.
- D_Alex 12y ago
  Really? Who was the silly bugger that sailed the ship into such weather? I hope the nukes were securely stowed...
  - stoolpigeon 12y ago
    We got caught in a rather bad storm working our way from South Korea back to Alameda. We were in a rush to get back as their had just been a bad earthquake in the bay area and a lot of people had family there. As to the second, I cannot confirm or deny.....
D_Alex 12y ago
>You could probably be in 10-20' swells and it wouldn't any kind of danger. You are quite right! The design conditions for Austrlian North-West Shelf include waves with ~14 meters significant height occuring with a frequency of once in 100 years, and ~20 meters once in 10,000 years. The permanently installed (some are disconnectable) facilities are typically designed to keep operating in 100-year return conditions and to survive 10,000 year return conditions. By the way the ratio of maximum trough-to-peak wave height to "significant" height is about 1.8:1. So the wave you'd see in a 10,000 year storm would look to be 36 m (120 ft) tall...!

stoolpigeon 12y ago

I've been in 80 foot swells on a Nimitz class carrier - tossed it around like nothing. Dented the bow all in - and did some other damage. I realize this is quite a bit bigger but I think you underestimate what the ocean could do to it.

D_Alex 12y ago
Really? Who was the silly bugger that sailed the ship into such weather? I hope the nukes were securely stowed...
- stoolpigeon 12y ago
  We got caught in a rather bad storm working our way from South Korea back to Alameda. We were in a rush to get back as their had just been a bad earthquake in the bay area and a lot of people had family there. As to the second, I cannot confirm or deny.....

D_Alex 12y ago

>You could probably be in 10-20' swells and it wouldn't any kind of danger. You are quite right! The design conditions for Austrlian North-West Shelf include waves with ~14 meters significant height occuring with a frequency of once in 100 years, and ~20 meters once in 10,000 years. The permanently installed (some are disconnectable) facilities are typically designed to keep operating in 100-year return conditions and to survive 10,000 year return conditions. By the way the ratio of maximum trough-to-peak wave height to "significant" height is about 1.8:1. So the wave you'd see in a 10,000 year storm would look to be 36 m (120 ft) tall...!