Brooklyn Bridge hit by Mexican navy training ship, injuring several

[IronLionZion]

[IronLionZion]

1. Videos capture Mexican Navy ship crashing into Brooklyn Bridge

[Norrrm]

2. Need more training. That's one career that is over.

[IronLionZion]

3. It seems odd that they didn't see it coming

even if they didn't go through the steps of calculating heights of every underpass. It seems like one could eyeball it.

[Silver Gaia]

5. What I read happened was that they were moving away from the bridge

and back out to sea using a power source that failed and suddenly they were drifting backward with no control and the mast hit the bridge. So, it was an unfortunate accident and not a miscalculation or other error. I'd post a link, but I read that on my computer right before I shut it down, and now I'm on my phone and don't have access to it.

[IronLionZion]

8. Yup, lost control due to a mechanical failure

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/05/17/brooklyn-bridge-crash-mexican-navy-ship/

The captain of the ARM Cuauhtémoc lost control of the vessel after a mechanical failure, and the ship struck one of the bridge’s pillars, said Wilson Aramboles, the chief of special operations for the New York Police Department. Adams said the ship lost power before the crash.

[Shipwack]

7. Several careers...

of the senior members piloting party. Something like this requires several errors by different people.

Very, very odd. The only explanations I can think of are:

1) Bad charts that didn’t have the bridge height correct.
2) Their position was off but they didn’t realize it. Perhaps a cross-current?
3) Incompetent Captain giving bad orders (I had one of those and he almost killed us a few times)
4) They had incorrect information about the tides I.e. They thought they were approaching during a low tide but it was really a high tide

[madaboutharry]

4. I have so many questions.

Last edited Sun May 18, 2025, 07:41 AM - Edit history (1)

The first being: Did not a single person with authority on the ship think it was important to calculate height clearance?

I don’t know a thing about ships or bridges, but it is a question I would want the answer to.

Edit: Now it is reported that the ship lost power. Also two crew members have died. This has now become a tragic story.

[Silver Gaia]

6. See my post above.

[debsy]

9. They were not planning on going under the bridge

My husband and I traveled in our small sailboat down the East River (from Long Island sound to NY Harbor) as one of our first, very exciting, white knuckle experiences traveling from CT to FL. As a novice, I was schooled by my husband, a life-long sailor, about the dangers present when navigating in the East River. What my captain (husband) continually stressed is that we had to enter the river at a very specific calculated moment from City Island so the we would be riding the just-changing tide out from Hell Gate and points south into NY Harbor. The East River is notorious for having a very strong current and requires precise timing to navigate safely. In the forefront of our minds during our entire 3-hour trip down the East River was: what do we do if the engine fails?

There are many articles and plenty of discussion that occurs among mariners regarding the topic:

https://www.offshoreblue.com/cruise/east-river-planning.php]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Gate]

The ship departed 2.5 hours after low tide, approaching peak flood. That means that any malfunction would send the ship - nominally 300 feet long - northeast bound into the bridge, which is literally less than 1000 from the pier from which they departed. To enhance the dramatic effect, the keels, no doubt a full keel, would have been perpendicular to the full force of the flood tide when they backed out. With no power and no sails, they had no hope of stopping the ship.

Brooklyn Bridge tides for May 17th, the sunrise is 5:36am-8:08pm and the tide times are L 6:14am 0'6" H 12:47pm 3'9" L 5:51pm 1'1

My first question upon hearing of this mishap was why did the leave during peak flood tide?