and the goathumpers, take another one in the...HA ha!!!
Posted on 06/30/2011 2:01:31 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
This is not an outboard, the prop is under the rear of the ship, and they said a notch was cut out of the shaft. The ideal would be having it fall off miles from land and having to pay a massive tow bill.
If the prop shaft were to break, go to gyrating around and damages the shaft’s stuffing box, (seal) it can open ship’s interior to inflow of sea water. Not a good thing, well, maybe in this case, not a bad thing.
Since the ship is relatively large, the propeller shaft probably is slow turning. Larger vessels use slow turning, large propellers.
So, if the shaft was not fully cut, but compromised, it could break, leaving the ship dead in the water. And since the shaft is slow turning, the probability of the propeller tearing the shaft log out or hitting the bottom of the ship is very remote.
That makes a good bit of theoretical sense, but is that likely? Other respondents with more knowledge than me were saying the damaged shaft’s vibrations would be immediately noticeable, and that only a fool of a captain would ignore them. Even if that happened, does its worst case scenario deserve the article’s hystrionics and allegations of murderous intent? For instance, how fast would a ship like this sink from a leak associated with a very noticeable adverse event, assuming a competent crew?
Never worked on boats have you, I owned a marina a long time ago, never knew why I bought but was damn glade the day I sold it, a boat produces a hell of a lot of torque on the shaft, and the screw has a tendency to try and make the shaft flex, twisting them off happens a lot. Whoever cut it knew what they were doing.
If the shaft was “notched”, it could break leaving the ship dead in the water. However, since the shaft broke at the compromised area, the remaining portion of the shaft leading up through the stuffing box to the transmission would be sound. It is probably stainless steel.
Since there would be no ‘weight’ on the end of the shaft, it would not be likely to bend. It would just turn. And since larger vessels have relatively slow turning shafts/propellers, it would not be likely to ‘wing around’.
And even if it did and struck the hull, I would be suprised if it could breach the bottom of the vessel. More than likely, if the notch was fairly deep, the shaft would break soon after the engine was in gear.
You know, when in a video game a ship has for example 20 hit points, it can be hit 19 times and it’s sparkly shiny, just like new, but after the last hit it just blows up.
I think it was a very humane way to stop the vessels from leaving port.
Too bad they didn’t sink them.
Damned propeller termites. Always leave the same pattern. I’s a mystery how they do that.
“You know, when in a video game a ship has for example 20 hit points, it can be hit 19 times and it’s sparkly shiny, just like new, but after the last hit it just blows up.”
Haha, got it now - also like RPG’s: role playing games, not rocket-propelled grenades.
You’r right. It’s funny that the flotilla is playing the victim game when they are violating maritime law.
They should be relieved that the ‘sabatoge’ is so humane.
......................Shaft and prop damage can and have most definitely sunk many a boat......................
Yup, but think of it from a greenie’s perspective. These are future artificial fish reefs.
“sabatoge” = “sabotage”
Never did well spelling, even with spellcheck!
Could have dissolved in the water, too.
These nutcases should be grateful. The firefight they were hoping to unleash would have killed a lot more of them.
If I remember right, they had heavy weapons to repel boarders this time.
They don't stand a chance.
Of course, if I were Israel, I would use stand off torpedos and throw the losers life rafts and leave them to fend for themselves. I'm sure their muslims masters would mount a huge "humanitarian" effort to save them. Or let them all drown and claim, "VICTIMS!"
Whatever.
I almost wish these flotillas had gotten stuck adrift in the sea. They’d be BEGGING for the Israelis to save their sorry asses.
“Terrorist” - another good word being diluted into meaninglessness by liberals and leftists.
Absolutely, a cut all the way through would be disabling and preclude making headway.
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