Have Ships Gotten Too Large

[Jccarlton]

The latest cruise and container ships are possibly the largest things afloat ever and that may not be a god thing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/busin ... d=all&_r=0
Cost Concordia aside the container ship MOL Comfort split in half while underway in heavy seas earlier this year. Here is a video of one of her sisters flexing a bit more than I would be comfortable with were I aboard:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/busin ... d=all&_r=0

[Schneibster]

I expect there to be county-sized floating sea-states not long after I die. Maybe with national status, and maybe denying banking laws and stuff.

Have fun getting them to account for their carbon.

[Jccarlton]

Full speed ahead, darn the spam.

[GIThruster]

There has always been this same complaint against skyscrapers. Without the details it's hard to know if the criticism obtains. Surely larger boats are safer in many ways. They are also less wieldy, but that's not a concern for cruise ships.

[KitemanSA]

Larger ships take you into different frequency ranges that couple with different excitation mechanisms and engage different buckling modes. It may be wise to build specific damage absorbing hing points along the length of the ship that will allow controlled frequency shifting to reduce harmonic interaction.

[JLawson]

Larger ships take you into different frequency ranges that couple with different excitation mechanisms and engage different buckling modes. It may be wise to build specific damage absorbing hing points along the length of the ship that will allow controlled frequency shifting to reduce harmonic interaction.

Articulated container ships - like articulated buses?

Well, that'd make it a bit easier to corner one of the things!

[GIThruster]

Allowing the ship to distort laterally would make it impossible to steer. There are reasons we don't chain ships and barges the way we do tractor trailers. Trailers don't slip sideways in a current so are not prone to having their formation distorted.

[hanelyp]

Propelling a train-ship from the aft segment would make steering difficult, same as with a truck on the road. The main propulsion would have to be in the forward segment or distributed along the length. A lot of newer cruise ships also use a feature that would be helpful, axillary propulsion for lateral maneuvering.

[Schneibster]

Larger ships take you into different frequency ranges that couple with different excitation mechanisms and engage different buckling modes. It may be wise to build specific damage absorbing hing points along the length of the ship that will allow controlled frequency shifting to reduce harmonic interaction.

I would expect individual platforms that can flow with the big waves, and prudent avoidance of storm tracks.

[Schneibster]

Allowing the ship to distort laterally would make it impossible to steer. There are reasons we don't chain ships and barges the way we do tractor trailers. Trailers don't slip sideways in a current so are not prone to having their formation distorted.

Oh, you wouldn't make a ship that big, for precisely that reason. That's obvious. You're completely correct.

But a sea-platform? One that floats, and can move out of the way of storms? That would work.

No, if you want to make bigger transportation ships, better to make submarines. No waves, you see. You don't even have to go very deep- fifty or a hundred feet should do it. Even the biggest storms don't make big disturbances that deep.

[Jccarlton]

Argh, there be a spammer on the horizon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of ... ng#History

[Schneibster]

[Jccarlton]

There be the great white spam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of ... ng#History

[Schneibster]

Whatever, Unit 61398.

[Jccarlton]

Admiral Beaty said: fire on the spam!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of ... ng#History