Ship Launching Makes Spectators Run For Dry Land

It has been maritime tradition since man could travel on water. Every new watercraft that is ready to be launched into operation receives a ceremonial launch. Ship launching imposes stresses on the ship not met during normal operation, in addition to the size and weight of the vessel, and it represents a considerable engineering challenge as well as a public spectacle. The process also involves many traditions intended to invite good luck, such as christening by breaking a sacrificial bottle of champagne over the bow as the ship is named aloud and launched.Show more

Nowadays most ship launches are performed stern first, so as long as the shoreline allows it. When the shipyard is near a channel, the ships are built parallel to the shore and launched sideways. This way, the meeting of the metal beast and the water creates a splash of water so big, it covers yards of land on the launch side.

Spectators have always found ship launching to be quite the spectacle to behold, so many gather around for watch them. These people, however, seem to have forgotten how big a splash can a freighter of this size create the moment it touches the water. Even as the wave was approaching the dry land they were standing on, nobody seems to think to move just a few feet backwards. But when the water hit the shore, people started to panic and run backwards. All but one gentleman escaped the tidal wave. We hope he brought a change of pants.

When this huge cargo ship is launched sideways from its dry dock into the water, it figures to generate an impressive tsunami and onlookers had better watch out. The accompanying footage shows how the launching of the sheep prompted some of the spectators to run for cover. The vessel was set afloat via what’s called a cross-launch technique, which is always dramatic with ships of this size.

When it’s time for the ship to touch the water - or, rather, the water to touch the ship, floodgates are opened in the dry dock to let the sea in and float the vessel out of the yard. The first water to touch the ship is caught in a bottle, sealed and often displayed in the captain’s office.

There is another video showing the most extreme makeover that a cruise ship can go through. The cruise ship names Silver Spirit was being cut in half, pulled apart and having a whole new mid-section added to create a bigger, longer and more glitzy ship! The ship arrived in the dry dock about 5-6 days before what you are seeing here now. A process that we attended to see it was the last bit of cutting. Once it was cut, there was a series of little trolley devices underneath the front of the ship which then takes the full weight of the ship and begins to move slowly, pulling apart the ship. It takes almost a day to actually move the ship apart, because they have to do it really, really slowly. Once the pieces are far enough apart they then bring all these motorized tracks, bringing in the mid-section, which they slide into the middle of the ship! They push it back together and then they begin welding back the ship! How cool is that!

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In this episode of Viral Video UK: Ship launch wave fail!
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