Topic: Remember when military ships weighed more?

[Jack Morris]

Not anymore by any means! How times have changed since WW2 and later years.

http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/nimitz/

Nimitz class CV, 102,000 tons

Side note, I disagree VERY MUCH with them naming CVs with living ex-Presidents. To me it's almost as bad as the naming of airports nowadays, and reminds me of Saddam's "self-glorification."

http://www.frontline.bm/fleetlist/index.php3

check out the pic and tonnage of the Front Eagle! 308,000 tons! Imagine THAT on a SH3 patrol! 

http://www.geocities.com/photo_photo3030/piracy.html

This is what COULD VERY WELL HAPPEN in the future, and shows the damage a VLCC and a CVN colliding can cause.

[Capt_Bearslayer_XC]

This is what COULD VERY WELL HAPPEN in the future, and shows the damage a VLCC and a CVN colliding can cause.

First, I doubt anything would be allowed to come that close to a CVN, expecially something that big that could be rammed into it.

Sea water disolves crude oil.  It will take a bit of time, but it will go away. 

I am sure that millions of gallons were dumped into the sea by ships during WWII by both sides, yet we don't have wandering patches of crude running around the world's oceans.

[Dracho]

That's something I've wondered about too Bear.. how many tankers were torpedoed by U-boats and by US Subs in SE Asia?


Now, maybe a super-tanker is more of a manifestation of the pollution problem, but gosh, millions of gallons of oil must have been dumped in those ship sinkings.

[Capt_Bearslayer_XC]

Yeah, the real surprise is.... even as bad as the U-Boats were.... US Navy Submarine forces sank more tonnage in 3 years than the U-Boats sank from the 1938 to 1945.

[J. Carney]

Yeah, the real surprise is.... even as bad as the U-Boats were.... US Navy Submarine forces sank more tonnage in 3 years than the U-Boats sank from the 1938 to 1945.

Remember, though, that the Japs didn't use convoys like we did; and even when they did, theirships were poorly equipped for such duty- poor sonar, no radar on most ships, no progress in ASW weapons like we made (hedgehog, acoustic-homing torps).

[drb]

Hoi Bearslayer,

I am sure that millions of gallons were dumped into the sea by ships during WWII by both sides, yet we don't have wandering patches of crude running around the world's oceans.

 When I was doing a coral reef study in Bermuda, I meet an American researcher who was studing the "oil" that has drifted around the ocean until it hits Bermuda. Just to give you an idea of how bad it is, before we went on the study we were told to pack clothes that we didn't care if they were ruined. It took very little time to discover that globs of thick "oil" were everywhere. The resercher was trying to identify the sources of the "globs," no small task.

 I think there are large patches of crude floating in the worlds oceans, dispersed as they are, but they are there untill they hit land or something living.   

Take care... of your planet, it is vital for your health. Also take care to remember that someone with good health is as wealthy as they come.

drb


 

[J. Carney]

Hoi Bearslayer,

I am sure that millions of gallons were dumped into the sea by ships during WWII by both sides, yet we don't have wandering patches of crude running around the world's oceans.

 When I was doing a coral reef study in Bermuda, I meet an American researcher who was studing the "oil" that has drifted around the ocean until it hits Bermuda. Just to give you an idea of how bad it is, before we went on the study we were told to pack clothes that we didn't care if they were ruined. It took very little time to discover that globs of thick "oil" were everywhere. The resercher was trying to identify the sources of the "globs," no small task.

 I think there are large patches of crude floating in the worlds oceans, dispersed as they are, but they are there untill they hit land or something living.   

Take care... of your planet, it is vital for your health. Also take care to remember that someone with good health is as wealthy as they come.

drb

Some oil is definitely in the ocean, though I doubt that the huge patches of crude you are thinking of are the reality. Some crude is in there, but mostly it's going to be good old-fashioned fuel oil.

Why?

All ships leak oil (mostly from the bilges), its just a fact of life. The oil isn't floating around for 10, 20, or 50 years... it's just being deposited constantly and breaking up constantly. It might take a year or so to disperse, but it eventually does so. That would also explain why Bermuda has a lot of oil products floating around; any idea how many tankers and cruise ships are traveling in the neighborhood of that little island at any given time? A whole lot of them!

People vastly underestimate this planet's ability to heal itself if left to it's own devices. I mean, look at the hurricanes that just came through Florida *ducks big rock thrown by Ravok*. I mean, what did they do? They dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water into the badly polluted areas of Florida's swampland. They washed out to sea, through the various rivers and canals, untold amounts of impurities that we've spent 9 decades pumping into those wetlands. They blasted out new passes and bayous to allow water to drain out to sea there instead of being bottled up behind seawalls and dikes and leevies.

Earth heals itself- it was designed to do just that. Nature has thrown dissasters at this planet that mankind could NEVER contrive to equal... and yet it bounces back.