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Uncategorized Monday, May 9th 2011 at 1:25 pm

How Do You Get Massive Ships Into the Water? [Video]

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You probably thought that large ships had a stately, dignified birth off the docks and into the water. You’d be wrong. Like teaching a small child to swim, you just throw them over the side and hope for the best.

Reddit commentor DougyM does provide some explanation as to why this dramatic method is actually preferred:

You need to effectively have the entire ships weight distributed evenly along the hull, sliding it in sideways ensures that no one part is under more stress than another. Going forwards down a slope would focus the ships weight on either end of the hull and result in damage up to and including actually crushing the middle of the ship in on itself.

He fails to mention that the throw-the-huge-boat-over-the-edge method has the added benefit of being totally badass.

(via Reddit)

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  • http://twitter.com/cdvillasenor Chris Villasenor

    That’s how I get myself into the tub at night… God, I need to go on a diet.

  • http://www.smallfish-bigpond.com/ Kerensky97

    Another benefit is you don’t need a long deep channel to run the ships down. That way Manitowoc Shipbuilding could launch boats sideways in the river and then float them to the ocean. Strange to think that many of the Fleet submarines for World War 2 were built in launched in Wisconsin rather than on the coast.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitowoc_Shipbuilding_Company

  • Michael Pants

    I swear to god, I watched this and thought, “Shit, everything inside those things must get thrown around and smashed to bits.”

    And this is why I never went to grad school. Sometimes you just have to recognize that you’re an idiot and move on without making a fuss.

  • http://twitter.com/StrangerNoise Rachel Greenham

    Just thought of another reason: Frankly, if it can’t deal with that, it’s no good anyway and shouldn’t be put out to sea with people on board. So it’s a useful test. :-)

  • Anonymous

    How is it that we haven’t figured out another way to build ships and put them into the ocean without literally throwing those mother fuckers in?! I mean I know they’re heavier than a muther, but seriously we been having shit that floats since we first realized that “Shit” literally floats.