Small boat tipped over as it was being lifted onto the Navy hospital ship Comfort, sending people to the sea

Well, lots to think about here. While I don't have inside info on the operations that were going on, the boat was being lifted by a cargo crane and doing that with passengers aboard is not how the US Navy generally operates. It is the norm to transfer passengers at an accom ladder or other point rather than keep them aboard while being lifted.
.
Important Point - for those who are quick to compare the USN to Merchant Marine standards, it should be noted that this ship is run by MSC (Merchant Mariners) with Naval Officers running the medical mission. There is no doubt in my mind that the Civilian Master was heavily involved
in this evolution. By the way, I'm not saying that hoisting with passengers was definitely wrong as there may have been some mission specific circumstance that made it the proper choice in this circumstance.
 
It looked like the lines from the crane to the boat were all aligned with the center line. From a simple free body diagram perspective it's not hard to see how this could happen, but from the guy on the dock perspective it looks like a pretty big boat that would have to move quite a ways. At least no one was badly hurt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top