2 ships semi-permanently parked side by side instead of in front of one another?

[JEDI]

I'm in New Orleans doing a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi.

I see these ships (navy reserve transport ships cape knox and Kennedy) parked side by side.

How is this safer than parking the outside ship against the pier?

 

[IronWing]

Takes up less dock space. Dock space is expensive.

 

[lxskllr]

Parallel parking's a hassle.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The first ship identifies as a dock, so the 2nd ship is docked to it.

 

[pcgeek11]

They have been parking like this forever...

 

[JEDI]

They have been parking like this forever...

View attachment 71946

wouldnt a rough storm with high waves slam one ship into another, causing hull damage?

 

[skyking]

The term for it is rafting, and there's no rough storm happening in a river. It takes a lot of fetch to build a decent sized wave, relative to a ship of that size.

 

[pcgeek11]

They also space the ships or boats using docking camels between the hulls or superstructures.

What is a mooring camel?

A camel is a structure used to maintain standoff or separation between a ship and a waterfront facility. Camels are required when berthing and mooring submarines to prevent damage to the submarine hull, diving planes, screws, fairings, special skin treatments, and appurtenances.

 

[pcgeek11]

wouldnt a rough storm with high waves slam one ship into another, causing hull damage?

Normally what happens when a strong storm is forcast ships will get underway as they fair better at sea than they do in port.

Once in Guam we were in the floating drydock when a tropical cyclone was coming. Big issue was our main seawater valves were removed for repairs and not ready yet.

Clamped a belly band on to cover the huge holes in the hull and towed us to sea to get the hell beat out of us with no power while ridding out the storm. Fortunately it bypassed us and we had no problems.

 

[KMFJD]

On a Submarine, is it better to be underwater or on the surface when trying to ride out a storm?

 

[pcgeek11]

On a Submarine, is it better to be underwater or on the surface when trying to ride out a storm?

Submarines have round bottoms and do not stabilize rolling in rough waters. It is much better underwater well below the effects of the storm. I have been aboard a boat at 150 feet in the North Atlantic and had a wave expose the boat to the surface in the trough between waves.

The rougher the storm the deeper you need to be. It is bad when on an alert patrol in this scenario as you have to maintain radio contact for flash traffic. This means staying shallow <100 feet. Lots of sick puppies on board when a storm could last for days. No cooking either. Sandwiches for everyone. Yay!

 

[MtnMan]

I'm in New Orleans doing a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi.

I see these ships (navy reserve transport ships cape knox and Kennedy) parked side by side.

How is this safer than parking the outside ship against the pier?

Safer from what?

 

[IronWing]

Safer from what?

Bad drivers