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Head on, full speed collision between an aircraft carrier and an oceanliner

A

alphatarget1

Diamond Member
I saw RMS Queen Mary 2 at Hamburg's Hafensgeburtstag (Harbour birthday) yesterday, damn that thing is huge.

Full speed is about 30 knots. Do you think both ship will sink in that situation? QM2 is lighter so she'll lose but it seems like a Nimitz class carrier would be damaged quite heavily as well. I wonder if any engineering analysis/research has been done in this area... For example, buy some decommissioned ships and run them at full speed at each other to see what happens.

oh yeah. Queen Mary 2 at Landungsbrücken
 
I can't imagine both ships not being severely damaged. I'd put money on the aircraft carrier being able to withstand it because of it's sheer size advantage and it's built to take abuse.
 
Originally posted by: Injury
Wait.... are they on a conveyor belt moving at exactly their speed in the opposite direction?
Click to expand...

given the planes on the deck the carrier will take off and there will be no collision.............
 
I don't know how ships are designed. But I imagine an aircraft carrier, a ship that could presumably end up with holes in it during a battle, would be designed in such a way that there'd have to be multiple holes in order to cause it to sink. Kind of like the Titanic, but better. So I think the aircraft carrier would survive. Who knows about the ocean liner. I think such a crash is highly unlikely.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
I don't know how ships are designed. But I imagine an aircraft carrier, a ship that could presumably end up with holes in it during a battle, would be designed in such a way that there'd have to be multiple holes in order to cause it to sink..
Click to expand...

They are............plus you have a larger portion of those aboard trained in DC...........
 
Wasn't there a navy ship that collided with another ship and a third of it was cut completely off.. and it still ended up sailing back home?

I'd put my money on the carrier.
 
Queen Mary II:

Here are some facts and comparisons about the Queen Mary 2 from the Cunard Web Site.

* Length: 1,132 feet
* Beam: 135 feet
* Beam at Bridge Wings: 147.5 feet
* Draft: 32 feet 10 inches
* Height (Keel to Funnel): 236.2 feet
* Gross Tonnage: Approximately 150,000 gross tons
* Passengers: 2,620
* Crew: 1,253
* Top Speed: Approximately 30 knots (34.5 mph)
* Power: 157,000 horsepower, environmentally friendly, gas turbine/diesel electric plant
* Propulsion: Four pods of 21.5 MW each; 2 fixed and 2 azimuthing
* Strength: Extra thick steel hull for strength and stability for Atlantic crossings
* Stabilizers: Two sets
* Cost: Estimated $800 million dollars

Since it is often difficult to picture the size of such a large vessel, here are some comparisons:

* QM2 is five times longer than Cunard's first ship, Britannia (230 ft.)
* QM2 is 113 feet longer than the original Queen Mary
* QM2 is more than twice as long as the Washington Monument is tall (550 ft.)
* QM2 is 147 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall (984 ft.)
* QM2 is more than 3 ½ times as long as Westminster Tower (Big Ben) is high (310 ft.)
* QM2 is only 117 feet shorter than the Empire State Building is tall (1248 ft.)
* QM2 is more than three times as long as St. Paul's Cathedral is tall (366 ft.)
* QM2 is as long as 41 double-decker London buses (31 ½ ft. each)
* QM2's whistle is audible for 10 miles

Source: Cunard Line

Nimitz Class Carrier:

General characteristics

* Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia
* Power Plant: Two A4W reactors, four shafts
* Length: 333 m (1092 ft) overall
* Flight Deck Width: 76.8 m (252 ft)
* Beam: 41 m (134 ft)
* Displacement: 97,000 tons (98,600 metric tons) full load, on par with current cruise ships though roughly 50% less than the largest in service and under construction
* Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h)
* Aircraft: 85
o Intended to operate aircraft currently including the F/A-18 Hornet, EA-6B Prowler, E-2 Hawkeye, C-2 Greyhound, SH/HH-60 Seahawk, and S-3 Viking for many missions including self defense, land attack and maritime strike.
* Cost: about US$4.5 billion each
* Average Annual Operating Cost: US$160 million
* Service Life: 50 years
* Crew: Ship's Company: 3,200 ? Air Wing: 2,480
* Armament:
o NATO Sea Sparrow launchers: three or four (depending on modification)
o 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts: Three on Nimitz and Eisenhower and four on Vinson and later ships of the class, except Washington which has three.
o RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile: Two on Nimitz, Washington and Reagan, will be retrofitted to other ships as they return for RCOH.
* Date Deployed: 3 May 1975 (Nimitz)



According to this, the QM2 is larger, weighs more, and has a thick hull. However, the Nimitz Class Carriers have 20mm Phalanx cannons and missile launchers...not to mention it is built for battle and is powered by 2 (thats right, TWO) nuclear reactors. Plus it costs 5x as much to build.

Winnar: Nimitz
 
The carrier would shoot it down. Even if it hit, they would just need a new paint job.
 
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