[mhambi]

Found a couple of these videos and find them fascinating.

Wouldn't want to be anywhere near! Any of our seafaring folk ever witness an anchor/chain loss?

(there may be strong language. :rofl: )

:shocked:

 

[Rizzo]

Jambog! (sort of...)

Great minds think about uncommon conversational topics alike. :cheers:

http://www.glocktalk.com/threads/when-dropping-the-anchor-goes-wrong.1636881/

 

[mhambi]

Ha! I didn't even search because I thought surely nobody's done this one before. :rofl:

 

[KBKEITH]

Jambog! (sort of...)

Great minds think about uncommon conversational topics alike. :cheers:

http://www.glocktalk.com/threads/when-dropping-the-anchor-goes-wrong.1636881/

Rizzo, I immediately remembered your previous thread on this topic.

 

[Berto]

Same theme ; lots of loud noises, smoke, some fire and people running around screaming.

 

[Ross-in-Pa]

GTF away from the area.

 

[Bruce M]

I was fascinated by the videos in the previous thread and almost as fascinated by these videos.

 

[Steel Head]

GTF away from the area.

This!
uttahere:

 

[A6Gator]

Losing an anchor rarely happens, but it does. My first diving ship was built in 1945. In letting the anchor chain go, it runs over the whelps (bumps) of the wildcat(reel) on an anchor windlass. Because of the maturity of the vessel, and the comparatively large number of cycles on the anchor, the whelps were worn down, so when the brake was applied, instead of the chain slowing down as the links engaged the whelps and spun on the wildcat, they just ran over them and kept on going! Pretty exciting!

Cleared the foc'sle out, except for a couple guys trying to apply the brake (to no avail). I recall a few things: (1) an enormous rust cloud as the chain got further into the chain locker and (2) there is no bolt on the end of the chain (for obvious reasons) and when the bitter end (last link) went out the hawsepipe (the hole in the ship where the anchor chain goes out) (3) all of the sudden it got eerily quiet, because it was incredibly noisy while all that was going on.

Fortunately, it wasn't in deep water and we put a couple guys over the side and picked it up.

 

[Iron bottom]

That's called jumping the wildcat. When the pelican hook is knocked free, sometimes you have to run. I have been on the special sea and anchor detail. Dangerous business. And no one is ever allowed in the chain locker, just in case the chain shifts.

 

[ithaca_deerslayer]

Super duper dumb question time, how does an anchor work?

I'd assume an anchor needs to sit on the bottom of ocean and snag into the ground to give resistance enough to hold the ship. Is that right?

But oceans are deap, so that would mean lots of places that you can't anchor. Is that right?

If anchors don't need to snag into the ground, and if don't even need to reach the ground, what would be the resistance difference between a dangling anchor and one that is still wound up aboard? They both weigh the same.

 

[Iron bottom]

The anchor has to be on the bottom. The flukes of the anchor can rotate and dig into the ocean bottom. The anchor chain should have 3 ft of length for every ft of depth of the sea. So you can only drop the anchor in shallow water near shore. Been a long time, so this info may be a little off. I was discharged in 1968 from the USN.

I think the anchors I saw were Danforth type. There were Mushroom and more types.

 

[oldengineer]

150 fathoms (10 shots) of chain was about typical for a Navy DD/SS when I was in. The rule was to let out about 6X the water depth of chain when anchoring. The flukes did imbed themselves into the bottom. When getting underway from anchor it was slowly taken up until the chain was vertical. Then more windlass power was applied while watching to make sure the anchor released itself from the bottom. "Anchors Aweigh" was sent to the bridge when suction was broken. "Anchors Awash" was sent when it broke the surface. The ship was considered to be underway after the anchor was weighed.

That's the way I remember it anyway

 

[ithaca_deerslayer]

Thanks you old sea salts

 

[TScottW99]

We almost dumped ours in the Java Sea, was a close call. We had to go pick up a submarine's anchor once in Thailand. We snapped a line during the salvage operation and I thought I was a goner.

 

[oldengineer]

This is no s**t
In 1960 I was a young E3 working in the Deck Gang on USS Barbero (SSG-317) (see avatar). We went into an ARD in Pearl for a bottom cleaning. The anchor was made up in shots, 15 fathom sections, connected by a detachable link which could be broken if necessary to free the boat from a fouled anchor. The last shot of chain was linked in the chain locker. The gang was run by an old First Class Gunners Mate, a WWII vet. He went to the bottom of the dock to direct lowering the chain so we could paint it. The operation went smoothly, the anchor and chain lowered and shots separated by breaking the detachable links. However when it came to lowering the last shot there was an obvious problem in that if left alone the chain would freefall once the last link cleared the windlass. Here's where the fun began. The Gunner yelled up to us to use 21 thread to hold the last shot and we did but as soon as it got caught by the teeth in the windlass it parted and almost hit Gunner in the head. We thought it was funny. He didn't.

 

[Lonestar 48]

How much does each one of those links weigh? They look pretty dang heavy

 

[oldengineer]

How much does each one of those links weigh? They look pretty dang heavy

Depended on the size of the ship. We didn't use them much in the Pacific Fleet where I spent all of my time. I'm guessing 5-10 pounds for the old sub I was on.

I found this in an online document about WWII class subs
"The ground tackle consists of one 2,200-pound stockless anchor and 105 fathoms of 1-inch die-lock steel chain. The anchor is housed in the hawsepipe in the superstructure. The anchor chain is self-stowing in the chain locker.

The windlass consists of a wildcat driven by a hydraulic motor, which also drives the forward capstan (FigureA-26). The motor is a Waterbury size 10 B-end, and is operated from the main hydraulic system"

 

[Captain Steinbrenner]

I wonder why they don't use a cable instead?

 

[Sgt127]

I wonder why they don't use a cable instead?

'Cause it wouldn't sound nearly as cool when it's a runaway?


Bet it's because each individual strand would rust alot faster.

(Now, someone who actually knows about ships will answer the question, not my non seafaring dumb ass)