Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after ship hit it

Sounds like an intermittent/poor connection at a terminal block, or a faulty terminal block itself, the way the article read.  In my experience working around high and low voltage electronics a lot in both of my current and prior professions, loose connections are the culprit of service requests/general berkery like 90% of the time.  Literally in the Doosan Troubleshooting manual for their CNC machines, they mention using a pole inside the 24vDC cabinet and jostling wires to see if the issue(s)/faults can be reproduced. 

In reply to golfduke :

That is also a frequent troubleshooting technique for automatic doors as well. Grab a handful of wires and shake them to see what happens. 

That's fairly standard practice with all sorts of malfunctioning electric things. Works wonders, too

Some of the decisions they made...

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/18/nx-s1-5117681/us-justice-suit-baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-dali-ship

The primary transformer that powered the bridge and engine room was known to have had issues in the past.  They redneck'd a welded brace to help prevent vibration. (Feels like that might be a good solution when you are underway, but not leaving port?)

The crew also disabled backup transformers, and the backup-backup generator had a cheapass fuel pump installed that wouldn't turn on automatically with power loss.

I know its just one bad decision after another and not anything actively malicious, but it almost feels like someone wanted the ship to fail at some point

I'd forgotten all about this. First person I thought of when I saw it was SteveJones

In reply to P3PPY :

You calling Steve a disaster? 

Looking down at that scene... my first thought... i wonder if Evil could jump that?  

I was just thinking about this last night and wondered what the update was.  

You can't see any of the other ships around the area from the shot, but they are MASSIVE. I never really got the sense of scale of those massive cargo ships until flying overhead I could see neighborhoods and stuff in the foreground and then a ways back in the harbor there are these mountainous aquatic vehicles. They are so huge, it's hard to imagine something stopping them in good time. Especially not this thread of a bridge 

Back in July we actually did a dinner cruise as part of a work trip in Norfolk and passed the Dali which was under repair, it was the size of the aircraft carriers nearby.

In reply to johndej :

It still has all the containers on it?  I just assumed they would have unloaded it totally and sent the containers on their way.  Ballast thing?