# Luxury liner squeezes under bridge with 20" to spare **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355 "2010-11-03T18:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/1 "2010-11-03T18:14:48Z")
Everybody take a deep breath… no, wait, that wouldn’t help… [http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/11/01/allure-of-the-sea-misses-bridge-by-inches/](http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/11/01/allure-of-the-sea-misses-bridge-by-inches/) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/2 "2010-11-03T18:21:19Z")
I wonder if they shut down traffic on the bridge? And who insured the passage? Nitpick: holding your breath will help, since that increases the weight of the ship and lowers it slightly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/3 "2010-11-03T18:26:43Z")
If you watch the video, you can clearly see traffic moving along the bridge. I was on the Carnival Celebration a few years ago, and getting under that bridge out of Jacksonville seemed impossible, but we made it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/4 "2010-11-03T18:33:14Z")
That thing looks more like the _Bop Bag of the Seas_, a giant sail just waiting for the right crosswind to push it over. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/5 "2010-11-03T18:38:53Z")
from tv news it sounded planned and calculated. comment was made that increased speed made the ship ride lower. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/6 "2010-11-03T18:52:46Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > That thing looks more like the _Bop Bag of the Seas_, a giant sail just waiting for the right crosswind to push it over. Nah, they glued a couple of pennies to the bottom to keep it upright. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/7 "2010-11-03T18:55:28Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Nitpick: holding your breath will help, since that increases the weight of the ship and lowers it slightly. 😃 If your lungs are full of [url=[Sulfur hexafluoride - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sf6)]SF[sub]6[/6], sure, but if you’re breathing air, holding your breath won’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/8 "2010-11-03T19:03:04Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Nah, they glued a couple of pennies to the bottom to keep it upright. Great. If they glued a phonograph arm to the bottom of the pennies, it’ll keep the ship from skipping over the waves. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/9 "2010-11-03T19:20:49Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > If your lungs are full of [url=[Sulfur hexafluoride - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sf6)]SF[sub]6[/6], sure, but if you’re breathing air, holding your breath won’t matter. Just as an inflated balloon weighs more than an empty one, lungs pressurized by a held breath are heavier than exhaled lungs. In practice, of course, the amount of excess weight due to a held breath is too small to make a difference. But this is Straight Dope, where pedantry is a virtue. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/10 "2010-11-03T20:21:23Z")
Cruise ships sure have gotten ugly in the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/11 "2010-11-03T20:24:22Z")
This was also done in Oct 2009 by her sister ship, “Oasis of the Seas”: > **[Oasis of the Seas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Oasis_of_the_Seas)** > > Oasis of the Seas is a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International. She is the first of her class, the Oasis class, whose ships were the largest passenger ships in the world, until surpassed in 2023 by the Icon class. Her hull was laid down in November 2007 and she was completed and delivered to Royal Caribbean in October 2009. At the time of construction, Oasis of the Seas set a new capacity record of carrying over 6,000 passengers. She was joined by sister ships Allure of the Seas > [@wiki](#): > > The ship was completed and turned over to Royal Caribbean on 28 October 2009. Two days later, she departed Finland for the United States. While exiting the Baltic Sea, the vessel passed underneath the Great Belt Fixed Link in Denmark on 1 November 2009. The bridge has a clearance of 65 m (213 ft) above the water; Oasis normally has an air draft of 72 m (236 ft). The passage under the bridge was possible due to retraction of the telescoping funnels, and an additional 30 cm (12 in) was gained by the squat effect whereby vessels traveling at speed in a shallow channel will be drawn deeper into the water. Approaching the bridge at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), the ship passed under it with less than 2 feet (60 cm) of clearance. Holy crap. 225,000 tons. That’s a lotta steel. And stuff. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/12 "2010-11-03T20:30:13Z")
I realise that the engineer’s know what they are doing. When you have 225,000 tons of ship moving at 20 knots, thats a heck of a lot of water displaced. Does this create any “pressure” on the bridges’ feet? (I guess tides create more pressure, but still…) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/13 "2010-11-03T20:30:30Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Holy crap. 225,000 tons. That’s a lotta steel. And stuff. Half of that weight is alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/14 "2010-11-03T20:38:58Z")
Two thousand seven hundred staterooms?? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/15 "2010-11-03T20:45:05Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Half of that weight is alcohol. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/16 "2010-11-03T21:50:20Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Half of that weight is alcohol. The other half is cheesecake. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/17 "2010-11-03T21:55:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Oasis normally has an air draft of 72 m (236 ft). The passage under the bridge was possible due to retraction of the telescoping funnels, and an additional 30 cm (12 in) was gained by the squat effect whereby vessels traveling at speed in a shallow channel will be drawn deeper into the water. Man, you’ve got to have a shitload of faith in your calculations to do something like that. “We can make it under that bridge, but only if we’re going at full speed. Let’s kick this pig!” ---
**Author:** ![Kilmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kilmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilmore)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/18 "2010-11-03T21:57:21Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > If you watch the video, you can clearly see traffic moving along the bridge. > > I was on the Carnival Celebration a few years ago, and getting under that bridge out of Jacksonville seemed impossible, but we made it. Actually, all that up there looked like emergency vehicles to me. A couple of them were moving out of the possible impact zone. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/19 "2010-11-03T22:55:16Z")
> [@Kilmore](#): > > Actually, all that up there looked like emergency vehicles to me. A couple of them were moving out of the possible impact zone. That’s what I thought at first, too, but I watched it again and it looks like the lights are all moving. What looks like flashing lights is just the strobe effect as they move behind the vertical slats of the bridge railings. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/20 "2010-11-05T22:08:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Cruise ships sure have gotten ugly in the last few years. Only from the outside. The folks who pay get MUCH better scenery. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355.md?page=2)