# The Mexican Navy rams the Brooklyn Bridge {Tall Ship that lost power} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 18, 2025, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494 "2025-05-18T05:16:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/141 "2025-05-23T02:28:15Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Somebody want to tell him about his country’s prestige? In the mind of Kim Jong Un, “prestige” is all about spectacle – events in front of enormous crowds, gilded palaces, huge ceremonial parades, and showing off military capabilities. Think “mini Trump” and you get the idea; it’s the same mindset. To have the latest and greatest navy warship – which this desperately poor country could ill afford to build in the first place – slide out of the shipyard and fall over must have been unimaginably infuriating for Dear Leader. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/142 "2025-05-23T02:35:01Z")
I believe every year there’s an event for big sailing ships. The USCG cutter Eagle takes part in these. I spent over 2 years living and working on Governors Island, which then was the largest US Coast Guard base, in the New York harbor. We never saw the ships from there, I guess they went down the east side of Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/143 "2025-05-23T13:04:35Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > To have the latest and greatest navy warship – which this desperately poor country could ill afford to build in the first place – slide out of the shipyard and fall over must have been unimaginably infuriating for Dear Leader. Could have called it a submarine and declared it a success 😜 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/144 "2025-05-23T13:44:42Z")
Maybe. The signature useful feature of a submarine is not that it goes underwater. It’s that it comes back up again. 😉 ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/145 "2025-05-23T20:48:35Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > believe every year there’s an event for big sailing ships. The USCG cutter Eagle takes part in these. I spent over 2 years living and working on Governors Island, which then was the largest US Coast Guard base, in the New York harbor. We never saw the ships from there, I guess they went down the east side of Manhattan. Not every year, but they happen. Boston did a tall ship gathering in 2017 that I volunteered at, and I’m hearing about another in 2026. I’m pretty sure that nearby cities coordinate on these, so other east coast cities may do the same next year. I seem to remember New York City having similar events in 1976 (as part of the Bicentennial), and to celebrate the refurbishment of the Statue of Liberty. No idea what route they take, or where they moor, but they must have passed Governor’s Island on the way in and out. I was just discussing Governor’s Island with a coworker who grew up in Brooklyn. Is it still a Coast Guard station? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/146 "2025-05-23T21:27:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was just discussing Governor’s Island with a coworker who grew up in Brooklyn. Is it still a Coast Guard station? That shut down around 1995. The subsequent history is complicated but the island is now a combo of National Monument and NYC city park. And a bit of a white elephant from the city government POV. **[Governors Island - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governors_Island)** is pretty thorough. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/147 "2025-05-23T21:46:02Z")
I met someone who teaches in the public high school on Governor’s Island. She said that it’s a trek, but a good school. Two questions on the school website are “Would I be willing to travel to Governors Island every day?” “Are you okay with a long commute?” > **[Admission | New York Harbor School](https://www.newyorkharborschool.org/admission)** > > The first step is to learn about Harbor School . . . its mission, its history, and its future. You can do this by continuing to surf our website, and we encourage you to take your time as you look around. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/148 "2025-05-23T23:57:59Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I can only imagine the fate that will befall those considered responsible for an accident so major 10 or 20 years ago I watched part of a documentary about post war Japan. It included an interview with an engineer responsible for the first post-war large ship out of a shipyard, in which he recounted that if you looked at the launch film clip, you could see the handle of the knife in his sleave. And they showed the film clip, and you could see the handle of the knife, which he had so that he could commit suicide if anything went badly wrong with the launch. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/149 "2025-05-24T01:03:09Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > For reasons I can’t remember, engaging the prop from a stop tends to first cause a lateral motion at the stern of the boat. Forward engagement walks the stern one direction and reverse the other. Isn’t that what they call “torque”? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/150 "2025-05-24T01:11:55Z")
Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/151 "2025-05-24T01:14:45Z")
I see, so not the same as torque then. Thanks for the explanation! I read it before you deleted it. It vanished while I was looking at it. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/152 "2025-05-24T14:51:14Z")
Curious as to what the explanation was. I always understood prop walk to be a complex phenomenon into which torque has a part to play, but mostly I don’t understand it. I just know that different boats I’ve said have exhibited walk in different amounts, sometimes different in forward vs revers. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/153 "2025-05-24T17:07:29Z")
Short version is asymmetric water flow impinging differently on the left and right sides of the hull produces a net force one way or the other that shoves the vessel sideways. Generally a larger effect in reverse than forward. Akin to P-factor in propeller-driven airplanes. This is a pretty good article: **[Propeller walk - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller_walk)**. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/154 "2025-10-05T14:21:15Z")
**Bumpdate:**. Cuauhtémoc left NYC [yesterday](https://abc7ny.com/post/cuauhtmoc-navy-ship-crashed-brooklyn-bridge-heads-back-mexico/17940575/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494.md?page=7)