Ships are designed to flex. Remember back in WWII when Kaiser was building
liberty ships, it was a problem because Kaiser had the entire thing welded
up tight, versus riveted. He built them a heck of alot faster, but a few
sank because they could not flex. It wasn't really considered something to
change because we needed the transport ships bad and they were not expected
to last a long time during the war, because they were sitting ducks in the
water. Just one of those useless tidbits of info!
Watching a video of a helicopter main rotor twist and bend, as well as a
commercial jets wings flexing is pretty cool too!
Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("Dave Stadt" wrote)
Wave height is only one factor. Distance between waves is even more
important. I'll take a 50 foot ocean wave over a 25 foot Great Lakes
wave
any day.


Plus there's something about water density - Superior's fresh water vs.
ocean salt water - and how that factors into the makeup of the waves.

I've been hunting online for the video of an ore ship on Superior, its bow
twisting and bending in a rough Great Lakes storm. I love Lake Superior,
big ships and waves ...I was awestruck by the sight I saw on that video.

We rent a cabin "on" Superior every year...

Fun site:
http://www.duluthshippingnews.com/
If you like the big boats you can spend hours lost in the links :-)


Montblack