Andrew C. Toppan wrote:
I heard the same story about the Bunker Hill. She was supposedly
dropped off the blocks while in dry dock. I've never found any


And I should add...."dropping a ship off the blocks" in a graving dock
is a very hard thing to do, unless there is complete incompetence by
the docking officer or some really, really bizarre circumstance such
as an earthquake. Drydock people are very, very careful to be very,
very conservative in their docking and support arrangements to avoid
just this sort of thing. The frequency of this rumor would have one
believe all docking officers are buffoons.

Remember: a graving dock is a fixed, immobile, stone/concrete/steel
structure. What in the world would motivate a ship to suddenly jump
off its blocks and fall to the floor? Unless it's a very narrow ship
requiring side bracing, it's not going anywhere.....

A floating drydock is a different thing entirely. Since it moves, and
sinks, and floats the entire time the ship is in it, there are many
more opportunities for a foul-up. Improper ballasting, improper
positioning, a failure of a pump or valve...all can cause big
problems. Then of course one could have structural failure of the dock
itself....

Floating drydock accidents do happen. They rarely result in any major,
lasting damage (for example, I never heard a rumor about SPRUANCE
being somehow incapacitated, despite her docking accident before
delivery).




--
Andrew Toppan --- --- "I speak only for myself"
"Haze Gray & Underway" - Naval History, DANFS, World Navies Today,
Photo Features, Military FAQs, and more - http://www.hazegray.org/

The only ship I ever heard of that dropped of her blocks in a dry dock
was the aircraft carrier Amagi. However it took the Great Kanto
Earthquake of Sept. 1, 1923 to make that happen.

ALV