I’m thinking it’s unlikely to be generator (engine) failure, as 3 or 4 should be running during this stage of navigation, and even if one shuts off, it should be handled seamlessly. So more plausible that a serious electrical or control problem happened causing all of them to trip off, or breakers open. As we did see two restarts.
Imagining the bridge computer rebooting, with that windows NT startup chime.
A ship of this size will have a backup bridge and deck built into other rooms like engine control or an outer wing or bridge. Emergency shutoffs and so on that can be run from various rooms on the ship. The entire bridge could be on fire and destroyed and you could still operate the ship from the lower control room where there is an entire backup panel in case the bridge goes down in some emergency or disaster. These can be run off of battery banks or separate generators in case the main power supply is compromised.
They are like this so that if the bridge is taken out in a collision or fire or freak wave, even with something like a helicopter or plane crashing into the bridge, a crane accident and so on, you have a chance of still being able to command the vessel safely from a position below that is in a separate area of the ship. The idea comes from military ships but it is now built into boats and yachts in addition to larger commercial ships. The engine control room in this ship had to have a redundant propulsion control and monitoring system in it somewhere.
But if you are already pushing forward at full speed then you will smash into stuff. The super yacht 'Go' owned by the guy who invented the Capri Sun juice drinks drove full speed into a pier and smashed up the docks and caused all sorts of damage. The controls were touch panels and the computers allegedly froze in the full speed forward position and the yacht just shot into the docks without them being able to regain control in time. They had power just not control over propulsion (allegedly at least according to the captain).
So when they lost propulsion control they aimed the yacht at the docks on purpose to avoid hitting other boats or yachts that might contain people. They didn't aim their yacht at a bridge that might collapse. They knew that if they hit anther boat it might kill someone on board. But plowing the yacht into the shore would be an expensive mistake but not cause deaths. No idea what was going on in the minds of the street shitters running this ship in Baltimore.
Tinfoil hat shit aside, what one component can kill the power to an entire ship? It's safe to assume that the gennies are running in pairs, or pairs of pairs, right?
The timing for them to run their ship at 5-6knots in tight conditions right towards a bridge then lose power at the perfect moment to smash into the supports is convenient for them. Either that or we are dealing with the worst crew in the entire shipping industry. The incompetence here is so gross, bewildering, and utterly insane, that sabotage is more rational than simply it being an accident.
How does a ship lose power and all the engines die, for a brief period before firing back up again? Surely there's lots of systems running to prevent that?
Engines seemed to be pushing the ship at at least 5knots if not more. There have been instances of ships losing their bridge controls and the propulsion remaining engaged. So the ships cut power and restart their computers and hope to regain control before they are on a collision course with something else. If this happens in the open ocean you will probably not collide with anything. But in a port or dock or crowded mooring area you might drift or drive forward causing collisions. Or drive right into a bridge.
