Launching an oil tanker ship with airbags - GIF, videos, and photo

[Jon]

Airbag ship launch fail.

[Paul Alciatore]

I don't think that failure had anything to do with the air bags. There is no way that thing could be stable. Only about 1/5th of it's main mass was below the water and the superstructure was above even that. How could it possibly have stayed upright? One wonders if the engine was even installed yet. There was an obvious, complete lack of ballast. Unless the bottom plate was 12" thick, the center of buoyancy was far, far below the center of mass. They weren't even close.

Physics works.

Airbag ship launch fail.

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[Frank S]

I don't think that failure had anything to do with the air bags. There is no way that thing could be stable. Only about 1/5th of it's main mass was below the water and the superstructure was above even that. How could it possibly have stayed upright? One wonders if the engine was even installed yet. There was an obvious, complete lack of ballast. Unless the bottom plate was 12" thick, the center of buoyancy was far, far below the center of mass. They weren't even close.

Physics works.

Agreed that vessel was launched way too green