How to fit a BB trough the Panama lock Iowa has almost nothing left http://www.battleshipiowa.org/Tow.htm Incredible that they fit!
This is why US ships were limited to 108 feet in width, the narrowest part of the Panama Canal is 110 feet wide. 30 cm clearance per side!
but it sure takes a very very good steering to get her throug that. 2 feet of space is (almost) nothing for a BB
they have (you can actually see them on that big pic with their rails)! There is nothing a "skipper" can and may do! Control is of the ship is in hands of the Lockkeeper!
That's not a dock it's a lock for the Panama ship canal. Its construction was the great engineering achievements of the 20th century. When built the locks were designed to be able to take the biggest ship in the world. Unfortunately ships have go bigger since then and Panama is facing major expenditure if they want to avoid the canal becoming obsolete.
But surely, as the alternative is to travel all the way round South America, the canal is a better bet... 2 options: 1) don't build bigger ships 2) enlarge the canal
I think they are actually enlarging the locks! BTW did you know that passing trough those locks actually cost about/around 1 million dollars (wich still is cheaper and faster than sailing around south America)!! What is the widest ship a float nowadays? Biggest ship Knock Nevis is 69m wide and 448 m long...are their any wider?
As far as I know, USA was going to enlarge Panama Canal during WW2, in order to get Montanas thru it. But as Montanas got axed, so got enlarged canal too.
Is that a supertanker? When they built the canal, they had no way of foreseeing just how big ships were going to get. If the canal were to be enlarged, who would do the work? Also, there are those who favor building a new, sea level canal through Nicaragua. Not sure why, though.
Thanks for the photo of the Iowa class in the lock! Long ago when building models I always thought the straight hull sides were odd, then I read that it was because of the Panama canal - now I sure see why, thanks!
