Cruise Ship Sinking in Italy

[defever]

this may be the wrong place for this but it does have to do with "cruising"---assume you like to cruise on a 1000 footer...

i don't understand how a modern cruise ship, built w/ watertight bulkheads, massive pumps, etc could be holed--albiet a 165 ft long hole--and go over so quickly. one would think that massive amts. of water entering the hull would tend to right the boat for awhile (lots of weight below the waterline--you know, ballast?). or because it was in shallow water did the upper weight of the vessel overcome any ballast and just tip it over. also, do you think the ship would have stayed mor upright in deep water??

any comments?

[Cotemar]

Costa Concordia hit a rock cropping on the port side, lurching the port side up and coming to a full stop. For 3 or 4 minute the water came in the port high side and flowed down hill to the starboard side. Captain got off the rocks, but ship was already listing to starboard and just continued to fill with water. Captain made hard U turn to port and leaned the starboard side of the ship up against the rocky shore.

[Therapy]

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...hip-74739.html