I'll pick the Titanic disaster, over 1500 people died for no reason. Had the Captain had a brain he would have steered the great ship back to the very monster iceberg that it hit and tore it's hull open, It may have took as little as 20 minutes to go back and connect with the iceberg and off load the passengers on the cold yet safe iceberg but Captain Smith decided to just do a slow sink that took 2h.40mins
65 years later in 1977 a Captain did the opposite and saved his crew and passengers, the MV William Carson sailing out of eastern Nova Scotia struck an iceberg in close to the very same waters, while the ship was smaller the 158 on board everyone were transported to the very iceberg that tore it hull open and everyone was rescued before it sunk in under 90 minutes
Last edited by Snuffleupagus; 04-24-2020 at 05:40 AM.
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The passengers of the Carlson got into lifeboats, then some got onto ice floes after, rather than the sinking ship maneuvering and docking with an iceberg.
I'll pick the Titanic disaster, over 1500 people died for no reason. Had the Captain had a brain he would have steered the great ship back to the very monster iceberg that it hit and tore it's hull open, It may have took as little as 20 minutes to go back and connect with the iceberg and off load the passengers on the cold yet safe iceberg but Captain Smith decided to just do a slow sink that took 2h.40mins
65 years later in 1977 a Captain did the opposite and saved his crew and passengers, the MV William Carson sailing out of eastern Nova Scotia struck an iceberg in close to the very same waters, while the ship was smaller the 158 on board everyone were transported to the very iceberg that tore it hull open and everyone was rescued before it sunk in under 90 minutes
Or the helmsmen could have had more faith in the ship and steered towards the iceberg when it was first spotted instead of trying to turn away. A direct hit would have flooded the first bulkhead, but the ship wouldn't have sunk and would have been able to continue under it's own power. The Titanic was called unsinkable exactly for that reason, but the crew apparently wasn't given updated training to reflect that
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Or the helmsmen could have had more faith in the ship and steered towards the iceberg when it was first spotted instead of trying to turn away. A direct hit would have flooded the first bulkhead, but the ship wouldn't have sunk and would have been able to continue under it's own power. The Titanic was called unsinkable exactly for that reason, but the crew apparently wasn't given updated training to reflect that
Wasn't it called unsinkable but then they didn't build it to spec which allowed everything to fill ans sink?
After more reading I think my original assessment is wrong, they designed the Titanic to survive a direct hit with another boat, but not an iceberg, so it probably would have sunk anyways. However I did find another article with two points I hadn't heard before
If the helmsman had simply turned the wheel the other way, they would have missed the berg. And had the captain not listened to the WSL chairman and stopped the boat, the Titanic would have remained afloat long enough for a rescue ship to arrive and everyone would have survived. The whole disaster really was a perfect storm of incompetence
Between the Titanic and Chernobyl, it seems a combination of incompetence and bluster are the perfect recipe for an epic fail... I wonder how the current COVID-19 situation will be remembered when viewed through a historic lens?
Three weeks later, he told NPR's Daniel Zwerdling in an unrecorded and confidential interview, "I fought like Hell to stop that launch. I'm so torn up inside I can hardly talk about it, even now."
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Battle of Carrhae. Crassus, richest man in Rome, resents fame of fellow triumvir Pompey, decides he needs big military victory to burnish his prestige. Chooses Parthia, most formidable foe in known world. Assembles seven legions without authority from the senate. Refuses offer from Armenian ally of more troops, provisions, and a secure route into Parthia. Crosses desert instead. At end of long march encounters enemy and orders immediate attack without pausing to draw water. Army surrounded by cavalry that rains arrows down on them relentlesly. Crassus goes to parlay. Gets head cut off. Army annihilated. Seven eagles captured. Roman prisoner who resembles Crassus dressed in women's clothes and paraded around Parthia.
Postscript: Julius Caesar is preparing invasion of Parthia to restore lost eagles when he's assassinated.
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Fukushima. Not sure what can be done with nuclear waste or reactor s but it sure seems this mess is swept under a rug. In a time where climate change is such a huge topic, it astounds me that this doesn’t get more press. Or why isn’t anyone spending the damn money and resources to clean it the F up. They’re still dumping waste water into the ocean to my knowledge.
Likely helped the fall of Bolshevik Russia in 10ish years and the rise of Japanese Imperialism culminating in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 40ish years.
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NASA uses the metric system while Lockheed Martin uses the English system when building a satellite Cost of the lost orbiter: $125 million Inflation-adjusted: $165.6 million
Rupert Murdoch has an affair with Wendi Deng Divorce settlement in 1999: $1.7 billion Inflation-adjusted: $2.2 billion
Capitain Joe Hazelwood crashes the Exxon-Valdez into Prince William Sound Money lost in 1989:$4.4 billion in clean up and repairs Inflation adjusted value: $7.8 billion
History's epic failures
