A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#1

Post by jakogut » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 3:51 PM UTC

A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup
npr.org

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#2

Post by themark » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:56 PM UTC

I wonder how many super yachts are actually destroyers.

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#3

Post by nickff » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:59 PM UTC

themark wrote: post #2

I wonder how many super yachts are actually destroyers.

None; modern super yachts are usually on the order of hundreds of tons, while destroyers displace nearly ten thousand tons.

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#4

Post by sparrish » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:59 PM UTC

So 'big crane does big jobs for anyone willing to pay for it, including government' is news?

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#5

Post by dboreham » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 5:08 PM UTC

sparrish wrote: post #4

So 'big crane does big jobs for anyone willing to pay for it, including government' is news?

It was originally built for a black project. Useful for other things subsequently, obviously.

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#6

Post by assimpleaspossi » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 5:11 PM UTC

sparrish wrote: post #4

So 'big crane does big jobs for anyone willing to pay for it, including government' is news?

[flagged]

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#7

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 5:20 PM UTC

assimpleaspossi wrote: post #6

sparrish wrote: post #4

So 'big crane does big jobs for anyone willing to pay for it, including government' is news?

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#8

Post by samwillis » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 5:50 PM UTC

The story of "Project Azorian" and the Hughes Glomar Explorer (the ship this crane was first used to construct) is a Wikipedia hole perfectly sized for a Saturday and some coffee. Well worth reading if you haven't before:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glomar_Explorer

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#9

Post by anigbrowl » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 6:06 PM UTC

assimpleaspossi wrote: post #6

sparrish wrote: post #4

So 'big crane does big jobs for anyone willing to pay for it, including government' is news?

[flagged]

Where's the trouble here? This is just a 'did you know' story.

If they wanted to stir up trouble they would be better off pointing out that the US industrial maritime capacity is actually terrible, and that China and Europe have far more capable equipment than the US does. Thanks to expensive and largely futile wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there has been a chronic under-investment in naval capacity, neglect of the merchant marine and so on.

Re: A crane with a CIA history helps with the Baltimore bridge cleanup

#10

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 6:16 PM UTC

themark wrote: post #2

I wonder how many super yachts are actually destroyers.

[deleted]