I tried explaining this to an Air Force captain years ago and he didn’t believe about the chain.

The anchor holds the chain. The chain holds the ship

The anchor is the only thing you throw out when you need it and take back when you don't.

When you can casually drop Archimedes into a sentence, you win. 😂

I want to be the person who controls the water spraying cleaners real bad

Most dangerous place on a ship is the Anchor room. Not the mess deck 😂

Did I seriously just watch a short about ship anchors and I loved it

Wouldn't want to be anywhere near that chain when they're setting and pulling up

Damn. I used to think the anchor is made to get stuck in the ocean floor like a hook 💀

One of the coolest things is being in the anchor compartment where the chain is stored. The size of those links…your mind will be blown every time you see them. Love ship building

One factor that was left out of the video is that the weight of the chain pulls the ship towards the anchor. As the current or wind pulls the ship away from the anchor, the chain is lifted up at an angle. Gravity pulls down on the chain putting tension on the chain holding the ship in place.

"Commercial ship.." Shows Aircraft Carrier....

I used to be a Merchant Mariner. When we'd drop the hook, the entire ship would vibrate. It was like the wrath of Thor.

I like the little shark animation checking out the anchor 😂

The chain operates as a shock absorber. It will lift (take up slack) with swells and reduce the spike loads on the anchor. This helps to keep the anchor in place. Chain drag has little to do with it.

Basically the anchor holds the chain to the floor and together they hold the ship from moving around.

That commercial ship has some nice firepower.

I worked at a shipyard when I was 18 and I remember being on the dry dock for the first time seeing an anchor chain being worked on and they had to use forklift to move 1 link 😮 it was a very tough job but also very cool and seeing things most people don’t, I even I got to help dry dock the FDNY fire boats and repaint them 👍👍

I worked with a guy that had been in the Navy, his job was dropping anchor. He was on a battleship, he told me that when they were on exercises that anchor had to be dropped at exactly the right time and place to secure the ship in place.

There is many different styles and types of anchors. For large ships this is usually what they go with. Essentially your just trowing a weight in the water which will hold you in place. Other anchors that are more commonly used for smaller ships work differently. Since current and wind forces are more segnificant for a smaller ship, just a weight won’t work (well it will but it would be to heavy for the ship if you made it big enough) Instead they use anchors that dig into the sea floor. One of the most versitile ones looks a bit like a plough. That one will however not work very well in rock floor or very lose sand. There is different anchors for that. Before you are done anchoring you must check and really know for sure the anchor is stuck. Else you might end up on some cliffs getting smashed apart. Also currents can be dangerous. When the current switches sides the boat will move a lot due to that 3x the length of depth chain. It will also likely dislodge the anchor.

Imagine being a fish ,minding your own business,and a anchor nails you to the bottom?😂

The USS Midway’s (CV-41) Anchor chain’s length is 2,000 feet, each link is 160 lbs and the anchor itself is 20 tons

I am a licensed Master Mariner. The description is fundamentally inaccurate. The anchor chain does not provide anchorage or hold the vessel in place. Instead, the anchor chain provides a catenary to hold the anchor horizontal against the seabed. The anchor can then bury itself in the bottom. The anchor is raised by removing the catenary by raising the chain, allowing the anchor to be pulled up vertically out of the seabed.

if any anchor catches you while being released just pray , even you best friend will go on ghost mood

I used to work on a ship yard where big ships would come in for maintenance and one day something happened and the anchor had fell and dropped off the side of the ship and crashed into the ground No one was hurt no one was really around that area but the sound it made and the vibration through the ground was intense 😂

Anchor chains scare me, if anything goes wrong even slighrly thats a high risk of lives being lost. My respect goes out to any sailor that deals with them, especially on huge freighters or military vessels

Don't forget that the anchors are shaped like that to dig into the seabed to cause more drag and even be logged up against a rock or something

This is truly amazing information and great animation as well. I love the water from the river, creeks, oceans and well

The chain length is known as the scope and it usually 5-6x the depth

This is why statics is easier to pass than dynamics ….

A long steel chain holding 560,000 tons of cargo to one spot. Physics and science as a whole can really pull off miracles.

Wow... I have always wondered how anchors worked... Like, does it always touch bottom? How is is strong enough, for big ships? etc... What a great little gem, I found here!

Unless the chain drags over an undersea oil pipeline, like it did in Huntington Beach, CA a couple years ago and the oil slick that went with it.

All these years the anchor been taking all the credit! The chain is the hero we need!

ohh you have answered one of my shower thoughts for the last 30 years 😅

I learned this in the Navy when I got my ESWS, however, later on in life, I learned that this does NOT apply to small vessels, like my sailboat. On small vessels the anchor does all the holding, and the chain, or rode, is there to pull on the anchor parallel to the sea floor, instead of vertically.

A nice explanation... SO many folks I knew when we had a (16-foot/5m) fishing boat never understood why we had a few metres of heavier chain connected to the anchor and then lighter chain up to the cleat on the boat.

I need a longer video 😂

The titanic ditched anchors and went to anchor itself😍

I'm more impressed by how they pull the super heavy anchor and chain back to the ship.

Wow I definitely learned something I never knew but have actually wondered before. Great subject material 💪🏻💪🏻

It's not the size of the anchor in me but the length of the chain that matters - Ship Edit: 1.9k likes, my most liked comment. Thank you🙏

This is a good enough single short vid to warrant a follow, imo. So interesting.

Very interesting. I thought the anchor just caught on the ocean floor and stopped the ship from moving. I learn something new every day!

Working in those chain lockers is a pain in the ass

Wow! Had NO idea that's how it works. Truly amazing and makes so much sense. Thank you 👍

36 tons is mind boggling. Now I see the validity behind anti anchor laws to protect seabeds

When I was a kid, I used to always think: "what if the chain is too short? Wouldn't it pull the ship down and sink it?" Boy oh boy

I'm wondering which commercial ship has a close in weapons system

Learned something today. Thank you.

I did not know that. Thanks for a genuinely interesting fact.

For anyone who's confused, I think I understand it now. You all know how if you swing a rope, like a jump rope, there will be an arch that goes down the entire rope? That's the energy transferring down. And as we all know, the energy gets dispersed out of the rope gradually. Now imagine this on a large scale with a giant ass chain. Even if the boat is being pulled by tons and tons of water, that energy gets dispersed by the chain, so the anchor isn't getting yanked on by the boat. The anchor just digs into the sand or grips the rocks, the chain is so heavy that it holds the anchor in place. And they lay the chain out in a straight line, and allow themselves to back up until all the chain is out. And by that point, there is so much weight between the ship and the anchor, that the ship probably never pulls on the anchor until it starts to retract it.

check out how LSTs dropped anchor just before it landed/beached at low tide, offloaded, and then pulled itself back out at high tide*! thatd make a cool video too!?

The anchor DOES embed in the bottom. The chain provices WEIGHT in its catenary (the curved shape of the chain between the bottom and the ship). As the ship tugs on the anchor and chain the chain has to be lifted which absorbs the loads imposed by wind and current. Wind and current vary constantly so as the loads ebb the chain drops back onto the bottom, ready to absorb the next surge. Even cruising sailboats use a long length of chain to absorb the loads.

This deserves a sub 👏🏻 Interesting information ✅ Good voice quality ✅ Straight to point ✅ That's some quality content

Also, I learned from movies that if you drop the anchor while cruising you'll do a sick 180!

Most think the anchor holds it in place due to most being mainly familiar with one's for small boats that are on a rope.

I think that the chain gives the anchor the right (horizontal or near) angle to have a good grip to the bottom and, by resting on it provide friction.

navy vet here . those chains are massive . had the chance to see the size of the chains on a carrier . blew my mind . for the navy vet that reads this .... cv64

I’ve never worked around boats so me saying this might make me sound dumb but I find it absolutely fascinating that it’s the chain that keeps the boat in place, I thought it was the anchor, I assumed the claws it has hooked onto the sea floor or cliffs while putting the boat in neutral or whatever is what kept it in place .

Well, that's close enough. But the chain acts as a spring and if you drag the anchor it digs itself deeper. The two work together .

That makes sense. What a good short. Deserves a like!

Rip Lenny's dad. That anchor took my mans off the map a long time ago

You learn something new and interesting everyday. Love it❤

That did NOT look like a commercial ship to me.....maybe the Gatlin gun gave it away I don't know

Every time a large vessel anchors it devastates the seabed & kills whatever is down there

Tbh if I was in the room where the anchor was being held, my intrusive thoughts would win as when the anchor is being released I'd put my hand on the chain as it's in momentum 😂

Caveats and nuances. The pleasure of your company ☺️🙏

Questions i never had being answered even though i never cared. Love it

Oh shit, I thought if you dropped an anchor without a chain attached it would work just as well... Thanks for clarifying that

The fact that the anchor has it's own beach shower facilities!

The water is the real hero here - Mitch Hedberg😂

I'm actually at a treatment and rehabilitation facility called Anchor Homes ⚓

The chain is counter weight for the anchor to allow the blades to dig in without pulling it up when setting. With out chain anchor skips off bottom

Imagine telling someone 200 years ago that warships would be floating mountains made of stone, steel, and fabric, able to erase a city in 30 minutes.

"Commercial ships these days" *Shows heavily armed ship*

I wish to know about how the anchor will be retrieved

Bottom living oceanic Biodivercity might be getting badly affected by these Mondter Chains

That' SO COOL! I'm always so happy to learn something new! Thanks!

Anchor: “Falls” Whale:yo bro u see that “SPLAT” 💀

Once, being anchored at Tripoli roads, we finally heaved the anchor after 6 weeks waiting for a port berth. I'll never forget the look on the Captain face when he discovered there was knot in the anchor chain!! Took the ships crew 12 hours to lift the chain, with knot, on the deck and unwind it.

Truly impressive that I had no idea that four times the amount of chain is hanging out there so that's the chip lightens by light 100 tons when you drop the anchor...

Anchors terrify me. Picturing the scary depths they go to is super unsettling.

New phobia unlocked

Imagine holding on to one of those anchors as it goes all the way down to the bottom and trying to swim back up without drowning.

Learning something so basic at 55 I'm impressed!

Nemo down there looking up to get crushed by a big ass chain 😂

I did not know this. It makes A LOT of sense!! It makes sense that the CHAIN is the mainplayer here!

I remember growing up thinking the SSS Titanic was the biggest ship ever made😂

What amazes me more is how they managed to get 560 000 tons to float

Imagine being a fish whilst that Big Mama Jamba drops "-Yo, the hell was that spash sound? -Ey Steave, you might wanna move... -Huh, why is tha - *BONK* -...I mean, I did warn him..."

when i heard that the chain is what holds the ship i still couldnt fathom that until i saw a malfunctioning chain release where it was loose and the chain was free-falling on its own - the sound and speed of it is terrifying. its easy to imagine being immediately pulverised if you reached out to it

You might think this sounds crazy and and unexpected. But if you’ve ever seen those chains they are absolutely massive bro.

Damn, it's taken me 55 years to learn this.

IOW if gravity was suddenly switched off, the anchor wouldn’t be enough to keep the ship from flinging off into space.

I wanna be the person who controls those pressure washers. It's like pressure washing simulator premium😂

Heard SpongeBob escaped death by the whisker when an anchor was dropped on his house.

I understand that the chain outweighs the anchor, but what I didn't realize was that it only has to counter current , tide and wind velocity...

Love how the shark casually wiggles around in the animation 😂😅

Always wondered bout this. Thanks internet!