Am I the only one who is binge watching anchor fails? Thanks KZfaq...

I have not viewed this video in over a decade. The good news was no one was killed in this incident. This took place in an extremely busy Hong Kong Harbor. I was on the bridge giving the orders during this evolution. The anchor is lowered to the bottom, chain is let out, the brake holds while the flukes are set. Once you are holding, chain is let out. It is the weight of the chain that holds a ship in position. The chain link in this incident gets wedged on the lip of the chain pipe. The brake men released too much brake to get the chain moving. When it finally broke free there was no friction and once the momentum built there was no stopping the chain. Everyone cleared the area quickly and injuries were prevented. The team shifted to the alternate anchor and we anchored quickly and safely. The anchors today are the same as they were in WW II and a replacement came from a mothballed WW II ship. This was a final port visit following a 7 month deployment with operations in East Timor, Somalia, and Kuwait where the crew and embarked Marines performed flawlessly. The guy in khakis with his hands in his pockets was a fresh minted knucklehead baby ensign onboard less than a month. Thanks for posting Haze Gray - That is all!

A good anchor drop is when the anchor reaches the seabed. A perfect anchor drop is when the anchor remains attached to the ship.

Back in my day, you wouldn't see a Chief standing around with his hands in his pockets like that. It was physically impossible since one hand had a coffee cup permanently attached to it. :)

I was a Marine onboard when this happened. It sounded like something was ripping the ship in half! Crazy to see it on video all these years later.

"And that's the story of how I almost lost my life" "Yeah, that chain sure was dangerous" "Actually, I was talking about what happend after we lost the anchor"

For those asking, if an anchor chain is firmly attached to the ship, and that anchor runs away, the part of the ship it is attached to will be ripped off, because the anchors immense weight gives it great inertia. You do not want a big part of the ship's hull or framework ripped off. So you let the anchor go and fish it up later.

Every single OSHA inspector fainted while watching this.

I was on the USS Repose (AH-16) in Viet Nam 69-70. We not only lost one anchor AND chain, We then lost the flukes of the 2nd anchor off of the stem (the part where the chain attaches to the anchor) while trying to salvage the first anchor! This was 2 miles off of the coast just north of Da Nang. I was on the bridge with a radioman buddy to watch the action of "letting go" the anchor.. Didn't expect a show like that. On that old ship the anchor came all the way to the top deck and then out through the hawser.. When that chain came up through the deck, it was like a live snake! The loose end slapped the holey hell out of things on its way heading out hawser!! My friend sent me down off the bridge real fast as the Old Man's face was RED!! Lot of chatter from other ships in the fleet laughing at us for loosing both anchors!! Ah, the memories of an old guy!!

That's what Navy Divers call "Job Security"

Now for a brisk round of "Who tells the Captain?"

"Eh, I never liked that anchor anyways"

Its hard to believe that was 12 years ago now. I remember we were all waiting to go ashore in hong kong. I have to admit, our first reaction down in the engineering spaces, when we heard that the boatswains had lost our anchor, was to laugh. We weren't laughing 6 hours later while still waiting for the captain to sort things out so we could go ashore.

Think of the gas mileage they'll get now though.

Amazing how quickly the officer goes from being calm and collected to blaming everyone for loosing the anchor instead of taking responsibility.

The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

[-]Denroll 291 points 3 years ago Here's what happened: First, they were likely veering the chain out. This is done after setting the anchor. When you release the brake to drop the anchor, it comes out very fast due to the massive weight of the anchor. When setting the anchor, you usually release enough chain to equal 3 times the depth of the water. For example, in 30 meters of water, release 3 shots of chain. 1 shot equals 15 fathoms, or 90 feet. Once this amount of chain is payed out, the brake is set "two-man tight" (insert mom joke here). The ship will be backing down to "set" the anchor in the mud/sand/shell bottom and they will determine if the anchor is holding. If it is holding, then they will veer out more chain. You typically veer to 3-5 times the depth. The two guys turning that wheel were on the brake. They were turning counter-clockwise to release the brake. Quite often in relatively shallow water, there will not be enough weight of the chain payed out to pull the rest of the chain out of the chain locker. That's why it was moving so slow as opposed to how it whips out violently when you drop anchor. The ship should have had on an astern bell to help "pull" the chain out. Big ships like TARAWA are steam driven and take lots of time to come up in speed. When the chain was not feeding out ofter the brake was released, they kept turning, and turning, and turning. There were way too many turns taken off and the brake was nowhere near the engagement point. The ship probably got some sternway (reverse speed) and then the chain was finally pulled out of the locker. When they realized they needed to set the brake, they had to undo all of those needless turns, which is why you could see them frantically turning clockwise. This is just my educated guess from watching the video.

That is some huge fish to take a hook that size and run away with it like that !!!

"Just give us a little more chain there." *almost blows up ship in longest, most epic chain drop of all time*

What shocks me most about this is that no one in 2001 is wearing a mask to protect themselves against the iron oxide dust coming off the chain...that (magnetic) dust in your lungs screws up x-rays (short term) and is very bad in an MRI (possibly long-term). Hope they have amended that practice in the 16 years since...

Folks forget that the individual chain links can weigh a couple hundred pounds each and with each passing second that the chain pays out, you're adding another ton to the overall weight. The more chain that goes into the water, the harder it is to brake.

Not lost, they know exactly where it is... not onboard!

This title needs to be changed to “How a Chief loses his anchors”

I was stationed aboard the Tarawa in 81 as part of a Marine onboarding team that rotated marine helos and their crews. Great duty and a great ship.

I realize the military likes everything to be clean but this seems like a ridiculous way to wash the anchor and chain.

"Weigh anchor!" "Twenty tons sir!" "You idiot!!"

Need to reword the title. "How a Chief loses his anchors."

having been stationed on an LHA, I can say first hand those chain rings are M-A-S-S-I-V-E pieces of solid metal, you wouldn't want to have one of those dropped on your toe, much less get smacked by one of them.

12 years in the Marine Corps...spent sometime onboard ships, those Navy folks are some of the hardest working folks out there. Thanks be to God no one was hurt or worse when this took place.

"That's coming out of your paycheck, Johnson."

I was on board when this happened as an airmen on the flight deck and when that chain broke loose we knew someone had fucked up. Solid work goes to boats thank God no one was hurt. And that tall skinny kid in the in khakis at the end was an Ensign straight out of Annapolis with 3 weeks on board.

Who the hell walks around on ship with his hands in his pockets? You keep your hands-free in case you have to grab something.

Some magnet fisherman is going to cash in big time!

bet that made a good artificial reef somewhere.

And to think my anchor dropping binge started with one dropping on a tug...

I think I'd be wanting a mask or respirator to be wearing breathing in all that rust from that Rusty chain

Note to Chief: You're supposed to be setting the example.... get your hands out of your pockets.

Well, at least the boat is a lot faster now.

Always the best camera work at most most important moments

Fascinating video, thank you. I looked in the comments but couldn't see anyone else asking if the chain was later salvaged, because this surely must be a VERY expensive item therefore worth the effort? Cheers 🍻

The last chain link is the "weak link," which is the one that is made up in 2 halves and is put together with molten lead or some other metal that is designed to break when the anchor rode runs out of control. The weak link is there so that the bottom of the ship doesn't get ripped out.

it was at this moment that sailor Jimmy knew he messed up.

I love how quiet it gets.

"OK. Now I need a volunteer to go get it!..."

It's okay. The chain had one of those foam floaty things on it. They turned the boat around and scooped it right up. Easy peasy.

I guess I just sort of always assumed the other end of the chain would be attached to something...

Seaman Steve Uriel was on board when the anchor was lost. His reaction: “Did I do thaaaat”?

Rip everyones long term hearing that werent wearing protection.

lack of communication and poor judgement by COMMAND, not so much the deck crew. Logically, if your hook is holding without the brake, you DON'T NEED MORE SCOPE! The brake tenders should never have been allowed to unspool the brake like an aerobic exercise. By the time they got it back to engage, there was no fucking hope of stopping it. I got out in '89. I can't help but picture a bunch of women on deck of my old boat the USS Kalamazoo, AOR6, with the same shit happening. Precious. We had the exact same gear. I would also mention that the chain and anchor were never considered "ground tackle" in my day. That term was reserved for stationary, deck mounted tackle such as the pelican hook they should have engaged when the chain was tending with a moderate strain but not running. Duh. Lock the brake, set the pelican hook. What amazed me was the idiots crossing in front of the hawsepipe.

It got real quiet in there all of a sudden.

I put this magilla into commision in 1976. Decommissioned and sank off Hawaii few years ago. First of its class. I was on a five year enlistment and one of the last plank owners rang off the quaterdeck when my enlistment was up March 1980.

I just saw this. Back in '77 I was stationed on the Tarawa LHA-1. I painted that anchor while docked at 32nd. I tell ya, that anchor is cursed. I was in a skiff painting the bottom, they lowered a sailor down the chain pipe with a rope around his waist. Chief was in the viewing cage asked the sailor if he was alright, he shouts back "Yeah, I'm good Chief!" someone hears that and turns on the 14" pneumatic sander and it gyroscopes across both of his wrists... I look up and I am covered in a downpour of blood.... My first thought? do sharks come in this close to the dock?... heheh. That looked like the starboard side, the port side paint job was worse. Glad that anchor is far away from SD. I don't keep track of such things but, to my count that is twice that anchor embarrassed the Captain.

why does everyone in the navy look like a janitor?

The camera man missed the money shot.

Thank God for their training, you could tell right before the warning shot guys were moving and knew something was fucked up and had kinda positioned to get safe.

Did I hear “there goes another chain”? Kind of an expensive habit to have if you lose more than one.

Magneto would never have this problem.

I've been waiting to see this video for 11 years. I was on board when this happened.

My dad talked about the experimental ship he was on losing the anchor in the Atlantic... destroyed the chain lockers, brakes were on fire, ripped the thimble and all through the side of the ship, he said the Boson Mate (?) was white as a ghost... Also about his ship being moored on the wrong side of the pier at tide change and stretching a 6" hauser to less that 2" in diam to the point it was smoking with multiple tugs to keep it from slamming into some special ship.

the "fresh minted knucklehead baby ensign" didn't fail, you did.

All that build up and he flinched on the money shot. Can't say I wouldn't do the same though

Hardly anybody in there, but when the chain go's everybody come out of the woodwork

That's a whole shipload of incompetence.

Someone's career left with the anchor. Having to tell the boss must have been a Kodak moment.

I served on the USS HALEAKALA AE-25. November 1990 to November 1992. When I reported for duty I noticed that the Starboard Anchor was missing. I was told that the Ship lost the anchor and ALL 12 SHOTS of it's chain in the South China Sea earlier that year.

About 1:20 you can see 2 guys loosening the brake by turning a big wheel on a threaded rod, and loosening it more and more and more. When it was time to slow the chain, they couldn't tighten the brake in time. In the merchant marine, where we have to buy our gear, we never let the anchor run out unbraked. The momentum of all that falling chain is so great that when it runs wild you can't stop it, and it snatches the welded shackle out of the bulkhead as in this video. We don't expect much from naval officers, but the Bosn should have known better. Probably an inexperienced third mate in charge, dummies on the brake, and the Bosn absent.

I only went sailing on a "small" 50ft boat recently but releasing the anchor break because I didn't know what I was doing was probably the scariest thing that happened to me on the trip. It took me about a second to realize what was happening and I quickly returned the crank to the closed position before we lost the entire chain. All that was in a moment when we had a bit of trouble either getting it set or breaking it out - I don't remember exactly. Either way we had some tough times when the motor sounded like it was failing and the boat's and our life depended on that anchor behaving in a good manner. That and accidental jybes in strong winds are just the worst and always scare the shit out of me.

I never get tired of watching this video.

my friend, as the video noted the total weight of the ground tackle (anchor and chain) of this particular ship was over 200,000 lbs. All ships have what is called a 'weak link at the very end of the chain that is attached to a bulkhead (wall) in the chain locker designed to break in a scenario such as this. Even if it were possible to stop the chain at that last shot you won't find a windlass (electro-hydraulic motor that controls the anchor) strong enough to pull that weight back up.

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Anchors Aweigh'. I'd hate to explain THIS to the Captain.

You would think that they'd have something large at the end of the chain to keep it from leaving the chainlocker, although maybe that would tear up the deck and capstan. Or maybe some sacrificial steel bars through the links after the warning shot/danger shot, something that will snap but help slow down the chain enough for the brake to catch.

on its way out it slapped that support column with great force! Good one! would like to see more!

This also happened again that year. The difference was that we let out a lot of chain and the Chief told the Captain that we were showing a certain color of chain and we shouldn't let out any more. The Captain said, "I'm running this ship, let out more chain". The Chief motioned to me to let out the chain, so I turned the wheel to loosen the brake and the chain started again and the last link went into the water, again. Easily this time. The Chief told he Captain that we lost the chain, and the Captain said, " we have another anchor don't we, drop it". So we dropped the other one. Amazing. But true.

Somebody ended up doing some push-ups after that for sure. That sucks

I watched an anchor get dropped on a tug boat, then an anchor stopper failing, and now this

If the Chief had only one hand in his pocket, and holding a cup of coffee in the other hand this would have never happen.

hahaha on merchant vessels only 2 people are on the forecastle to drop the anchor and here are like 20 people and they still mess it up.

They probably pinned the blame on the lowest ranking E-1

When the Tarawa came to the fleet in 78, she was the flag ship for amphibious squadron 7. On west pac one morning at quarters she was steaming to our port side about 500 yards when I noticed on her Island the number 1 had a white line over the top and an F and a T were on either side for a big FTN. It had to be someone in deck division that painted the island with FTN and he or they did it at night. I hope you read this that was funnier than hell, you had us laughing our butts off. Thanks.

Lucky those columns were there otherwise that was a big fckn whip heading for the cameraman lol

From my experience (on sailing yachts only) the anchor is dropped on the brake to speed the process up as lowing it on the windlass would take a very long time as they are slow. In answer to the "Is the water that deep" question the answer is no because you should always let out 4x the water depth of chain so that a) The anchor is pulling along the seabed and not up, and b) the chain on the seabed provides some grip as well as the anchor itself. I hope this helps.

A big part of the problem might have been the Chief running around with his hands in his pockets. If you were ever in the Navy- you'd understand.

Been on many commands in my Navy carrer. Seen several ships loose their chain & anchor. I was on the USS Nitro AE 23 in the early 80's, that lost not one but both of her anchors. I know for FACT that PMS was completed correctly. (i.e.) Checking the brake pad thickness and other operational items were within stringent specifications. When that chain starts to RUN... and you can NOT stop it.... BEWARE... that last part of the chain that is mounted to the bottom of the chain locker with fly out of there and whip back and forth taking out whatever is in its way. VERY SCARY!!!

That crew will go down in history. You can't shackle the chain to the ship because if there's an emergency or the chain winch fails you have to have a way to get away from the moorage. Correct procedure: After the chain started and stopped, the winch should have been engaged to take some of the weight then release again not "here, hold my beer, we got this" lol

It was attached. The so called "bitter end" is attached to the bulkhead in the chain locker. However, it's not really designed to handle that sort of strain. Better it let go than some structural damage done to the ship's hull plating or stringers. Nor was the chain too short. What you see there is the "perfect storm" of anchoring casualties. The enclosed fo'c'sle precluding a view of events from the pilot house is the 1st issue. Can't be helped, but seeing is believing. Captain, USN(Ret)

I found the following information at another web site: "This incident occurred due to a failure of the windlass brake, which allowed the anchor to flow freely and uncontrolled until the “breakaway link” failed. This link is the last link of chain and attached to the structure of the hull inside the chain locker. It is designed to fail in the case of a runaway anchor chain, rather than cause damage to the structure of the ship’s hull."

When ever I see one of these, I like to imagine the ocean is slurping up a really long spaghetti noodle

My uncle was a blacksmith and made huge chains for smaller ships in Florida

Enough rust on that chain to turn boston harbor red.

Live and learn I guess .Thank all those boys for their service.

Crew man " ah Cap, we lost the Anchor..." Cap: "WhAt???!!!, How that happen?" Crew man " Well, we just stood there and watched until the danger marker came up, and watched it go after that..." Cap:(rolls eyes..)

This happened to the USS America somewhere just outside the Suez Canal but I could be wrong on location possibly off Oman as it was about 40 years ago. We also ran around outside the Suez around Port Alexandria on a sandbar. Sent up the SH-3 and it checked the depth. Next thing the Skipper has her plowing thru it!

Amazed the stanchion didn't come loose at 6:16 when the end of the chain wrapped briefly around the post. It certainly took some paint off.

Man, I remember when this happened. I was part of Kilo 3/1 on deployment when this happened. I always wondered what happened after I heard we lost an anchor. Good thing no one was hurt.

I think the title should be changed, They didn't technically lose the anchor. They know exactly where it is, they just can't retrieve it at the current time.

I've heard that aerosolized chain residue gives you 6000% of your daily recommended rust dust.

At 4:35 the Chef realizes that the speed and sound is not good and out of control. He has a sudden spike of fear and simultaneously knows he will be talking to the CO about what happened.

for a ship like this, the winch-breaks are surprisingly low tech. seriously, that must have been the same procedure like at least a hundred years ago.

330metres of chain lost!! 3000 sea anchovies suffered from blunt object trauma and died as a result of this mishap!

Maybe they can use that product that's advertised on tv where that crazy guy cuts out the bottom of his boat to repair it. Flex Tape. Maybe they can use that to get the anchor back. I think that stuff is also used by the military and law enforcement officials.