A pretty substantial amount of the bridge is still standing, it was the center bit that went down
Also, that ship in the USSR that hit the bridge just hit the span, not the pier. “The span cut the deck house and the cinema hall”. The pier is in many ways more fragile, and also more important.
But to answer your question, the Francis Scott Key bridge was structurally deficient. It also didn’t have many anti-ship defenses (like dolphins), unlike other bridges. To add on to that, the MV Dali (and most modern container ships) is really heavy, and therefore had a lot of energy, almost all of which got transferred into the bridge. Not many bridges can survive a head-on with a container ship.
A pretty substantial amount of the bridge is still standing, it was the center bit that went down
Also, that ship in the USSR that hit the bridge just hit the span, not the pier. “The span cut the deck house and the cinema hall”. The pier is in many ways more fragile, and also more important.
But to answer your question, the Francis Scott Key bridge was structurally deficient. It also didn’t have many anti-ship defenses (like dolphins), unlike other bridges. To add on to that, the MV Dali (and most modern container ships) is really heavy, and therefore had a lot of energy, almost all of which got transferred into the bridge. Not many bridges can survive a head-on with a container ship.
Thank you for the information!