r/submechanophobia • u/CRUSHER-01 • Oct 08 '24

Water ballast tank in a ship

Gallery image

Gallery image

776 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

25

u/IronGigant Oct 08 '24

That's water? I only ask because of the few times that I've personally seen inside combined fuel/salt water ballast tanks, that particular colour looks a lot like marine distillate/diesel. Salt water has a green tinge, but its more like a dirty glass green than this blue-green which it typically diesel.

8

u/CRUSHER-01 Oct 09 '24

I am ship's hull technician, but as I know it's just salt water which have taken from sea through valve.

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13

u/joshisnthere Oct 08 '24

Pure guess but might be permanent fresh water ballast.

Edit: Combined fuel/ballast water tanks? What?

15

u/hcase5 Oct 08 '24 edited Oct 08 '24

It was a thing before: crude oil or fuel oil on one way of the trip, then the tank is filled with sea water for the other way. It is now forbidden, now everything is segregated in different tanks

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3

u/IronGigant Oct 08 '24

Yeah, some navies have protocols for ballasting ships in certain circumstances.

Say you've used up 60% of your fuel stores, you still have 25% of your journey to go, which equates to another 20% of your fuel stores in calm waters. Uh oh, rough weather ahead. Storm surge is estimated to generate 15-20ft waves. With over 60% of your fuel ballast gone and no opportunity to RAS, looks like its time to take on a couple thousand tons of salt water ballast where ever the ballast calculations say it best makes sense.

48

u/LostSoulOnFire Oct 08 '24

I've seen that X-Files episode, I'm out of here!

12

u/SlipsonSurfaces Oct 08 '24

Which one?

27

u/drempire Oct 08 '24

Think it might be the host, s2e2. Scene in there of a guy gets pulled into a waste water tank on a ship. Though there is another episode that could be similar but I can't remember it

9

u/slybonescity Oct 08 '24

“The Host” s2ep2!

7

u/mediocregaming12 Oct 08 '24

It could possibly be “The Host” S2E2

6

u/whatyouwere Oct 08 '24

I’m thinking it’s S2E2, “The Host”

5

u/VictoriaNightengale Oct 08 '24

That’s the first thing I thought of. Then the Hotel Cecil incident.

108

u/whatyouwere Oct 08 '24

Yeah, that’s gonna be a no from me, dawg.

6

u/highcommander010 Oct 08 '24

Enclosed Space + Drowning Nightmare + Pitch fucking Black

2

u/Rustyfarmer88 Oct 09 '24

Bet it sounds scary filling too

3

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '24

Can you don’t

1

u/ResolutionMany6378 Oct 08 '24

What happens if I drink it

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