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Comment by Casseres | Hacker News Reader

Former Marine Engineer here, I know there's at least one other HN users that's an ME. You might be able to automate navigation, but never maintenance. Something small that doesn't get fixed underway could cause a lot more damage than whatever crew costs would have been saved.

Things break and leak all the time, even on new ships. Automatic valves get stuck and things get clogged. I'm an air traffic controller now, and my break is over, but I'll try to expand more later.

Edit: I have a few minutes. A lot of people are talking about pirates only boarding ships to hold the crews hostage, and not to steal cargo. How about this: a pirate demands a crypto currency payment within X number of hours, or they sink the ship. It's very easy to sink a ship once you're inside.

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> Things break and leak all the time, even on new ships.

> [...] a pirate demands a crypto currency payment within X number of hours, or they sink the ship

Based on your response and toomuchtodo's [1] it appears we're trying to automate from the wrong end - we should examine automation of defence/security and maintenance before stripping a ship of its crew.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14363456

I will agree with you that steam or turbine power plants require continuous maintenance. I've got experience, too. :-)

But, read the article. The ship they're talking about is a short-haul transport with battery-electric propulsion. Perfect scenario to pioneer this concept. If it works, I'm betting that it would be possible to create a propulsion plant that will survive longer hauls without a crew.

You could fly a helicopter out to any ship that isn't crossing the pacific or atlantic, but that would be $100,000-$300,000 per incident and it would very quickly not be worth it. There isn't much in-between for reducing crew since a couple people alone on a boat together will probably be homicidal in short order.

I'm curious, what breaks on a ship? I have no experience with anything over a few dozen feet. I imagine hydraulic systems could break and lead to Consequences, but I can't imagine there are many big systems that can be fixed at sea, even with a crane onboard. What kind of things get fixed at sea?

You might as well ask what doesn't break on a ship. Salt water corrosion, thermal stress, vibration, residue accumulation, and hull flexing due to large swells are really hard on equipment. Here's a good case study on the type of repairs that a merchant ship crew might have to perform in the middle of the ocean.

http://www.brighthubengineering.com/marine-engines-machinery...

Ocean going merchant ships spend much of their time outside of practical helicopter range. And even when close to shore, winching a repair technician down to a disabled autonomous vessel that can't even keep its bow into the weather would be a dangerous affair.

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