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Comment by xg15 | Hacker News Reader

I mean, the 220,000 tons of debris are at least not a single solid object - so maybe they'd be moved by the current (if there is any) or could be pushed to the sides by smaller vessels. Then the actual cleanup can happen while the canal is already back in operation.

> the container ship __itself__ is the easiest way to move all of that debris out.

Well, evidently not if it is stuck.

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You'd need a nuclear-level explosion to blow this ship up into small, practically movable pieces that aren't connected anymore. Everything on that ship is steel. Conventional explosions would just blow a few holes in it, and deform everything enough that moving things becomes impossible.

Bunch of these ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_of_All_Bombs

Won't work. Thermobaric weapons are very good at killing people, and breaking equipment, but aren't particularly good at evacuating material.

I was going by the amount of tnt/bomb payload. It’s about 44 tonnes of tnt.

Yup, I get it. The energy released by a thermobaric weapon is spread out over a very, very large distance. Inside the blast, people will be killed and equipment will be rendered interoperable by the extreme temperature and the over pressure. Outside the blast you have a very strong (but subsonic) blast wave. But inside the blast, the pressure will envelope stuff, and push on it from both sides. With regards to blasting away a very large ship, thermobaric weapons are not particularly effective.

I understand that it’s not the ideal bomb, but it’s the strongest non nuclear option. Enough of these bombs could disappear the ship and the debris

> You'd need a nuclear-level explosion

Yup.

...I mean, come on. After the last five years, it wouldn't even be the craziest thing to happen.

I admit, fallout could be a problem though, especially with all the other ships in close proximity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads

A nuclear explosion probably would damage the canal itself. But its said that USS LSM-60's pieces were never found again...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_LSM-60

Just 170 yards away was USS Arkansas, a battleship. The hull mostly survived (though was deformed and melted).

Build a huge cover all around the ship, plant the nuke under the keel, boom we have a splash and the ship evaporates , canal is deeper and wider there

A pile of steel that used to be a ship, won't float anymore. It would have to get dredged out of the canal piece by piece.

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