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Posted by Pieter on December 6, 2022, 3:47:56, in reply to "Does that Always happen???"
Drag chains are only used if you do not have enough space to allow the ship to run out on its own. As you can in the video the launch is quite a violent process and there is a risk of dragging the new ship on its side if the force of the drag chains is mostly to one side. The sites of some shipyards and the orientation of their slips were sometimes chosen to avoid this. NDSM and John Brown (Clydebank) are good example of this practice 
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It makes sense....and I Guess if the water behind the slip is narrow and launching the ship, aft first, having those chains to slow the momentum makes sense........Just never seen that on US vessels, nor anywhere else on videos.
Thanks Chris.
M. Mares
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Hi Moe,
They're drag-chains used to slow down the the ship and it's momentum during launching. The weight and drag of the chains (which look like used anchor cables) creates enough friction to prevent the ship from sailing across the harbour, out of control. Once she's slowed down, the tugs move in and take over to the fitting out dock for final completion. This method of slowing a ship down can be seen in such films as "A Night to Remember" about the TITANIC. Her launching used the same process.
Cheers,
Chris
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