Ship Engine Falls Off Truck – San Diego

In some offbeat news a 200 ton diesel-electric engine slid off a truck in downtown San Diego this morning while being transported to NASSCO’s shipyard. Thankfully no one was severely injured in the accident. The San Diego Union Tribune tells us:

Engineers are trying to figure out how best to move the massive diesel-electric power plant without wrecking it, Johnson said.“We’re working with the manufacturer to figure out the best way to lift this very expensive, highly precision machine with as little damage as possible to it,” said Johnson, who declined to say how much the eight-cylinder, turbocharged diesel is worth.

“We need a little more time to work on the plan, and we know it’s going to take more hours than we have today.”

The engine had been shipped by rail to San Diego from its Wisconsin manufacturer, Fairbanks Morse Engine, and was being trucked from the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal to NASSCO.

There, it was to be installed in the Navy ship Amelia Earhart, one of a new class of supply ships designated T-AKEs, the NASSCO spokesman said.

Update, 30JUL07:

The San Diego Union Tribune tells us:

Three cranes and dozens of engineers took five hours to lift the 200-ton ship engine from an 8-foot-deep crater created Thursday morning when the machine fell to the street.

It took 3½ more hours to mount the 18-foot-by-34-foot engine onto another trailer and complete its journey to the General Dynamics/NASSCO shipyard on San Diego Bay. No one could say how long it will take to repair the sinkhole.  Read More…

Links:
Photos HERE & HERE
Video HERE & HERE
Amelia Earhart – Ship Information

Updated: February 5, 2026 (Originally published July 27, 2007)

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