Why The Ship Is Sinking

[257 words] In 1628 the Swedish warship Vasa was set to take its maiden voyage. The ship was built upon completion was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However the maiden voyage didn’t go that well. Less than a mile offshore the ship encountered what was described as a slight breeze that capsized and sank it. How could such a powerful war ship go to the depths so easily? It was generally consider to have been built asymmetrically. This caused the center of gravity to be off and therefore it took very little force to tip the ship. How could that happen? Well, archaeologists have found four rulers used by the workers; two turned out to be based on Swedish feet with 12 inches, the other two used Amsterdam feet, with 11 inches. One group worked on one side of the ship with their ruler the…