how does a modern-day cruise ship capsize so dramatically?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16562715

My theory is the ship being so massive took on the rock which then became embedded in the hull and off balanced the ship, causing it to capsize.

EDIT: heh, I'm an idiot. The wrong side of the ship is pointing upward for that to be the case.

The gash let in zee water. Water is heavy stuff. The end.

If the hull is so badly damaged, the ship will capsize. Engineering improvements can only do so much to stop that from happening. You might as well ask why modern ships aren't 100% unsinkable yet, or why planes can still fall out of the sky.

So if there's a hole in a boat, it'll sink? Who knew. I thought they floated on a pillow of fairy dust and hopefull dreams.

Water is a lot heavier than people might think. A cubic meter of water weighs a metric ton.

DoomUK said:

, or why planes can still fall out of the sky.

There are more planes in the ocean than cruise ships in the sky...

DoomUK said:

or why planes can still fall out of the sky.

Which is a similar problem.

Ships are sinkable, yes.

However, I've seen fishing boats that won't sink at all because of the material used. you could blow one up and the pieces would still float on the water.

That being said, I heard that the Captain was a total idiot on this one but that was on the BBC in the morning so I'm not sure if that's the case anymore. But holy shit, people were lucky to swim to shore.

Csonicgo said:

However, I've seen fishing boats that won't sink at all because of the material used. you could blow one up and the pieces would still float on the water.

Even a syrofoam boat could capsize, or even sink if it took on enough water. Ships of the line were wooden, got blown up all the time and sank despite the fact wood floats. Anything less dense than water will "float". What the hell kind of boat are you talking about?

Ships are patched, drained, and refloated all the time, and the process can take weeks. There's even television series about it now.

Wow, I never thought people would have to start coming up with conspiracies to explain how a boat with a hole in it the bottom could fail to stay afloat. Thanks, internet.

fraggle said:

Which is a similar problem.

Wow, that article was really something.

Quast said:

Even a syrofoam boat could capsize, or even sink if it took on enough water. Ships of the line were wooden, got blown up all the time and sank despite the fact wood floats. Anything less dense than water will "float". What the hell kind of boat are you talking about?

No matter how I read and re-read this, you seem to by implying that styrofoam is denser than water.