Man of Honour
What kind of bridge would be able to withstand a direct hit from a ship that size? How much kinetic energy would the structure have to stop - not just slow down, but instantly stop?
"Our lowest estimate of how much force it would take to slow the Dali, if it were fully loaded, is around 12 million newtons, about a third of the force it took to launch the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo moon missions.
And our higher-end estimates, reviewed by several civil engineering experts, suggest it is realistic to put the force of the impact with the pier at upward of 100 million newtons.
“It’s at a scale of more energy than you can really get your mind around,” said Ben Schafer, a professor of civil and systems engineering at Johns Hopkins."
Force of Ship Impact Was on the Scale of a Rocket Launch
A Times analysis used preliminary data to estimate the force of the impact on the Baltimore bridge. It involved “more energy than you can really get your mind around,” an expert said.
www.nytimes.com
I think the short answer really is not many bridges, old or new lol.