ThisarmamentwouldhavegiventheVaasathehighestfirepowerofanyshipintheworldatthetime, capableofblasting a metalwallthewaynearly £900 outof a singleside, straightoutwhateverenemywasunfortunateenoughtocomeacrossitspath.
Thismassiveamountoffirepowercomingfrom a relativelysmallshipisprettygoofyhistorically, becausethe U.
S s Constitution, anAmericanfrigatethatfoughtagainsttheBritishintheWarof 18 12, nearlytwocenturieslaterpossessedonalmostidenticalleveloffirepowerbutwasalsoalmost 700 tonsheavier.
Soratherthanbuilding a brandnewshipfromscratchthatcouldactuallysafelyfits 72 heavy 24 poundercannonsaboard, theyhadtocutsomecornersanddecidedtocramall 72 ofthemin a shipthatwasonlydesignedforhalfofthatamount.
Throwin a bunchofheavywoodensculpturestotheuppergundeckaswell, andtheVasawasallsettobecomedangerouslyunstable, with a rolloverriskofan 800 horsepowerJeepWrangler.
Tofurthercomplicatethings, theshipbuilderthatthesweetsandhighertobuildthethingwassomeDutchguynamedHenrykwhohad a prettyshoddyresumebecausethere's absolutelyzerohistoricalevidencethathehadeveractuallybuilt a shipwithtwoormoregundeckseverbeforeinhislife.
A classicmistake's oneteamworkingononesideoftheshipwasusingtheSwedishfootin 12 inches, whileanotherteamworkingontheothersideoftheshipwasusingtheAmsterdamfootin 11 inches.
Nobodynoticedthisdiscrepancyduringthehurriedconstructionunderwartimepressure, andas a result, theVasasMasswasdistributedasymmetricallyandwasheavieroverontheportside.
Andafterjustthreeruns, theofficerordered a haltoutoffearofmakingtheboatcapsizediftheycontinuedanyfurther.
Therearelettersfrom a Swedishadmiralpresentwherehewroteabouthowhewishedthekingwastheretoseehowunreadyitwasandnotoftenwar, demandingthattheshipbelaunchedanyway.
A crowdofthousandsgatheredinStockholmtoewatch, themostpowerfulshipeverbuilt, sailoffonherfirstjourney.
Theship's gunportswereleftopentoefireofficesaluteastheylefttheharbor, andwithinminutesthefirstsignsoftroubleappeared a suddengustofwindjust a littlestrongerthan a breezewasstrongenoughtotipVaasaoversignificantlyonherportsidebecauseofherhighcenterofgravity.
Butthiswasthankfullyabletobereversedbythecrew.
However.
Shortlyafterwards, a secondandslightlymorepowerfulgustofwindtiptheshipoveragain, andthistimeitdippedfarenoughoverthat, thelowergundeckwiththeopengunportssleptjustbeneaththewaterline, anditwasalloverfromtheirwaterrushedin.
Andthegreatestshipeverbuiltthattooktwoyearstobuildtookprobablyjust a fewminutestosink.
InthefullviewofthousandsofshockedanddisappointedSwedes, itwaseffectivelytheequivalentoftheChallengerdisasterinthe 17thcenturyand a catastrophefortheSwedishking.
Luckily, thoughyouand I bothhave a resourcetodaythattheshipbuildersandengineersofthe 17thcenturydidn't theInternet, it's easytolookupthingsyou'recuriousaboutonplaceslikeWikipedia.
Buthonestly, when I wasresearchingthisvideo, I visitedtheWikipediapageonCenterofMass, andtheequationstheremayaswellhavebeenwrittenin a foreignlanguage.
I hatedmathgrowingupinhighschool, and I'vealwaysstruggledlearningaboutitwhen I havetojustreadaboutiton a pieceofpaperoron a screenwithoutanyonetheretohelpguidemethroughthesteps.
And I'm certainthat I'm notalonethere.
Butthankfully, thereis a perfectalternativetoelearningaboutmathandscienceforpeoplelikeyouormewhomightnormallybestruggling.
It's calledbrilliant, andtheirsimpleintroductoryclassesonscienceessentialsandphysicsoftheeverydayhelpedmeouttremendouslywithunderstandinghowtheVaasacametosink 400 yearsago, whilealsoteachingmeevenmorethan I learnedaboutwhileincollege.