| Time (a . EDT) | Event |
| 00:36 | Dali departs Seagirt Marine Terminal. |
| 01:07 | Dali enters Fort McHenry Channel, and the first tugboat leaves the ship. |
| 01:08 | The second tugboat leaves the ship, and the engines are set to "slow ahead" (8–10 knots (9 –11 mph; 15–19 km/h)). |
| 01:24:59 | With Dali approximately 3,200 feet (980 m) from the bridge and underway at a heading of 142° at 8 knots (10 mph; 16 km/h), the ship loses low-voltage (LV) power, causing a loss of lights, steering, fuel pumps, cooling pumps, and bow thrusters. |
| 01:25:03 | The voyage data recorder (VDR) ceases to record ship systems, but continues to record audio. |
| 01:25:08 | The main engine shuts down, but generators 3 and 4 remain operational. |
| 01:25:47 | Dali starts turning to starboard, and the helmsman attempts to turn hard to port, not realizing that the rudder was not operational. |
| 01:25:58 | The ships electrician manually closes the breaker on the transformer that converts high voltage to low voltage, restoring LV power and causing the lights to come back on. VDR parametric data recording resumes 4 seconds later. The flushing pump, which was being used to supply the two running generators with fuel, does not start because it was not se |
| 01:26:10 | The emergency generator turns on, restoring steering power, and the helmsman sets the rudder to port 20°. Dense black smoke begins to pour from Dali's funnel |
| 01:26:18 | The ship reaches its maximum rate of turn away from the bridge, 7 °/minute. |
| 01:26:38 | The pilot sends a radio call requesting tugboat assistance. |
| 01:26:44 | The pilot association dispatcher informs the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDTA) duty officer of Dali's lack of steering. One tugboat begins heading towards the Dali. |
| 01:27:02 | The pilot orders the port anchor be dropped. |
| 01:27:04 | Generators 3 and 4 begin underperforming due to a lack of fuel. The ship's power management system attempts to start generator 2, but is not able to get it online before the other generators fail. Both high and low voltage circuit breakers open. Only limited lighting, steering, and other equipment powered by the emergency generator remain operation |
| 01:27:07 | Generator 2 comes online providing high voltage power, but low voltage power is not restored because the circuit breakers remain open. |
| 01:27:23 | The pilot commands hard to port, and the pilot in training makes a distress call over VHF radio. |
| 01:27:36 | The electrician manually closes the breakers, restoring LV power to the lighting, main engine, and additional steering pumps. The main engine, which needed to be restarted manually, remains off. An engineer is sent to manually restart the flushing pump that supplies generators 3 and 4. |
| 01:27:46 | With Dali approximately 939 feet (286 m) from the bridge, the pilot commands the bow thruster be set to "full to port". The bow thruster is not operational because its pumps had not been manually restarted. |
| 01:27:53 | The MDTA duty officer dispatches units to shut down the bridge. |
| 01:27:55 | The flushing pump is restarted, but the bridge is informed that crews were unable to release the brake to drop the anchor. |
| 01:28:10 | Dali leaves the Fort McHenry Channel and begins to impact the mud near bridge pier 17. |
| 01:28:21 | An MDTA officer blocks off the north end of the Key Bridge, and tells the duty officer that he would warn the constructions crews once another officer was able to relieve him. |
| 01:28:42 | The anchor brake is manually released, allowing the anchor to be dropped. |
| 01:29:09 | Dali collides with the bridge at 6 knots (7 mph; 11 km/h). |
| 01:29:22 | Pier 17 collapses, with the main spans and their support piers following a few seconds later. |
| 01:29:27 | MDTA reports collapse of bridge. |
| 01:29:37 | Pilot reports collapse of bridge. |
| 01:29:51 | All vehicular approaches to the bridge reported shut down. |
