Water addition to molecular single, double and triple M-O-M bridges (M = Sc, Ti, V, Cc, and Mn) were considered, and the stabilities toward stepwise hydrolysis of the oxygen bridges were studied by means of quantum chemistry. The M-O bond distances for the studied systems were compared to experiment for demonstration of the applicability of the B3LYP functional to the investigated systems. While substantial exothermicities were found for the hydrolysis of double and triple M-O-M bridges, addition of water to a single bridge was generally found to be slightly endothermic. The lack of enthalpy drive for the (OH)(y)OxM-O-MOx(OH)(y) + H2O --> 2MO(x-1)(OH)(y+2) reaction was taken to suggest that entropy increase and the formation of mononuclear water complexe, would be decisive factors for the dissociation. A mechanism was proposed for the observed erosion of the protective chromium oxide scale on high-temperature alloys at elevated temperatures and high humidities, based on the formation of CrO2(OH)(2)(g).