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Turns out the captain of the cargo ship is Russian.............. what the actual F 😱
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30mj5gq9d5o
I really did wonder how one ship managed to plough straight into another that was at anchor while all the radar and AIS systems would have been blaring out collision warnings! Kinda makes sense now.
Given that the tanker it hit is carrying 80,000 tons of US jet fuel for the air bases in the UK, is does stink a bit.
I'm in the "coincidence" camp. Incompetent captain, badly maintained ship. Leave the tinfoil hats out of this.
is does stink a bit
I think they've put the fires out by now. 😉
My tinfoil hat quivered a bit when I saw it was US aviation fuel in the tanker, but surely no one is daft enough to risk deliberately ramming a tanker?
AIS track suggests the Solong goes back and forth on that exact route very regularly. It stinks, but I'm inclined to think we're looking an incompetent master/crew rather than anything nefarious. Unlikely things happen with regularity otherwise overall probability would break. You don't want that happening as you end up with petunias and whales falling from the sky.
Don't think you have to be a tinfoil hat wearer to surmise that a Russian National responsible for the safe passage of a ship, who manages to ignore radar, AIS and a helm station lit up like Chernobyl, to sail said vessel into another at anchor, which was coincidentally, carrying jet fuel from the US to the UK, might just be a tad suspicious?
Remember all those Russian dashboard cams from a few years ago of insane traffic accidents, where it turned out half the Russian truck drivers were alcoholics constantly smashed out of their minds, I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't true of Russian ship captains also.
Makes you think.
Well it reality it doesn’t, it’s a shipping accident they occur.
I’m sure the captain will have been tested for drugs and alcohol.
If he was sober then it looks very suspicious to me.
"Russian national" ?
Maybe a spy, but much more likely he was on his second or third bottle of vodka that day.
It looks like he goes straight as an arrow for about 200 miles, no adjustment to "aim" at all. That would be a fairly remarkable shot if it was deliberate
To what end? They have Donald Trump in the White House. The last thing Putin is going to do is pull a stunt like this.
might just be a tad suspicious?
Sure, that's what makes it a coincidence, rather than just "one of those things".
You won't get me with your conspiracy theories! I have a protective hat against them 😉
I’m sure the captain will have been tested for drugs and alcohol.
He probably was. And then instantly arrested for gross negligence manslaughter...
wasn't true of Russian ship captains also.
and all of the crew? all of the time?
I've seen the whats going on with shipping videos. they came out quickly against it being nefarious - saying theres no evidence of it being deliberate, as you'd expect to see the ship steering around a bit as it aims for the target, and theres nothing.
A lot of the conspiracies focus on the ship hitting a tanker chartered by the US navy. It's plausible that this part was the accident, and that the captain was trying to cause a drama. Sailing through an anchorage with all the things turned off and the crew looking elsewhere. Miss everything, hoorary, get to have another go. Clatter something, oh noes! I are soo incompetent lolz. Deliberately hitting a US ,ilitary charted tanker - almost certainly not. Disabling alarms and other actions to make a (survivable) collision likely in exchange for a few more roubles - plausible.
Given that the russians tried to take down that DHL plane, engineering a collision at sea is completely within their wheelhouse.
Overall, cock up is still way more likely than conspiracy id agree. But given the number of russian linked ships sponaneously exploding, accidentally cutting cables and now doing HMS Warspite impressions, the benefit of the doubt is all gone.
but surely no one is daft enough to risk deliberately ramming a tanker?
That plus they are on the same side now.
Given, as mentioned by others, the solong was following a straight line for at least a hundred miles and it was a route it seems somewhat improbable that it was deliberate. I would go for boring routine and either being asleep on watch, pissed or both.
To what end? They have Donald Trump in the White House. The last thing Putin is going to do is pull a stunt like this.
it would be entirely in Putins wheelhouse… so to speak. He has contradictory strategies running all the time. He has Trump dancing for him but he’s not seeking to curry favour with the US, he wants the US to pull itself apart.
in situation like this it’s win win for Putin, it may well genuinely be a an accident but he’ll allow people to think he’s behind it even if he has nothing to do with it. Phrase a denial so it sounds like a boast ala Salisbury “you can’t prove we did it”
what are the odds on the captain getting his own chat show 🙂
That plus they are on the same side now
putin is very much on his own side
I don't think he means that Putin was on Trump's side, just that Trump is on Putin's, it's very much a one way thing.
Putin clearly has something on Trump, but god knows what
you can't park there
I blame the Vodka !
I really am sure it was just luck that it hit the US tanker [carrying fuel for the US airforce] amongst all the ships that were anchored in the designated outer anchorage. But it does look fairly sus!
It looks like he goes straight as an arrow for about 200 miles, no adjustment to "aim" at all. That would be a fairly remarkable shot if it was deliberate
Oh it's easy if that's what you want to do: you get the waypoint of "where you want to go" (i.e. the location of the anchored ship) from AIS, pop that into the autohelm and press go - the ship then makes continuous helm adjustments to take you right there.
Set it up early enough and it looks like a straight line.
(If you set the ship on a fixed heading it will not create a straight track as the ship will be affected by wind and tide.... to get a straight track you need to make continual adjustments.)
Putin clearly has something on Trump, but god knows what
It is rumoured that EU spooks know what it is and will spill the beans if the sanctions madness continues.
Putting all the conspiracy rubbish aside for a time.
As someone who does this for a living, ie, driving ships around (and managing not to collide with other ships), it's blatantly obvious what has happened.
Laziness and incompetence of the person on the bridge at the time, and a total lack of oversight by the captain.
Solong was on a die straight course, so probably on auto track or auto pilot. If it was a deliberate act there would have to have been a few adjustments in the last couple of miles to make the near perfect T-Bone amidships. Don't forget that ships at anchor do move around a bit, so couldn't have been planned miles and miles in advance, beyond visual range.
The watch keeper probably ignored the Alarms as they were being too much of a nuisance, Captain probably disabled the BNWAS as it kept going off in his cabin. Coastal waters so lots of passing fishing vessels and wind farm boats too.
I could ramble on and explain in detail, but its a matter for the investigation to take its course and somebody is going to jail in a few years time.
I reckon they switched on the autopilot, then captain might have fallen asleep after some drinking sessions or went for a dump, while the rest of the crew simply took their "leave" while captain was not at the station. Or they were all on their mobile phone watching some interesting video clips.
HMS Warspite impressions
Earning the most battle honours of any individual warship in RN history, including Jutland and Matapan, and providing NGFS for the Normandy landings? 🤔
Oh it's easy if that's what you want to do: you get the waypoint of "where you want to go" (i.e. the location of the anchored ship) from AIS, pop that into the autohelm and press go - the ship then makes continuous helm adjustments to take you right there.
Set it up early enough and it looks like a straight line.(If you set the ship on a fixed heading it will not create a straight track as the ship will be affected by wind and tide.... to get a straight track you need to make continual adjustments.)
You've missed an important point - anchored ships don't stay perfectly in one spot. If the wind had changed they would've gone straight past
Putin clearly has something on Trump, but god knows what
It is rumoured that EU spooks know what it is and will spill the beans if the sanctions madness continues.
Interesting. Expand?
ships collide all the time even though it should be impossible if everyone just does what they were trained, fatigue, alcohol, timetable pressures, all commonly factors in ships not just hitting each other but also clearly charted rocks etc. what doesn’t happen all the time is states attacking each other with neither side suggesting it was intentional - if there was foul play I’m sure by now either the US or Russia would have made a remark so the otherside were aware. What it has done is highlight that US supply lines are seemingly unguarded and easy pickings!Don't think you have to be a tinfoil hat wearer to surmise that a Russian National responsible for the safe passage of a ship, who manages to ignore radar, AIS and a helm station lit up like Chernobyl, to sail said vessel into another at anchor, which was coincidentally, carrying jet fuel from the US to the UK, might just be a tad suspicious?
also clearly charted rocks etc
Even navies which have (AIUI) much better bridge staffing than merchant ships are capable of this one.
Putin clearly has something on Trump, but god knows what
It is rumoured that EU spooks know what it is and will spill the beans if the sanctions madness continues.
Interesting. Expand
i was reading something by someone fairly senior in the Khazak security services, and he was saying that Trump (and others) were recruited by the KGB in the late 1980s.
Nothing would surprise me any more and that certainly seems plausible.
Have a look for Agent Krasnov, the Guardian and France24 have both written about it. No doubt MI6 have a lot more details
We can all see how trump behaves - he's utterly unmanageable. By what stretch of the imagination would anyone think he's been 'recruited' - that he's got the discipline, even the attention span, to take orders from anyone, stick to a plan..... for 40 years. All Putin has ever done, and all anyone needs to do, is flatter him a bit. Nothing clandestine required, Trump pretty much says out loud what buttons you need to push.
We can all see how trump behaves - he's utterly unmanageable. By what stretch of the imagination would anyone think he's been 'recruited' - that he's got the discipline, even the attention span, to take orders from anyone, stick to a plan..... for 40 years. All Putin has ever done, and all anyone needs to do, is flatter him a bit. Nothing clandestine required, Trump pretty much says out loud what buttons you need to push.
the handler would be a firm favourite for "employee of the century" if that were true.
I saw a model for the trump admin, and it's a nautical analogy so it might as well go here...
All admins are made up of different interest groups, these are like hands on the wheel, pulling in different directions. You can predict the course of an admin as different groups rise and fall in terms of their political capital. In the case of the trump admin, theres corporatists, nationalists, isolationalists etc. These are all rational and predictable.
What sets the tump admin apart is trump himself, rather than acting as a captain, he is instead, a metric ****ton of water, sloshing around the bottom of the boat. No ideology, just chaos, making the whole thing unstable.
seadog101 explained it perfectly.
As someone who used to do it for a living, it's been an issue with the bridge watchkeeper that caused the problem.
Maybe he's had a heart attack or maybe just asleep.
Those little feeder ships can have very busy schedules and the crews can be absolutely exhausted. The person on the bridge, may had been up for hours loading and discharging, before grabbing some sleep and then back to work.
It would also take a fearless person to drive a ship into a tanker at 16 knots, whatever their cause.
I remember when the Evergreen went aground in the Suez and all the Qanon lot, said it was a joint operation between the Navy Seals and Spetnaz, to rescue the cabals trafficked children.
Even Laurence Fox joined in when the Baltimore Bridge was hit.
he was saying that Trump (and others) were recruited by the KGB in the late 1980s.
I guess Trump was attracted by the money.
I don’t know. I doubt the money will be good enough, and kompromat won’t work for a man who will just brazen it out.
By what stretch of the imagination would anyone think he's been 'recruited' - that he's got the discipline, even the attention span, to take orders from anyone, stick to a plan..... for 40 years.
I read something a few years ago which basically said Trump (among others) had been identified as potentailly useful by the KGB/FSB many years ago as he was so stupid and open to a 'deal' that he wouldn't even realise he was being played by Russia. I'm not into conspiracy stuff but it doesn’t look too far fetched at the minute and having backed both Clinton and Biden when they ran against Trump I could see Musk thinking the same at the minute
Square miles of vast empty oceans and they still manage a fender bender at sea.
As with many others, my immediate thought was "piished out of his head on shiiite Vodka".
No avoidance at all ? Only one actually on the bridge, and was unconscious from the alcohol.
Read enough accident reports, inc from NTSB, and either not being correctly staffed on the bridge, and/ or being asleep either from alcohol or drugs or just sheet fatigue, is all too common. Usually the hit the banking or moorings or the occasional bridge. But sometimes other boats.
There’s a bumper of a Danish MAIB report about a Mærsk towing job that went pear-shaped and resulted in both vessels under tow sinking. No booze involved mind you.
Who said worse things happen at sea?
If you want nefarious, have a look at the tracks for the ships dragging anchors! Nothing to see here…
Given that the tanker it hit is carrying 80,000 tons of US jet fuel for the air bases in the UK, is does stink a bit.
Especially if you’re downwind…
But yes, as soon as I heard that the ships master is a Russian, and the radar track showed the container ship heading directly for a very large stationary vessel without any indication of attempting to steer away, my spidey senses went into overdrive!
Russian asset? Possibly, there’s a lot of it about.
heading directly for a very large stationary vessel without any indication of attempting to steer away
A very large vessel that is moving around, could move away before it reaches and no movement to fine tune as they got closer.
Spidey man was never very nautical.
Square miles of vast empty oceans and they still manage a fender bender at sea
Never criticising women drivers again....
That's the thing with the draggy anchors, and this collision. Any one of them could easily have been an accident. All of them? Less likely.
I am worried that I'm turning into a conspiracy nut but I really don't know what to believe any more. Which I guess means that the whole 'alternative facts' thing has worked.
If you want nefarious, have a look at the tracks for the ships dragging anchors!
Yeah they are definitely dodgy as ****. This one is rather less so.
Aside from anything else can you imagine the briefing?
"Vladimir: you will drop your anchor here and float ten miles N to take out this cable."
"da"
"Dmitri : you will drop your anchor here and float twenty miles SE to take out this cable."
"da"
"Boris: you will line up here and proceed at 16 knots to ram this tanker filled with jet fuel".
"Da, wait a second, what?. Cant I snag a cable instead? I knew I shouldnt have snogged your wife at the Christmas party".
I read something a few years ago which basically said Trump (among others) had been identified as potentailly useful by the KGB/FSB many years ago as he was so stupid and open to a 'deal' that he wouldn't even realise he was being played by Russia.
I very much doubt that the KGB ever had a policy of recruiting stupid people but if they did of what benefit would have Donald Trump been to them in the late 1980s?
Trump first stood for elected office less than ten years ago, what made him attractive to the KGB 40 years ago? And how did they entice him since presumably he didn't need suitcases full of cash? Or was Donald Trump a committed communist back in the 1980s?
Whatever the reasons for the accident it isn't because Russia wants to deny aviation fuel to the United States air force. Russia is not at war with the United States so disrupting their supplies of aviation fuel serves no significant purpose to them.
And if they were at war with the United States and disrupting their supplies of aviation fuel was of strategic importance to them they have far better options than getting some geezer with a Russian passport a job on a Portuguese registered vessel sailing from Scotland so that he can use it as some sort of random and totally unreliable weapon against a US registered tanker.
Drones for example 💡
Trump has always been an egotistical prat. I can imagine the old USSR identifying him as a potentially useful rich idiot, given the circles he moved in, and pandering to his ego, maybe getting some compromising stuff as a back up.
Moving forwards, maybe he liked the idea of being an oligarch figure in the US, maybe the Russians bailed him out when his money ran out, maybe they saw he admired Putins style of leadership and world view, so they gave him the bot army, the media muscle, created the divisions in the world he could exploit.
Maybe that's all bollocks. Either way, he's proved useful to Putins Russia, whichever of them thinks they are controlling his actions.
Whatever the reasons for the accident it isn't because Russia wants to deny aviation fuel to the United States air force. Russia is not at war with the United States so disrupting their supplies of aviation fuel serves no significant purpose to them.
Has the US been providing aviation fuel to the Ukrainian air force? I agree there's no reason for Russia to pick a fight with the US, but where else does US fuel go?
Just thinking aloud
Mad vlad must be chuckling away to himself. The conspiracy theorists are doing his work for him by planting the belief that it was a Russian op. He didn’t have to anything except have a slightly shitter standard of marine enforcement / mariner scrutiny that some other countries and citizens desparate for money so willing to work under conditions where safety is not the number one prioirty!
I absolutely fall into the camp of if It looks like a duck and quacks like one it’s probably a duck!
Russia would quite happily make a ‘statement’ by sinking/ causing an eco disaster on our shores. A reminder if you like that America and the Uk have vulnerabilities.
As for a Russian citizen (if that’s all he is) being coerced to do this, again absolutely believable.
I personally think it’s a message, for us a warning about our position and recent robust talk regarding Ukraine, for the Americans (trump) it says ‘you’re going off message’.
Im not usually a conspiracy theorist however remember Russia has used chemical weapons multiple times in our country to assassinate with no regard for collateral, they use hybrid warfare regularly and they’ve got links in the anchor dragging with the grey fleet. what’s so hard to believe this was intentional? It’s definitely more plausible than not.
Im expecting the next few years to be punctuated by cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, hopefully it remains at that level.
We are all getting that it was a Russian captain but the ship is registered in Madeira Portugal and owned by Ernst Russ a company based in Hamburg
but where else does US fuel go?
Not US aircraft? I doubt whether any military plane, US or Ukrainian, will be grounded and unable to fly due to this collision, but I guess we will find out soon enough.
Btw the US had suspended all military aid to Ukraine when this dastardly operation was set in motion.
given the circles he moved in
What circles did a playboy in the 1980s move in and how might have this been useful to the KGB? Trump didn't have a government job nor was he in the military, I doubt that the KGB were interested in property development. Nor do I understand how they might enticed him. Trump's commitment to communism has never been obvious as far as I am aware.
As for a Russian citizen (if that’s all he is) being coerced to do this, again absolutely believable.
Wouldn't it have been easier if he had claimed political asylum when the ship was docked in Scotland? He has now been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
Or did he think that the UK authorities would just shrug their shoulders and say "off you go son, and don't do it again"?
presumably if you were an unscrupulous nation coercing a citizen to do such a thing you use serious threats to family members to stop them just saying screw you and seeking asylum?As for a Russian citizen (if that’s all he is) being coerced to do this, again absolutely believable.
Wouldn't it have been easier if he had claimed political asylum when the ship was docked in Scotland? He has now been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
Or did he think that the UK authorities would just shrug their shoulders and say "off you go son, and don't do it again"?
but where else does US fuel go?
Not US aircraft? I doubt whether any military plane, US or Ukrainian, will be grounded and unable to fly due to this collision, but I guess we will find out soon enough.
Btw the US had suspended all military aid to Ukraine when this dastardly operation was set in motion.
given the circles he moved in
What circles did a playboy in the 1980s move in and how might have this been useful to the KGB? Trump didn't have a government job nor was he in the military, I doubt that the KGB were interested in property development. Nor do I understand how they might have enticed him. Trump's commitment to communism has never been obvious as far as I am aware.
Commies are bang into golf, that must be it.
Donald's just a vehicle for unpleasant populism, they might have spotted him as a potentially exploitable gobshite but was never "turned", shirley.
Re: the tanker, I dont see what Putin gets out of annoying the US Air Force, except an annoyed US Air Force. They've got 9 more of these tankers on the books and could readily call in more. But it is a spooky bunch of coincidence.
What circles did a playboy in the 1980s move in and how might have this been useful to the KGB? Trump didn't have a government job nor was he in the military, I doubt that the KGB were interested in property development. Nor do I understand how they might enticed him. Trump's commitment to communism has never been obvious as far as I am aware.
Probably worth having a few business leaders on the books, as it were, just in case. this one has turned out to be quite useful, must be loads who didn't.
And sinking a ship full of jet fuel probably serves next to no military purpose at all, but it does push boundaries, tests reseolve, sows doubt amd mistrust etc.
Not saying I believe any of this, just saying it's possible. Most likely an accident, but it does fit a pattern
I absolutely fall into the camp of if It looks like a duck and quacks like one it’s probably a duck!
Me too. It’s a maritime accident.
You'd be quackers to think otherwise.
Anyway, whether it was or wasn't, that ship is completely goosed now. Someone is going to get a big bill.
One question, for the sailor folk here:
The rebuttal of "ship was aimed at the tanker" seems to be "no it wasn't, because if it was then we would've seen it adjusting its course, it's a die straight line so that means someone simply fell asleep (or whatever)".
But ... it hit the tanker. Therefore, obviously no course correction was needed, which is why we didn't see it, so it could have been deliberate after all.
Am I being thick here?
Look at the movement of Stena Immaculate here:
Virtually nothing. In the last 20 minutes or so it actually drifted slightly more into the path of the Solong and swung broadside on so was an even easier target, and even that movement was barely the length of the ship (assuming those ship icons are to scale).
I still don't think it was deliberate, FWIW!
I very much doubt that the KGB ever had a policy of recruiting stupid people but if they did of what benefit would have Donald Trump been to them in the late 1980s?
its claimed that he was useful for money laundering. When one of the times Trump was facing bankruptcy, the soviet (and eventually Russians) came to his rescue. Trump towers in NY has an unusually high number of ex-Soviet officials and Russian era mafia living there (or at least own apartments there), as its one of the few residences that don't insist on knowing the name the end-owner of the property. It's further alleged that eventually the Russian mafia realised that they could do the same thing by building their own tower blocks using the Trump name (which they'd paid for) as a 'flag of convenience' and thus launder their money through.
SI was at anchor so wouldn't be moving other than on whatever length that chain is.
IDK maritime law and convention, so just musings of an interested party here but at what point would the two ships realise they were on collision course? That youtube above covers about 2hrs of tracking and the Solong is arrow straight through it. At what point does the SI realise, and start taking action - maybe first by making contact with the SI and then when that fails, moving themselves? If at anchor is someone still on watch, are engines at idle, how long to raise anchor and fire them up to making it move again, etc.
Not meant to suggest any sort of conspiracy, just interested in the How this Happened?
Im expecting the next few years to be punctuated by cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, hopefully it remains at that level.
We're being cyber attacked multiple times a day already, by all sorts of actors - hostile nations, friendly nations, private hackers.....we're already at war, just not the conventional type.
You'd be quackers to think otherwise.
Anyway, whether it was or wasn't, that ship is completely goosed now. Someone is going to get a big bill.
I feel deserves recognition
If at anchor is someone still on watch
My understanding of this is yes absolutely someone should have been on watch, and when they noticed a whacking great ship coming right at them, should have done something about it
presumably if you were an unscrupulous nation coercing a citizen to do such a thing you use serious threats to family members to stop them just saying screw you and seeking asylum?
Well UK investigators are going have their work cut out, he's clearly not going to talk and tell them anything. Which presumably will be more evidence of a conspiracy.
Btw I had no idea that the KGB needed a money laundering operation in the United States in the 1980s, were the CIA not aware, or were they in on it too?
Anyway it's great to see that the modern day phenomena of conspiracy theories now spreads right across the political spectrum and is no longer solely the preserve of right-wingers. Sometimes a simple conspiracy theory explains everything.
Has the US been providing aviation fuel to the Ukrainian air force? I agree there's no reason for Russia to pick a fight with the US, but where else does US fuel go?
Just thinking aloud
AFAIK, Ukraine doesn't allow any civilian flights. Only military flights and authorised passenger services can use their airspace. If you look at something like FlightRadar24 you can see the effect. Apart from safety this massively reduces the need for jet fuel.
Having said that Ukraine will still need lots of fuel (for comparison one of the UK's (small) aircraft carriers bunkers about 4000 tonnes of jet fuel)
Pre-war it was supplied by Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkiye, but it isn't publicised now.
Fuel is spread around by international agreement (another reason for President Trump to not leave NATO) and there's a complex billing process depending on local pricing under DLA Energy. This includes giving an equal amount of fuel back, rather than $$$ https://www.dla.mil/About-DLA/News/News-Article-View/Article/1731115/dla-energys-international-agreements-program-supports-a-network-of-global-relat/
Well UK investigators are going have their work cut out, he's clearly not going to talk and tell them anything. Which presumably will be more evidence of a conspiracy.
As will Russia's refusal to extradite him for any Court if he's released, because Russia doesn't extradite its citizens
Anyway it's great to see that the modern day phenomena of conspiracy theories now spreads right across the political spectrum and is no longer solely the preserve of right-wingers.
Newsflash, conspiracy theories are just as common on the left as they are on the right. IMF intervening to cause economic crash in the EU, Mossad causing Charlie Hebdo attack. Islamic state beheadings staged by Hollywood. There's even a theory amongst folk who study modern conspiracy theories that suggest its easier to persuade the left because a core feature of the extreme left is that they tend to make clear-cut assumptions about the world, rigidly classifying people, institutions, or events as positive or negative, competent or incompetent, evil or benevolent, and so on.
The only evidence there is about the KGB capturing Trump are statements from a few ex-KGB (you can find a French TV documentary about one of them who now lives in France). and the Steele dossier, and AFAIK, no hard evidence as ever come to light.
Watchman might have seen the russian freighter coming at them , however there's not much time to start the engine and get the boat moving.
You could get on the radio and sound the fog horn , and hit the collision alarm on your own boat . But a drunk russian seaman asleep at the wheel probably won't wake up.
Big boats run on bunker fuels which needs pre heating prior to injection in the main engine.
So a second engine runs on derv stats first and gets hot , the heat from this heats up the bunker fuels which allows the main engine to start. It's not a quick process.
Newsflash, conspiracy theories are just as common on the left as they are on the right.
Er, not the modern day ones which I specifically referred to....the conspiracy theories used to contradict facts so as to suit an agenda. The Trump supporting paranoid hard-right had quite a monopoly over the creative art of conspiracy theories.
There have of course always been conspiracies in the world of politics, right through history, there's no need to list them.
As will Russia's refusal to extradite him for any Court if he's released, because Russia doesn't extradite its citizens
Captain was arrested in the UK, why does he need to be extradited? He's already here.
The Stena vessel would of had someone on anchor watch.
However, they are there to monitor their own position to ensure they don't drag their own anchor.
The COLREGS do not put any requirements on anchored vessels to take action to avoid collision.
This is because there isn't really anything they could do. When at anchor, the engines will typically be at 30 minutes notice. In that, from the bridge requesting engines, they will be ready in 30 minutes.
In an emergency, you could probably get them a lot quicker but it's not a matter of turning a key.
You also need to pick your anchor up, which take some time. You could the drastic measure of slipping it, but you would still need to take the brakes and preventers off the winch and release the bitter end. Not a routine task and is going to takes a good few minutes at least.
The watchkeeper on the Stena vessel would probably of seen the approach of the other on the radar and just assumed that they would alter course and go around them. It would of only taken a small alteration course and nothing would of happened.
It was a terrible accident and probably involved incompetence, complacency, poor management but it's not a deliberate act.
Apparently they were doing 16 knots, so 5 minutes before the collision they were still 1.5 miles away, pretty close for ships but not in those busy waters, where things at pretty tight and there is a windfarm restricting options.
My guess is that they would of only got really worried when 1/2 mile away, which would give you less than 2 minutes to do anything.
Captain was arrested in the UK, why does he need to be extradited? He's already here.
I assume timba means if he is released and allowed to travel back to Russia.
Although if this was indeed an undercover operation it will presumably be classified as terrorism, I assume that terrorist suspects are not allowed to travel back to countries with which the UK has no extradition treaties.
you would still need to take the brakes and preventers off the winch and release the bitter end
I learned something new today 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot#Bitter_end
The other simple fact that rules out a deliberate act, how would they know the Stena vessel would be anchored?
A ship doesn't really plan to go to anchor. They have anchored off the entrance as they have arrived a little early and their berth isn't available yet, or they have arrived late and missed their slot. It's dead time and in effect costs money as the ship isn't really achieving anything.
Going to anchor will be a call made by the Master 0n the day, depending on the circumstances.
As will Russia's refusal to extradite him for any Court if he's released, because Russia doesn't extradite its citizens
Captain was arrested in the UK, why does he need to be extradited? He's already here.
Because, unless the police manage an exceptionally quick investigation on a complex seafaring matter they are likely to have not come across in their careers and then get a charging decision from CPS, the captain will be getting bail. Whilst you can impose restrictions; surrender of passport, daily reporting, there is a good chance the captain could have it on his toes whenever he feels like it.
The other simple fact that rules out a deliberate act, how would they know the Stena vessel would be anchored?
A ship doesn't really plan to go to anchor. They have anchored off the entrance as they have arrived a little early and their berth isn't available yet, or they have arrived late and missed their slot. It's dead time and in effect costs money as the ship isn't really achieving anything.
Going to anchor will be a call made by the Master 0n the day, depending on the circumstances.
That seems easy to answer.
a) The video above shows about 2 hours of time. I don't know when SI arrived at the anchorage, might've been there for ages before that? Anyway: Solong fire up the engines, aim at SI, 10 minutes later they realise SI isn't moving, bonus, this is easier than we thought!
b) They weren't aiming at SI specifically, just aiming to hit any juicy target to cause chaos & disruption (see also: cutting cables)
c) There's an inside man on the SI
d) They were having intel fed back from a drone disguised as a seagull
Conspiracy theories are fun.
Although if this was indeed an undercover operation it will presumably be classified as terrorism
Indeed it would. But baseless speculation is pretty bad too.
So as it goes, a cargo ship, that has followed the same route 20+ times recently, and in heavy fog, clearly without anyone on lookout or on the bridge, somehow knew that this particular ship, along with its manifest, was going to anchor up at a specific time and place, and decided just to ram into it, on the orders of Putin.
Seems baseless speculation can only be superseded by wild speculation. But mind you these conspiracy nutters will believe anything.
Captain was arrested in the UK, why does he need to be extradited? He's already here.
What ernie says.
The Captain/Master is in custody here, but the investigation(s) will be carried out by accident investigators from the US, Portugal and UK. UK police won't have that sort of expertise
There isn't a guarantee that he'll remain in custody, especially as few seem to be thinking of terrorism, that'll be for the lawyers and courts
crossed with kilo