This cruise ship until the Venezuelan Navy offshore patrol sank
Posted on 04/02/2020 11:06:38 AM PDT by PIF
Not an April Fools joke but funny.
The Venezuelan ship appears to have been trying to seize the cruise ship, which is designed to safely sail through icy waters.
This Venezuelan Navy offshore patrol repeatedly rammed
This cruise ship until the Venezuelan Navy offshore patrol sank
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
Following the arctic tern migration?
It was hove to for maintenance on its way to the southern polar region.
Is there any doubt about the insanity of the Venezuelan government critters?
Good question!
Pretty much, yes.
To their “credit” (?) they used the pointy end.
Is this article saying that the Venezuelan Navy has become a bunch of Pirates? Why else would a patrol ship repeatedly ram into a cruise liner? Is that what just happened?
They cant afford ammo it appears times re rough
LOL!
Waiting for the usual sources / idiots to blame DJT and the USofA. You know it is coming!
This would tend to explain Trump’s deployment of military assets in the region.
Yeah, but the Venezualan ship had all the firepower!
Wow! Resolute (~8300 tonnes) is roughly five times the tonnage of Naiguata (~1700 tonnes)! And built to take a hit from an iceberg besides!
Glad to hear no lives were lost in the kerfuffle, but damage control on the Venezualan ship sounds like it was abysmal.
RCGS Resolute is in port in Curacao.
ANBV Naiguatá shows “no records found”
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:370230/mmsi:255806208/imo:9000168/vessel:RCGS_RESOLUTE
Regular patrol craft tend to sink when they bash their bow in against a much larger vessel. See HMS Glowworm vs KNS Admiral Hipper.
Only this time it wasn’t valor, it was stupidity, greed and incompetence - but I’m not sure that most damage control crews would have been able to do much when the commanding officer is so intent on continuously ramming a much larger vessel.
Warning shots were fired, Master of RESOLUTE (RESOLUTE indeed!) refused to obey and maintained her course.
Apr 1 UPDATE: I’ve been correct in my assumption, that the decision to flee was justified, or so it seems, judging from updates published by local sources. According to Curacao media and their information, ANBV NAIGUATA did attempt to seize cruise ship and take her to Margarita Island, east of Tortuga, under a dubious pretext of “violation of Venezuela territorial waters”. Ships navigating in these waters enjoy the right of free passage, so it looks like an attempt to hijack cruise ship. That explains this strange leg in ship’s track and unexplainable Tortuga approach.
Captain of cruise ship is to be commended for his exceptional personal bravery and seamanship skills. He saved his crew from a very harsh ordeal, and called all fire on himself, because he’s to be the main target of Venezuelan wrath and lawsuits and so on.
“We build them good in Germany, ja Heine?” Enemy Below sub-reference
Finally, an international sporting event.
It wasn’t televised, unfortunately..............
I’m wondering what an icebreaker was doing near the equator...
````
Its not an icebreaker, but a cruise ship to take tourists to Antarctica. Its hull has to be hardened because it will encounter ice bergs on the cruises. It was drifting empty doing engine maintenance when attacked.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.