Venezuelan Navy ship attempts ramming

[MickAK]

It's a great story, certainly, but from a few glances it appears unlikely that the Venezuelan navy ship deliberately rammed the cruise ship. Close maneuvering of vessels on the open sea is difficult when there is an understanding between the two and they are both attempting to accomplish the same objective.

This looks like a collision, and the Venezuelan navy ship was at fault. Even when the other vessel is at fault, a ship to ship collision involves an obscene amount of paperwork and lawyers, and a lot of hard questions from the insurance company. Given the circumstances and the fact that they were rounds fired, calling it a ramming makes that a lot easier for the officers and management of the cruise ship company. Especially given Venezuela's reputation for....eccentric government behavior.

The helicopter deck on the aft end of the Venezuelan ship lowers their freeboard substantially, and riding up on an ice strengthened bulbous bow, flooding their bow and listing the vessel to starboard would cause them to capsize pretty quick. Viva Chavez!

[LOKNLOD]

GC-23, aka the "S.S. Leeeroy Jeeeenkins"

[Caballoflaco]

It's a great story, certainly, but from a few glances it appears unlikely that the Venezuelan navy ship deliberately rammed the cruise ship. Close maneuvering of vessels on the open sea is difficult when there is an understanding between the two and they are both attempting to accomplish the same objective.

This looks like a collision, and the Venezuelan navy ship was at fault. Even when the other vessel is at fault, a ship to ship collision involves an obscene amount of paperwork and lawyers, and a lot of hard questions from the insurance company. Given the circumstances and the fact that they were rounds fired, calling it a ramming makes that a lot easier for the officers and management of the cruise ship company. Especially given Venezuela's reputation for....eccentric government behavior.

The helicopter deck on the aft end of the Venezuelan ship lowers their freeboard substantially, and riding up on an ice strengthened bulbous bow, flooding their bow and listing the vessel to starboard would cause them to capsize pretty quick. Viva Chavez!

An accident, with shots fired and multiple attempts to ram according to the crew of the Cruise ship.

While the Resolute was consulting with the home office, the Venezuelan Navy vessel allegedly fired shots and then purposely collided with the Resolute's starboard side. The ramming was repeateded, the firm said, until the Venezuelan vessel encountered Resolute's hardened bulbous bow and sustained severe damage. Resolute did not suffer any harm affecting her seaworthiness, and after contacting maritime rescue authorities in Curacao, she waited on scene for one hour, her operator said. After MRCC Curacao released her from the scene, she got under way for Willemstad.

I do like how they didn’t pull any soggy Venezuelans out of the water, they just made sure help was on the way. That also indicates it wasn’t an accident and they were afraid of being borded and held hostage.

[MickAK]

An accident, with shots fired and multiple attempts to ram according to the crew of the Cruise ship.



I do like how they didn’t pull any soggy Venezuelans out of the water, they just made sure help was on the way. That also indicates it wasn’t an accident and they were afraid of being borded and held hostage.

Large ships are not bumper cars. They do not 'multiple attempt to ram' easily. There are pictures of the starboard side of the Resolute. Shots were fired across the bow, sure, but a 76mm gun leaves a bit of a mark.

Drifting around in Venezuelan waters was a dumb move. I expect a combination of delayed maintenance causing a main engine failure and the bridge team being pissy on the radio caused this.

[Hambo]

I suggested torpedoing the Corona Virus cruise ships headed for Ft. Lauderdale. I suppose if you don't have torpedoes, ramming is an option.

[Greg]

They may have ordered the ship into a Venezuelan port, thinking it had more food onboard than the entire country.

Viva Maduro

Derp

[BehindBlueI's]

Is there a market for PIT bumpers for naval vessels, then?

[Joe in PNG]

Is there a market for PIT bumpers for naval vessels, then?

There was a time when the Royal Navy pre-Dreadnoughts had ram bows, so maybe they'll make a comeback?

[TicTacticalTimmy]

How much of a joke is your Navy that they get out-Navied by a friggin cruise ship?