Venezuela navy vessel sinks after 'ramming cruise ship'

[sailormed]

BBC NEWS
A Venezuelan navy coastal patrol boat sank in the Caribbean after allegedly ramming a cruise ship that it had ordered to change direction.
The owners of the Portuguese-flagged RCGS Resolute said the naval vessel Naiguata also fired shots in an "act of aggression in international waters”.

The collision left the cruise ship, which has a reinforced hull for sailing in icy waters, with only minor damage.
Venezuela accused the Resolute of an act of "aggression and piracy".

It also said it "did not rule out" that the cruise ship "was transporting mercenaries to attack military bases in Venezuela".
President Nicolás Maduro has previously accused the United States and other countries of plotting to overthrow him.
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Looks like the “politically correct” persons have been taking over the operational commanders, losing all reasonable insight in the process.
Another site mentioned the sinking of the patrol boat and the rescue of the 44 sailors!

[GordMay]

In the wee hours of March 30, an armed Venezuelan Coast Guard patrol ship fired on and rammed a Portuguese-flagged, Bahamian-owned, Canadian- and German-operated polar cruise ship floating not far from the uninhabited Venezuelan island of La Tortuga. The ice-class vessel survived while the patrol ship sank. All of its crew were rescued.

While the media is covering the bizarre incident at sea as a humorous and wacky story which provides a welcome break from the coronavirus deluge, in fact, the reason why the ice-class cruise vessel was steaming towards the Caribbean involves a long trail of unpaid suppliers, creditors, vendors, and crew members. It also involves hundreds of passengers who are now out tens of thousands of dollars each for luxury polar expeditions.

In other words, the company can’t just be seen as the innocent victim of what some observers interpret as a Venezuelan mission gone wrong.

So just how did RCGS Resolute end up in a pitched battle with the Bolivarian Navy that, as I’ll show, may in fact be a proxy battle for a dispute between Venezuela and Portugal?
Let’s start at the beginning. ➥ https://www.maritime-executive.com/e...-rcgs-resolute

[tkeithlu]

Intentionally rammed? Knew the cruise ship was there and assumed that it would get out of the way? That's a new twist on the Norweigian and US Navies managing to hit large ships, oblivious to their presence.

[JPA Cate]

Rather than a Gordian knot (Hi, Gord!), this seems more like a tapestry that will have to be unwoven, thread by thread. Complicated story, indeed. A real life puzzle.

Ann

[redneckrob]

Regardless of who was right or wrong, as they taught me as a wee pup in my rules of the road class, the "law of gross tonnage" always wins if you value your life over being right. I guess we should add to that, "the law of specially reinforced vessels specifically designed to run into hard, unyielding things and break them"

[maelduin]

The US government has a long history of some ruthless interventionism in Latin America and although I don't know the real facts, I'm not surprised that Maduro is suspicious. https://www.portandterminal.com/hit-...t-cruise-ship/ Coup attempts, saber-rattling and sanctions don't help with calming the nerves.

[psk125]

The Venezuelans have a different view of what happened...

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/upl...59bc866465.png

They also claim that the cruise ship left the scene without assisting in any rescue efforts, though Resolute apparently followed instructions they got from Curaçao rescue operations and stuck around for an hour before being told to proceed, since the Venezuelans were apparently handling it.

The location of the sunken patrol boat would be a good indication of whether this was in International waters or not.

[carlosproa]

I am originally from Venezuela, those clowns on the navy boat are a prime example of the communist narco regime of Maduro.

[El Pinguino]

One of two three things happened, either the Venezuelan ship altered course across the RCGS Resolute's bow, or the RCGS Resolute altered course to starboard into the Venezuelan ship, ...edited bit... interaction between the two ships....
The AIS track of the civilian ship should be available on Marinetraffic.

According to wiki...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCGS_Resolute
'At around 01:05 local time, Naiguatá approached RCGS Resolute from the starboard quarter and, after suddenly changing course to port, collided with the bow of the cruise ship at a relative angle of about 45 degrees between the vessels. '
That is translated from here
http://www.gama.mm.gov.pt/images/Rel...S_RESOLUTE.pdf

This all happened 2 weeks ago... lots of links at the bottom of the wiki page

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Intentionally rammed? Knew the cruise ship was there and assumed that it would get out of the way? That's a new twist on the Norweigian and US Navies managing to hit large ships, oblivious to their presence.

Rammed an ice rated ship...there is humor in that...sort of like head butting a ram! [emoji849][emoji1787]

https://youtu.be/5NTvMDEyDpg

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Regardless of who was right or wrong, as they taught me as a wee pup in my rules of the road class, the "law of gross tonnage" always wins if you value your life over being right. I guess we should add to that, "the law of specially reinforced vessels specifically designed to run into hard, unyielding things and break them"

Or in layman's terms... BIG boat - go FIRST!

[hpeer]

Gord,

Thanks for the link.

[DanCan]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

I am originally from Venezuela, those clowns on the navy boat are a prime example of the communist narco regime of Maduro.

Sad but true, I like the way you call it “communist narco regime”. This leftist communist socialist garbage still around in 2020.

[Richv]

Originally Posted by psk125

The Venezuelans have a different view of what happened...

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/upl...59bc866465.png

They also claim that the cruise ship left the scene without assisting in any rescue efforts, though Resolute apparently followed instructions they got from Curaçao rescue operations and stuck around for an hour before being told to proceed, since the Venezuelans were apparently handling it.

The location of the sunken patrol boat would be a good indication of whether this was in International waters or not.

Are civilian vessels legally obligated to extend rescue efforts to armed attackers? If some armed idiot rams my boat, I'll just notify the local authorities via radio and get the Dodge out of Hell.

[Scorpius]

I doubt they thought about the cruise ship being ice-reinforced before ramming it - if indeed it was deliberate. Ramming is an age-old navy tactic. Usually bows are stronger than other parts of ships, sides for example, and the rammer usually wins. Not in this case!