# Venezuelan Patrol Ship Sunk Itself After Ramming A Cruise Liner



## Ping Monkey (2 Apr 2020)

I originally thought this was an April Fool's article.  And I was wrong.  Probably not the result the Ship's Captain had in mind...



Venezuelan Patrol Ship Sunk Itself After Ramming A Cruise Liner With A Reinforced Hull.
The Venezuelan ship appears to have been trying to seize the cruise ship, which is designed to safely sail through icy waters.


https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32853/this-venezuelan-patrol-ship-sunk-itself-after-ramming-a-cruise-liner-with-an-reinforced-hull


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## brihard (2 Apr 2020)

Sucks when you try to engage in an act of piracy and accidentally sink your own ship. That's a fail.


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## OldSolduer (2 Apr 2020)

Brihard said:
			
		

> Sucks when you try to engage in an act of piracy and accidentally sink your own ship. That's a fail.



The Eternal Hugo Chavez tells a story all in itself. 

These guys are worse than the old USSR when it comes to naming ships 🚢


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## Good2Golf (2 Apr 2020)

Could have spent a moment surfing on MarineTraffic.com to check out Resolute’s IMO info...several inches of high-strength steel (RCGS Resolute) vs 1/4” steel (ANBV Naiguatá) Tells you who’s probably going to win a game of nautical rock-scissors-paper.

Regards
G2G


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## dimsum (2 Apr 2020)

> Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino also described the cruise ship's actions as an "act of imperial aggression" and "piracy."



I don't think "imperial" means what they think it means.


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## Colin Parkinson (2 Apr 2020)

Cruise ship is currently docked in Curaca according to AIS, interesting they did not pick up the sailors, although I can't say I blame them. I wonder if they painted a warship on their stack?  8)


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## Spencer100 (2 Apr 2020)

Builders video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=8Qy6IIMh7eo&feature=emb_logo

I'm starting to think you may not want to buy a Navantia product.  They were short listed for the CSC. The count is two naval ships sunk in a year.


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## OldSolduer (2 Apr 2020)

Colin P said:
			
		

> Cruise ship is currently docked in Curaca according to AIS, interesting they did not pick up the sailors, although I can't say I blame them. I wonder if they painted a warship on their stack?  8)



Oh you got a laugh from me -despite the nature of the event.

I am going to hell..... :facepalm:


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## Good2Golf (2 Apr 2020)

Spencer100 said:
			
		

> Builders video.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=8Qy6IIMh7eo&feature=emb_logo
> 
> I'm starting to think you may not want to buy a Navantia product.  They were short listed for the CSC. The count is two naval ships sunk in a year.



That was one of the least inspiring builder videos I’ve seen in a while.


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## medicineman (2 Apr 2020)

Hamish Seggie said:
			
		

> Oh you got a laugh from me -despite the nature of the event.
> 
> I am going to hell..... :facepalm:



Save me a seat, since I was HOWLING as I read that...and looking at the pictures of the of the scratches on the cruise ship.  What was it Tsun Tzu said about knowing your enemy?

MM


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## Retired AF Guy (2 Apr 2020)

Here is a jpeg image (courtesy of Fleetmon website)showing the RCGS Resolute's track as it passed Isla La Tortuga (No map scale).


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## daftandbarmy (2 Apr 2020)

medicineman said:
			
		

> Save me a seat, since I was HOWLING as I read that...and looking at the pictures of the of the scratches on the cruise ship.  What was it Tsun Tzu said about knowing your enemy?
> 
> MM



Probably something like 'size matters'


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## Colin Parkinson (2 Apr 2020)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> That was one of the least inspiring builder videos I’ve seen in a while.



Was it just me or does it appear the 76mm jammed on that round and is stuck in full recoil?


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## Good2Golf (2 Apr 2020)

Colin P said:
			
		

> Was it just me or does it appear the 76mm jammed on that round and is stuck in full recoil?



There were so many shots of the 76 turning into what I thought was going to be an action sequence of at least firing a few rapid shots....then there’s that static facing-forward clip and it fires once with a quick cutaway... *yawn*

Re: Resolute’s track...weren’t they doing engine maintenance?  Isn’t the inner line the 12nm?  It looks like she never entered Territorial Waters...


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## medicineman (2 Apr 2020)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> Probably something like 'size matters'



Yup - of the ego too...

MM


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## FJAG (2 Apr 2020)

Colin P said:
			
		

> Was it just me or does it appear the 76mm jammed on that round and is stuck in full recoil?



I looked at it closely and it looked to me like the gun uses a "soft recoil" system (Fire Out Of Battery) like the HMMWV mounted 105mm Hawkeye. The gun barrel was slightly back and moved forward before it actually fired.

In a soft recoil system the gun is restrained back out of battery as its normal position; on firing it is first released and moves forward, the round then fires and drives it backwards where it is once again caught and held out of battery. The system creates a softer recoil so that it can use a lighter mount.

Edited to add: The gun is an OTO Melara 76 mm. There's a pretty good video clip on the gun my Matsimus and if you watch the clips you will see several scenes where some versions of the gun ends fire in Out of Battery and moves forward before it fires. (Others fire in-battery)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpery6d1qLg

It's a very widely used weapon system.

 :cheers:


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## Good2Golf (3 Apr 2020)

That was the 280’s fitment, wasn’t it?


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## Navy_Pete (3 Apr 2020)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> That was the 280’s fitment, wasn’t it?



Yup; it is a pretty widely used naval gun.  There is a pretty long list on the wiki; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_76_mm

Was really handy when we had problems with it and were near Norfolk; they had specialists in the USN with 20 years experience on that specific gun system from the OHPs. They did some of their own 3rd line work, so had even more training and experience than our FMFs, and were wizards at diagnosing the problems. They also had enough time at sea that they had all kinds of tricks to keep it going so was pretty neat to see them go.  In general, having common equipment with the USN is great for that, and never had anything but help from them. Pulling into their base was always like visiting that friend with a sweet workshop, the best tools and great handskills for help.

The super rapid fire loading system was something to see as well, was a neat bit of hydraulics and engineering.


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## Spencer100 (3 Apr 2020)

A little more.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/venezuelan-naval-boat-rams-cruise-liner-damages-itself-sinks/ar-BB128wHN?ocid=spartanntp

Venezuela thought they were carrying mercenaries to invade.   :rofl:


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## Spencer100 (6 Apr 2020)

Video


https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/04/05/video-has-emerged-of-the-venezuelan-patrol-ship-that-sunk-itself-after-ramming-a-cruise-ship-not-a-typo/


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## Good2Golf (6 Apr 2020)

Spencer100 said:
			
		

> Video
> 
> 
> https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/04/05/video-has-emerged-of-the-venezuelan-patrol-ship-that-sunk-itself-after-ramming-a-cruise-ship-not-a-typo/



Classic tongue-in-cheek belittlement of the Venezuelan Navy’s ill-considered disregard for COLREGs...



> ...The trouble began when RCGS Resolute, a smallish cruise liner specialising in penguin-bothering, stopped to repair her engines in international waters.



It would appear the nautical equivalent of ‘Rock-Scissors-Paper’ is:  ‘Blue water navy-Container transport-Penguin bothering’

Before this, few realized that Penguin-bothering trumps Blue water navy. :nod:

Regards
G2G


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## Spencer100 (6 Apr 2020)

The battle of Tortuga


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## Colin Parkinson (6 Apr 2020)

I sent this to Drachinifel in hopes he make a video about this engagement. South America has a notable history of colourful naval battles.


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## medicineman (6 Apr 2020)

Colin P said:
			
		

> I sent this to Drachinifel in hopes he make a video about this engagement. South America has a notable history of colourful naval battles.



The odd one in the last 40 years I seem to recall  ;D...

MM


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## Colin Parkinson (6 Apr 2020)

If you go through Drachinifel and I think Mark Felton video's they cover some of the remarkable battles that took place off the coasts of South America and on some of the rivers.


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## Spencer100 (6 Apr 2020)

Colin P said:
			
		

> If you go through Drachinifel and I think Mark Felton video's they cover some of the remarkable battles that took place off the coasts of South America and on some of the rivers.



Both are good....I enjoy their videos.....plus it gets me off watching news, politics and commentary of today....good to get my mind off that stuff


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## CBH99 (6 Apr 2020)

Colin P said:
			
		

> I sent this to Drachinifel in hopes he make a video about this engagement. South America has a notable history of colourful naval battles.




I'm glad you did!!  Quite enjoy those types of videos  


Not to sound on the snarky side towards you - this is directed at the Venezuelan Navy - I'm not sure if this will fall into the category of "colourful naval battle" though   ^-^


"Venezuelan patrol ship approaches unarmed small cruise liner experiencing engine troubles.  Fires small arms at small cruise liner, attempts to seize the vessel due to fears that this fairly small cruise liner was somehow going to invade all of Venezuela.  Patrol vessel rams cruise liner, and subsequently sinks herself..."   The end.

Total length of video... 1 minute.  Maybe 2 if he throws in some brief history.


I honestly hope he does make it.  Would be a classic   :rofl:


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## Spencer100 (6 Apr 2020)

There is some internet chatter that they were trying to the cruise ship in response to two tankers under arrest is Lisbon.  The cruise ship was Portuguese flagged

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1QA2DJ


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## Retired AF Guy (7 Apr 2020)

Spencer100 said:
			
		

> There is some internet chatter that they were trying to the cruise ship in response to two tankers under arrest is Lisbon.  The cruise ship was Portuguese flagged
> 
> https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1QA2DJ



From an 01 April 2020 article over at The Drive:



> The incident involving the Resolute may be linked to Portugal, where the Resolute is flagged, the government of which is in the midst of its own set of disputes with Venezuela. Despite acknowledging that Maduro is the de facto head of state, the Iberian country has recognized his principal opponent, Juan Guaido, as the country's legitimate leader.
> 
> In February 2020, Venezuela accused Guaido, along with his uncle, of flying from Portugal on that country's flag carrier TAP while carrying explosives in their luggage. It later accused TAP of conspiring with both men to smuggling the explosives into Venezuela. Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva responded to these allegations by saying they "made no sense."
> 
> Venezuela responded by barring TAP from flying to Venezuela for 90 days. It also accuses Portuguese banks of holding a "large part of Venezuela’s stolen money," referring to frozen assets belonging to the Venezuelan government. This crisis has become somewhat moot as the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, including both Portugal and Venezuela, which has led to a massive drop in global air travel.


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