INTL Venezuelan Navy Patrol Ship Sinks After Collision With (Ramming) Cruise Ship

Zagdid

Veteran Member

BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE 04-01-2020 05:28:51

An encounter between the Venezuelan patrol vessel GC-23 Naiguata and the ice-class expedition cruise ship RCGS Resolute resulted in the patrol vessel's sinking, according to the government of Venezuela.

In a statement, RCGS Resolute's operator asserted that the cruise ship was approached by an armed Venezuelan Navy vessel at a position about 13 nm off Isla de Tortuga. The Resolute was drifting with one engine idling and one engine undergoing maintenance. The Venezuelan vessel ordered Resolute's crew to follow to the port of Puerto Moreno, Isla de Margarita. As this would result in a deviation from the cruise ship's planned voyage, the master sought to confirm with the shipowner before complying with the request.
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.

Images taken from the pier in Curacao show that the damage to Resolute appears relatively minor.

The government of Venezuela identified the lost vessel as the 1,500 tonne, 80-meter patrol ship Naiguata, and it has accused Resolute of improperly departing the scene after the casualty. "The action of the ship Resolute is considered cowardly and criminal, since it did not attend to the rescue of the crew, in breach of the international regulations that regulate the rescue of life at sea," the statement reads.

In a second statement attributed to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the government in Caracas alleged that the Resolute collided with the Naiguata in an "act of aggression and piracy." Further, the government speculated that it could not rule out that Resolute “was transporting mercenaries to attack military bases in Venezuela, unloading them out there on the high seas.”
Venezuela faces a strict sanctions regime imposed by the U.S. and allied nations. The United States contends that Maduro is not the country's legitimate rule, and it has effectively blocked a large fraction of Venezuela's oil exports. The nation's petroleum-dependent economy has largely collapsed, and millions of Venezuelan citizens have fled to neighboring countries.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Strike 1 … strike 2 .... strike 3 … er … El Capitan? I believe we have small problem here.
 

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
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RCGS Resolute (previously Society Adventurer and Hanseatic) is a five-star cruise ship previously operated by One Ocean Expeditions cruise line.[6] The vessel has been chartered as from October 2018 to One Ocean Expeditions of Canada and will cruise in the Antarctic and Arctic. According to the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships, it was the only five-star expedition-cruise ship worldwide. Built in 1991, she specialises in trips to the Antarctic. She was built as Society Adventurer, but was renamed when she was purchased by Hanseatic Tours, as the fourth in a line of ""Hanseatics". In 1997, Hapag-Lloyd purchased Hanseatic Tours, and she passed into their fleet.[7]

Resolute.PNG
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
An Ice rated hull? Good luck with that. It would probably take an anti tank round to even damage that.
 

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
Better write up:


Thursday, April 02, 2020

The Law of Gross Tonnage Applies

Am I a bad navalist if I can't stop laughing at this ... and cannot wait for the video?

Via Joseph Trevithick at The Drive;
The incident occurred in the early hours of Mar. 30, 2020, but Columbia Cruise Services only released an official statement on Apr. 1. The company, which is headquartered in Germany, said the RCGS Resolute was drifting just over 13 miles off the coast of Isla La Tortuga, a Venezuelan island situated some 60 miles off the country's northern coast, when ANBV Naiguatá, also known by its hull number GC-23, approached it. The Venezuelan Navy ship ordered the cruise ship to follow it to Puerto Moreno on Isla De Margarita, located to the east, accusing it of violating the country's territorial waters.
Engineering matters, math is hard, and the law of gross tonnage always applies.
The 403-foot-long Resolute, which is flagged in Portugal, reportedly had a gross tonnage of around 8,445 tons at the time. The ship was laid down in September 1990 and completed in June 1991. Intended for Antarctic cruises, it has a reinforced ice-capable hull.
...
The Naiguatá, which is just over 262 feet long, is a Guaicamacuto class offshore patrol vessel and displaces around 1,720 tons with a full load.
Good seamanship can be harder.
"While the Master was in contact with the head office [in Germany], gun shots were fired and, shortly thereafter, the navy vessel approached the starboard side at speed with an angle of 135° and purposely collided with the RCGS Resolute," the statement continued. "The navy vessel continued to ram the starboard bow in an apparent attempt to turn the ship’s head towards Venezuelan territorial waters."

Columbia Cruise Services does not say what kind of gun was fired or if it did any damage to the Resolute. The Naiguatá has a 76mm main gun in a turret forward of the main superstructure, as well as a pair of 20mm cannons and two .50 caliber machine guns. The crew would also have access to various small arms.

Whatever the case, the steel-hulled patrol ship suffered severe damage from repeatedly ramming the cruise ship, began to take on water, and ultimately sank. Columbia Cruise Services says Resolute remained in the area until it was clear its services were not required to help in the rescue of the 44 crew members. It then continued on, as planned, to the Port of Willemstad in Curaçao.
BZ to the crew of the Resolute ... she's earned her name ... and seems no worse for the wear.



Link to source:


And if you sniff around there you will find that Capt Crozier won't have to buy drinks for a LONG time if he sees his sailors again!
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Just buff it out and slap some paint on it.
I have a friend who used to work on a tug. They sank a 100' fishing trawler with the front of a barge they were towing.
Asleep with the auto pilot set was the most likely cause. No one on the fishing boat lived.
Divers came out to inspect the barge, just chipped the paint.
 

Capt. Eddie

Veteran Member
I have a friend who used to work on a tug. They sank a 100' fishing trawler with the front of a barge they were towing.
Asleep with the auto pilot set was the most likely cause. No one on the fishing boat lived.
Divers came out to inspect the barge, just chipped the paint.
Was that south of Morgan City 5-6 years ago? Crosby tug? I think we may have a friend in common.
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Was that south of Morgan City 5-6 years ago? Crosby tug? I think we may have a friend in common.
Nope. I know he went down that way from NYC/NJ but they hit that boat up here outside Raritan Bay area. Plus got to be over 10 years ago now.
Might have worked for Moran at the time as well.
 

Capt. Eddie

Veteran Member
Nope. I know he went down that way from NYC/NJ but they hit that boat up here outside Raritan Bay area. Plus got to be over 10 years ago now.
Might have worked for Moran at the time as well.
Guess shrimp boats on autopilot getting run over by barges isn't all that uncommon. I doubt the crew on the one south of Morgan City even woke up before they met Davey Jones.

ETA: Moran is a good outfit from what I hear, aside from being union.
 

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
Coming next:
Venezuelan Navy Patrol Ship Arrives in Lake Superior, Rams USCGC Mackinaw.
Details at Eleven!
More likely to take a shot at the Neon Bay before they get to Superior.

OK her name is actually the Neah Bay, but folks here (especially GLOPRA folks) affectionately refer to her as the Neon Bay.

(GLOPRA-=- Great Lakes Offshore Powerboat Racing Association) My Sr Warden, Seccy (father and son), and Chaplain were Power Boat Racers my year as Master of my Lodge)
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Guess shrimp boats on autopilot getting run over by barges isn't all that uncommon. I doubt the crew on the one south of Morgan City even woke up before they met Davey Jones.

ETA: Moran is a good outfit from what I hear, aside from being union.
He was only crew on the tugs. Was out of it for years besides driving some head boats and private boats. He's been driving ferries for the last few years. Think he has a 1800 ton licence. But he's got kids and wanted a normal ish hours job.
 

Squib

Veteran Member
To bad nice looking vessel

That’s my thoughts as well.

Too bad they had a frito bandito with a hot head and no brains in charge of the boat.

Who wants to bet some snickering could have been heard on the cruise ship as they sailed away?
 

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
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That’s my thoughts as well.

Too bad they had a frito bandito with a hot head and no brains in charge of the boat.

Who wants to bet some snickering could have been heard on the cruise ship as they sailed away?

And the Canadians cruised back in a coupla years, anchored over the sunken boat, drank beer and caught snapper. :lol:
 

Capt. Eddie

Veteran Member
Think he has a 1800 ton licence.
1600 near coastal would be my guess. Ferries would be a sweet gig, aside from the union thing again. I looked into casino boats until Iowa changed the regs. Not many normal ish hour jobs for a boat captain around here, but it's the best place for my family.
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
1600 near coastal would be my guess. Ferries would be a sweet gig, aside from the union thing again. I looked into casino boats until Iowa changed the regs. Not many normal ish hour jobs for a boat captain around here, but it's the best place for my family.
That might be it.
He had a short stint running one of those jet drive fast ferries. Thing ran dam close to 50mph. I forget the horse power it had.
NYC cancelled the route and the boat was leased so the company got rid of it.
 
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