🚨Sweden seizes ship after suspected Baltic Sea cable sabotage: Image shows broken fluke off the port anchor.🚨 www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx9g5wwp89o Here is a video showing the process of lowering an anchor. th-cam.com/video/kV6UbUUsT8M/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_syvSMYVlCxQcyiO
Don't equate WP with actual journalism here. They have already been caught spreading completely false narratives about NS1 and 2. So they have zero credibility with their reports solely based on their "anonymous sources".
Sorry to hijack the post but i have to say that Washington Post has been very "lenient" on russia during this war and the unnamed sources WP has, are the only sources claiming that "there was no proof intentional damage". Largest newspaper in Finland (also historically not being unbiased) Helsingin Sanomat has referenced to these unnamed sources as the gospel and saying they are the truth. For weeks now, they have repeated as this was the truth yet there is no official information about the results. Just unnamed sources of "some people are saying" which just isn't credible enough. There is clear and evident push to the agenda that the ship is unlawfully held and Finland is wrong. Who benefits of that?
I guess the Cable is still more valueable than a "civilian" floating coffin (we call them Seelenverkäufer "seller of souls" in German. I guess translated word for word this doesn't work , right?).
For decades there were no instances of anchor dragging cutting cables in the Baltic Sea. Now within a few months we have four instances of this happening, with each ship having ties to Russia or China.
I'm from Sweden 🇸🇪 and I can tell you that our most high ranking national swat team was put on the ship from a helicopter, so it wasn't only the coast guard vessel that "convinced"the ship to go into Karlskrona harbor... 😅 Also I've seen recent photos of the ships anchors, and one of the is heavily damaged.
Correction Sal. This cable was buried at the crossing point. it was buried the entire route Gotland Ventspils. Just to avoid trawler problems. How I know? I was the project mgr. Would a bouncing anchor dent an armoured cable buried +1 m? My bet is on a grappling device plowing down deep enough. You do not normally run these at this speed to not hurt the cable, but the objective was obviously not to just find it. Additionally, the Baltic Sea is basically a lake with very little water tide or currents. Close to Latvia there is a 0.5 kts northerly current that shifts sand close to the shore. Not here. I have seen that some claim that the ship went back and forth over the cable, not just later further south. Where they backed up to get the anchor up. Now, the cable is an armoured cable that acts like a rubber band capable to break the ship with several tens of tons over hundreds of metets as the cable is pulled up by a blunt tool.
if it is i wonder if it could still be damaged by intentionally dragging an anchor across it? and if not what would be required to achieve that? modification to anchor? specifically designed tool?
To have a normal ancor and shain digging in 1 meter going in 10 knots sound extremely unlikely. Mayby on very loose mud bottom ,but I wonder if the cable would not be cowered with something a bit more substantial than mud in that case? Or dug down deeper?, a trawler net wing plate would cut into very lose bottom also.
This is the funniest channel. If you'd asked me 5 years ago whether I would be interested in a channel all about shipping, I would have said "Yeah sure, I'll watch that right after the hog futures forecast." But I found you during the pandemic, while looking for information on supply chain disruptions, and this is now one of my favorite channels. You seem to always have something interesting to talk about, and you present the information in a way that's straightforward yet entertaining. Excellent work.
@@wgowshipping Unironically don't forget to update us here. I know China had an initiative of raising their pigs in multi-story extremely densely packed buildings to prevent a possible outbreak... yeah.
I sailed as boatswain on U.S. ships, and one of my jobs was to lower and raise the anchors, and to operate the winches on the bow for purposes of tensioning or heaving aboard the mooring lines when the anchor windlass was out of gear. To drop the anchor, the windlass needs to be out of gear and then the brake released. When this is done, there is an incredible amount of noise, not to mention a cloud of dust from the pulverized rust on the chain as it screams over the wildcat, (referred to here as the gypsy wheel). When this happens the noise would EASILY be heard hundreds of feet aft on the bridge. To have the anchor windlass IN gear and slowly lower the anchor still makes considerable noise from the motors powering the windlass, and again, the noise, although less than just dropping the anchor, would be discernible on the bridge. Yes, one person can raise or lower the anchors (by either method), but to do this without the people on the bridge knowing about it?? I also call B.S.
Thatswhy charges were brought up against all major officers (bridge crew) and crewmen involved aka assigned to the anchor and not the other crewmen with other tasks I guess.
Then I guess that you should know that be Baltic sea is a very congested area to navigate hence the anchor is always on stand-by for obvious reasons. When there is an anchor watch most of the times the only thing stopping the anchor from being dropped is the break which can easily be released with one hand.
It strikes me as suspicious that all four ships dragged their anchors after leaving russian ports. No ships leaving Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Poland have had trouble with anchors. Only ship from russia. Accidental? No way.
Politicians moan about people getting their news from the internet, however, this channel is far and away better than any mainstream newspaper for understanding what is going on in the Baltic. Well done Sal for keeping us informed and providing explanations that someone who has never been in a ship like this can understand.
It’s all an unscripted sitcom. Billionaires are entertaining you in exchange for Imperialism. American, Chinese or Russian Imperialism is the split. Free for all fight of lands in South America and Africa. Capitalist MAGA troops to support attacks on friends? No friends, right Ivan?
Pretty sure politicians have moaned about every new form of communication. To be fair, many people were told by our parents to not blindly trust things on the internet. Now said parents believe whatever crazy things they read on Facebook.
I’m sure those people are the mainstream media. As mainstream media to me is purchased by the wealthy. Run by the governments or the rich. Not to be trusted as a real honest source anymore. I fear that free market Internet, like TH-cam will eventually be on the chopping block as it offers too much freedom to prevent hiding from governments. All it takes is a person with a cell phone to spread the information that they need to get out there and it happens at the speed of the Internet. I prefer to get news podcasts with good sources as well as I look at international news as well to see what’s going on and hear each other talk about what the other countries are doing because countries love to express their dissatisfaction for things that other countries are doing and it gives you a little bit of a heads up about what your own countries doing that they don’t want to tell you about
I'll admit I never really wondered what's going on with shipping, after finding your channel during the Dali crash aftermath I found that shipping is pretty interesting and I enjoy watching your channel. You are good at explaining the causes and effects to clarify what's going on. Thanks!
It just takes a little more money to bribe the crew and Master of a non-Shadow vessel. The apparently legitimate ships will not be monitored and followed as closely.
Already after last cable cutting, all baltic states, Finland and Sweden are on high alert. Sweden actually assigned 3 extra military ships to patrol the area
@@grizzz6884 Dont think the rest of the world can't make cows***? We don't need Russia. For anything. It's the almost the whole world cashing in on Russia's sabbaticle. Free market wins again.
The Baltic Sea states need to get together and put in an order (maybe from South Korea) for 500 seaworthy drones, to be able to monitor every suspect ship making the passage(s). BTW, acoustic sensors and DSP processing should be able to pick up the "signature" generated by an anchor or cutting device dragging along the bottom...
@@SpringIsBACK The suspected ships have been identified and boarded as is. And I'm pretty sure the Swedish navy still has microphones since the cold war that track all sounds in the South Baltic Sea. Sweden has no ability at all to perform any kind of kinetic attack. But intelligence garthering is their thing. The USA wants it that way. We're just their colony, you know, Sweden hasn't had a foreign policy or a security policy since over 30 years now. The USA takes care of all that stuff for us.
Latvian here. For several decades there were no instances of anchor dragging cutting cables in the Baltic sea. Now within a few months we have 4 instances of this happening, with each ship having ties to totalitarian RuZZia or China. US stating that its not intentional is beyond stupid! Even criminal!
Same here. 35 lithuanian that now lives in Finland for the past 5years. Never heard about seacable damage before the starting Yi peng 3 “accident “ and now we have 4 of them in less than 2months
I think the U.S. made that same stupid comment about the gas pipelines being damaged. Other sources even claim the U.S. might be behind the it. Absolutely NOTHING about the U.S. surprises me anymore. I bet one of the oldest tricks in the book, is to do something and make it look like someone else did it. I also bet that it is the most used trick by the U.S. For those thinking I am over reacting regarding the U.S. If you would see the U.S. from the eyes of a foreign country, you wouldn't question it either. Everyone else is sheep asleep.
Really that. It's plain to see that american republicans are pushing for divorce from NATO. As a Finn, it has been clear from day one to me that we can trust no-one but ourselves. These anchor-draggings would end instantly and permanently if a captain of such a ship was shot while resisting arrest. Just saying.
In addition to those, compensating the time that the cables are out of operation. It seems that communication cables are relatively quickly repaired but I read that the EstLink 2 is going to be out of operation until the autumn of this year.
There is no way that the bridge team would not be aware of the anchor dragging on the sea bottom. The anchor would cause massive friction, varying with the water depth changing - the sea bottom in the baltic is not flat! The anchor chain would have to be paid out judiciously to match the water depth and then secured- the windlass brake alone would render and eventually let the entire chain run out until the bitter end becomes overloaded - structural damage to the chain locker bulkhead would have to be expected. These dragging events are definitely engineered. Even the most inexperienced watchkeeping officer would realise that something is amiss if the speed drops from 10 to 6 or 7 knots without a major weather-related factor at play. The entire crew, down to the messman, would have to realise that this is not a routine voyage.
By the time you hear the anchor going down, by the time the ship slows , it is probably too late to avoid damaging the cable. The question then is do you surrender, and pay for the damages? Or do you try to get away and hope you don't get caught. As Sal says, it need not necessarily be the Captain or whoever is in charge of the bridge. Anybody on the ship could be bribed to do it. Or even a stowaway hiding on the ship. Plenty of places to hide in a ship so big. I think, for the past 50 years, SOP was to try to get away. You keep going for an hour or so (so you're not caught right next to the cable when somebody comes to investigate), slow down, stop, retrieve your anchor, and speed off. There is very little chance that you will be caught or even identified. Imagine you're driving on the highway. You crest a hill, and the road slopes down, and before you know it, you're going 10kmh over the speed limit. How many of us would drive straight to the nearest police station, turn ourselves in, to pay the fine and have the points deducted from our license?
@@danielch6662 Imagine you're sailing in the baltic sea in a huge freight ship, and before you know it your anchor suddenly comes loose all by itself and drops with a mindnumbingly loud creaking clang to the bottom, and you keep sailing and then zigzag over an area known for having vital intercontinental cables. Would you turn yourself in? Would you be surprised if you were boarded and treated as hostile if you did not turn yourself in?
I am a former engineer superintendent. back in the early nineteen nineties, one of our crude oil tankers accidently lost an anchor and chain in very deep water (In the pacific). It happened at about 2 AM and the noise of the free running chain woke everyone up. The chain ripped the 'bitter end' out of the chain locker together with some plating and caused the fore castle deck plating to be 'set up' about one metre.
@@kell7195 I have forgotten the exact number of shots in the chain but the replacement chain required 4 semi-trailers (18 wheelers) and the anchor required an additional 1. The replacements were landed in Newcastle NSW and had to be transported to Kwinana in Western Australia to coincide with the ship's arrival. We had cranes and a pontoon on stand by ready to rehouse the chain and anchor but only the 4 trucks carrying the chain turned up. This caused the then superintendent to charter an airplane to search for the truck with the anchor in the desert ( The truck driver had diverted from his course to visit his sister who worked on a cattle station. This led to a massive court case.
@@suhaimiahmad3425 Everyone can do it. But the Russians are lucky to be able to do it without consequences as NATO is a very tame bunch of usefull idiots . Obviously replacing a cable is cheaper than going to war. So Russia can be sure what ever it does , it will not suffer from retaliation as we stick to the to the rules , we wished Russia and China would also subscribe to. So Russia has the biggest incentive to do those hybrid attacks as there will be no backlash and a cable is more expensive than those ships.
"As reported by The Washington Post, US and European officials have gathered evidence - including intercepted communications - which have concluded that anchors were dragged across the seabed accidentally because of inexperienced crews aboard poorly maintained vessels. One European official has sustained there is counter-evidence suggesting otherwise, however, US and European officials have declined to elaborate on the situation. It is also unclear which officials participated in the investigations, as they spoke to the publication on the condition of anonymity." Hmm, yes. 1. Washington Post the only reporter. 2. Anonymity - Well Deep Throat was anonymous but what could be so career threatening here? 3. What intercepted communications could convince you that it was not sabotage? 4. What intercepts could convince you Russia was not responsible? 5. Could the WP have swallowed deliberately placed briefing either by actors within the US with a vested interest in this narrative at this time or by similar foreign actors? 6. Where did the intercept intel come from, who interpreted it and does it cover all 4 incidents? 7. Why would you make an assessment that ignores evidence collected at the sites? Unless they have intercepts saying something like: "Operation Snip Snip confirmed as completed. Please make payment in Yuan to agreed account. Regards to " you would leave your money on Russia wouldn't you?
US Intelligence is trying to obscure what they really know - give Ivan some false confidence. "We fooled them, comrades - have some vodka." Also, WTF (why, not what) would US intelligence ever tell the truth to the Washington Post? The US Naval Intelligence has all kinds of data on this incident from the nuclear subs on patrol in the Baltic (very good sonar) and the passive listening gear that the (formerly Soviet) Baltic States have in place. There are multiple data streams that record every time a toilet is flushed on a vessel in the Baltic.
I have dropped Anchors in Alaskan Waters on a 265+ foot ship. When the Anchor Drops the Whole ship can Hear it and feel it. Believe me everyone Knows when the Anchor is Dropped. I am Calling B.S. That no one Knew it dropped.
@ From the latest reports it looks like it’s currently at the Hasslö shipyard, if I’m not mistaken. Edit: My mistake, seems it’s still some way out to sea.
If everything is accidents, they must be so damn incompetent that they must be stopped from sailing anywhere. 🙄 I'm happy to see the Swedes finally shows some balls. Great channel. Thank you ❤ Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪
and if you wanted to stop russias fert getting out to farmers that maybe the plan putin takes his orders from the wef he was one of their first young gobal leaders
I’ve never known the Swedes or most any European nation to ever have the “balls” to stand up to the Russians. European countries, for decades, have kowtowed ( acted excessively subservient) to the Russians, and refused to stand up to them, with the exception of the Ukrainians and Estonians and may be the poles! This is specially applies to the Germans. Very sad.
I wish Sweden had the balls to name who blew up Nordstream. This tit for tat isn't going to end until countries like Sweden start calling balls and strikes as an independent nation. Unfortunately, despite growing rich due to staying neutral through two world wars, Sweden (for reasons I cannot fathom) have given up on being independent
IF this was an accident the Master should have contacted the DPA (Designated Person Ashore) as soon as notified of the loss of the anchor. As you said this could be one or a few crew members involved. However, back in the Warsaw Pact days the Bulgarians were known to do jobs "too dirty" for the Russians.
Bulgarian dissident Georgia Markov was attacked on London's Waterloo Bridge...the infamous umbrella gun with the tiny pellet filled with Ricin in 1979...attacked unknown...officially. So. Yeah, Bulvāra doing the dirty work.
Swede here! o/ From as long as I remember there has been headlines in the news about Russia (every year basically) illegally entering Swedish territory, sometimes its submarines, sometimes divers and if they feel extra cocky, its their fighter planes "going off course" Another thing that is new is that they send people, posing as tourists, that fly drones over protected buildings and areas. When/if caught they just make up a story about wanting to photograph some nature and had no ideeea that it was a military practice grounds. Our laws aren't very strict when it comes to this and they usually only get a fine, sometimes a short prison sentence.
Kinda like Bald and Bankrupt being chased out of Transnistria last week for filming in the market after Bald went into Syria a day after HTS took over praising their virtues. Those pesky Russians. Imagine dragging an anchor over their pipelines
These incidents bring to mind a line from _Goldfinger:_ "Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.'"
Makes you wonder if a Russian investor had them write the ending to the last Bond to convince us the bad guys always win. I'd prefer a Sean Connery ending any day.
It was nice to find your site a few years after watching Juan Browne on the regular, and then to watch you two collaborate. My maritime interests are purely national security-related. You provide so much good info.
As Anders alluded to in a comment earlier, cables are buried when water depth is less than 1,000 meters. Singapore requires 10-meter burial, most other cable requirements are 3-meters. All of this is dependent on ocean bottom, e.g. rock outcrops. Cables are "armored" for areas where exposure cannot be avoided. One caveat to this is that submarine cables are frequently manufactured before all bottom characteristics are fully investigated.
Another article reported there were multiple laptops on the bridge linked to intelligence/spying operations some with Turkish language keyboards. Sweden is analyzing those laptops.
Sweden and Finland: taking up the practices of the Anglo pirate tradition just months after becoming a member in Francis Drake’s club….. Francis Drake also carried a letter of marque, remember….
@@ziegle9876please explain. Are you alleging Sweden & Finland are the pirates here? Wouldn't the Danes be doing all the piracy there? The Danes used to target monestaries in England and Ireland, not they suckle at the teet of Uncle Sam.
Great work. Thank you for the recognition of Juan Brown. As a retired pilot and in the marine business for many years I appreciate the service that you are providing
How sad but predictable the utter credibility collapse of Wapo now owned by Bezos. Thank you Finland and Sweden defenders of the Baltics. Thanks Sal for full and informed context.
Unfortunately, you're on to something. I mean, Bezos is the owner for a long time now, but as of last year he began bending the knew to trump, starting by suddenly not allowing his editorial staff to make an election endorsement at all, paying 1M to trump's inauguration fund (give experience from last time, it is by and large used as a slush fund to pay off other lackeys for their "services") and to top it off, he pays trump 40M through Amazon Prime Video for some show about Melanomia... err Melania nobody wants to see. And who knows what else happens behind the curtains. In other words: Fuck Bezos and the Washington Post.
Unfortunately, you're on to something. I mean, Bezos is the owner for a long time now, but as of last year he began bending the knew to trump, starting by suddenly not allowing his editorial staff to make an election endorsement at all, paying 1M to trump's inauguration fund (give experience from last time, it is by and large used as a slush fund to pay off other lackeys for their "services") and to top it off, he pays trump 40M through Amazon Prime Video for some show about Melanomia... err Melania nobody wants to see. And who knows what else happens behind the curtains.
Unless the WaPo is unknowingly passing Putin disinformation via Trump. No proof of that at this time but not too far fetched knowing Trumps obsession with Putin.
The legality of seizing these ships was unclear, but after Finland seized that last one they've come to agreement: The sanctity of the seaways is about peaceful travel, not sabotage.
They have to take the ships, making the ship owners feel the pain is about the only thing that could make them spend money to secure the anchor controls.
Sal, many thanks for keeping us informed with your informative updates. I'm no mariner, but I also call the report from the USA source B.S! Four cable cuts in this region within a fairly short period of time is no accident!
@@theorenhobart Doesn't sound like Trump's idea to me, but I could be wrong. I'll wait for confirmation to make a judgement. If it is from Trump I'll be surprised & sorely disappointed.
@@stevendaugherty7590 I don't like a single thing about Trump but it could be a way to make NATO governments consider increasing the money they contribute towards their own protection.
I don't know if anyone in the 2k+ comments have braught this up but that ship is not from 2022 since there are pictures of it from at least 2015 and it is a total rust-bucket. Does not look two years old. The fact that it has a "fake" identity should point to it being a part of the shadow fleet. It would be great to have an in-depth review of the darker back alleys of shipping like fake identities.
Well considering one of the ships that have done this got a "no pass" from Ghana of all places (hell their inspection basically came up as "This vessel is no longer seaworthy and should just be scrapped due to just how old it is" as it was pushing the age limit on that particular class and type of ship already prior to the inspection in Ghana) it's not surprising that they are old...
That was kind of what I commented, that it looked awful for only being 2 years old, if it has a fake id it explains a lot. Faking stuff isn't something new for Bulgarians.
Half hour is also long enough to dump some equipment overboard, such as a cable cutting device, surveillance equipment, or even a smallboat and some Ivans
Equipment as in an: "an anchor with a missing fluke" ? Do the Swedes really have to find cable cutting devices on the ship before they can 'legally' start procedures? The Chinese Yi Peng 3 was caught with no anchor at all.... Oops, somehow we must have lost it during the voyage.. Evidence gone.
@michaelhompus2475 you can use an anchor, but if Russia is trying to play sneaking bastards then using something other than the anchors would provide extra deniability. Nothing that a salvage dive team and a GPS can't refute, but it's still a possibility.
@@Isaac_132 : no, comments on YT just randomly get eaten up. It's unclear if it's that it's zapping comments too unlikely to cause controversy (and thus engagement), or just technical incompetence.
In the past I did a couple of cable clearance jobs. We used a couple of grapple anchors, a plow attached to the axle from a truck that would stick into the bottom about 7-10', about a half a shot of chain, and bunch of wire. The bottom of the plow was hooked so it would grab a cable. There was a strain gauge that the wire went over so that we would know if we caught something. We went slow, maybe 2-3 knts only in the middle of the Right of Way. If we hooked a cable the first indication would be an increase in the force to pull the plow, it took 5-8,000 pounds of force to pull the plow when it had not caught a cable. When it caught a cable that would increase to over 10k #'s. The ship (really a work boat) would start slowing, it was kind of like when you pull a bow string. We would then stop and retrieve the plow string onto the deck of boat along with the cable we caught. Put two stoppers onto the cable. One of the stoppers had a large buoy on it, cut the cable with a cutting torch toss the buoy and that part of the buoy overboard. The other end of the cable got pulled into a cable traction machine. We'd then pull the cable in and put it in a cable tub to the edge of the RoW. There we'd cut it off. Then go and recover the buoy and repeat. We'd also remove fishing gear using basically the same process, but we didn't recover fishing gear. There have been to many of these close together for it to be an accident. But is it just a proof of concept? Just trying to cause economic harm and harassment? Trying to show we can do this if you keep supporting Ukraine and we will do more of them? If this happens more often ships associated with Russia and China won't be able to get insurance to go anywhere near cables. These cables are all designed to be repaired which is done all the time. Recover the cable onto the ship. cut it, test both halves, put the good half on the buoy. Then pull the toward the damage part until you find it. Cut that off, splice on new cable, and play that out until you get to the buoy, recover the good half. Splice that to the replacement cable and lay the bight onto the bottom.
But... Russia or China can provide insurance, right? Also, I understand that cable repairs are not uncommon, but, how much spare capacity to do repairs is there? Other posters say "not that much". P.S. I'd say "all the above" (economic harm, harassment, threat), and... general chaos -- a Rooskie specialty.
Shadow fleet boats aren't insured anyway. Seize the boat and cargo and sell them to cover the costs of the crime and repatriating any crew members that weren't part of the crime, and then spend five years trying to figure out who actually owned that boat through the mess of shell companies these people use.
@@tealkerberus748 the Vezhen is different, it's a modern vessel that should take away all questions about degraded or out of service equipment. It's clear that Russia is playing a game here. It's not clear what that game is, except to keep saying to the Europeans "we can do this to you any time we want" and induce fear? Fear of reprisals? Provoke action or distract from helping Ukraine? That part is less clear.
@@BikeNewLondon It's a distraction strategy - like the way trump is destroying people's human rights to distract from how the rich are getting a whole lot more powerful. You can't ignore it because what they're destroying is so important, but it takes your energy away from dealing with their real agenda so they get away with doing whatever they really want.
The ship's name is Bulgarian - pronounced "Vegen" (soft "g", as in giraffe or Geneva). The officers are Bulgarian, the captain is a 41 y.o. Bulgarian guy. The rest of the crew are from Myanmar. The ship is owned by the oldest Bulgarian shipping company, owned by Kiril Domuschiev, a Bulgarian tycoon and owner of a football club, former owner of a media group, and current owner of several businesses in the US through his pharmaceutical conglomerate. Definitely not shadow fleet, the ships of the company regularly load and unload cargo from the US and Canada. Unlike previous ships of the same series (built in China) operated by the same company, which are owned by offshore Maltese companies, this one is officially owned by a Hong Kong based company. In a statement to Bulgarian media the CEO of the shipping company said that it is possible that the ship snagged the cable, but he personally excludes sabotage. He mentioned that they discovered the "unrolled" anchor at 06:00 Bulgarian time (UTC+3), even though in the video we can see that they stop at 06:00 UTC - it is not known if he simply made a mistake or if he's lying. He also said that the Swedish authorities who boarded the ship were "a bit aggressive". Although new, the ships build quality is not the best, I've heard of a situation where a ship of the same series had a propeller shaft failure at sea. Current rumors and speculations in Bulgarian news forums are that it was either a russian-sympathizing crew member or the russians have pressured the owner of the company.
Seems to me.... The intel reason for doing this is to see what goes down when given cables are cut. And to see how long it takes to fix them. Not because they need or want them down now....but for war planning. Knowing who and what goes dark and for how long is good info for an invasion/infiltration. Next time they get cut, it might be for another reason than intel collection. Also helps them know which cables to tap via submarine intrusions after repairs are complete.
Followed you're channel from the start, and really appreciate you're time and information provided on you're You Tube Channel, keep up the great work Sal! Big thumbs up 👍👍👍😉
Anchors accidentally falling like people from a Russian building, they have so many anchors falling lately they might need to blockade Russia so they can do a recall.
Greetings and a huge thank you from little Latvia for the news and an actual deep dive (pun intended). As i don't watch the local news often, you dialled me in on our loss of the first cable that i know for a fact is our project, likely belonging to or hired by my household internet provider. The enemy had to be really determined and prepared to break a cable reportedly buried around 1m under the seabed. Besides we recently deployed additional sea patrols with intention of monitoring (or even escorting) the older shadow fleet tankers going from St. Petersburg and Russian Baltic Fleet. This will be a long hybrid-war we did not want, you bet on that.
Good to hear from our friends in Latvia! IMO, the Nordic and Baltic countries need to get cracking on numerous maritime drones to monitor / surveil those suspect ships. It seems like that would be most cost effective, unless a ship needed to be boarded.
The WaPo story was suspiciously careful to not quote or even name the "US officials familiar with the initial assessment". No reputable person wants to stand behind the claim that this was accidental. Someone wants the story out there, but no knowledgeable person is willing to ruin their reputation by having it in the history books. That's a tell.
Especially since the policeman in charge of the investigation said that the investigation is still ongoing. And it's very strange that the WP knows it's an accident since he doesn't.
There should be no difference between accidents or purposeful dragging an anchor that damage cables. Like arrest and a $50m bail on the ship and ban it from innocent passage privilege.
Oh yeah. Complete accident. Multiple Russian controlled ships all accidentally go through the multiple steps to drop their anchors, and all of them accidentally do so right where important cables run. Oops.
If it only takes one man, why are the ships involved so blatantly going to/from Russian ports? That could've easily be avoided for plausible deniability.
@@andreimoutchkine5163 A tourist in a small sailing boat could do it. The average depth of the Baltic Sea is 55 meters. But WHY!? Cutting a little cable here and there once a month, while NATO is bombarding Russian cities with cruise missiles. Those two set of events cannot have any kind of relationship. Just strange.
Not sure why there can be ANY uncertainty about which ship is responsible for these breaks. there will be a second accurate time record of when the cable's functions were lost/degraded. and there will be second accurate tracking of any ships passing over the cable. It should also be trivial for the operators to determine how far along the cable the break was through various tests like time domain reflectometry (where a pulse is sent down a cable, partially reflects back off any discontinuity, and the time delay for the reflection is measured). The anchor chain cannot be dragging more than a few hundred feet behind the bow of the ship. It's almost impossible that there will be more than one ship in the required location at the required time.
Yes, how does the owner or captain squirm out of evidence that a cable began malfunctioning when the ship passed over it, and damage is located at the crossing point? They can't say "It was like that when we got there". 🙄
As others noted, the question is not whether the anchor dragged, it is whether it was intentional. Of course the crew will deny any intent. And next month, another crew of another ship will deny intent.
@@j_taylor Why should intent matter. you cut our cable, your ship is seized, your cargo is seized, your crew is detained (until the damage is repaired and they pay for it). If any crew member wishes to tell the truth, they get immunity. end of. Also, like Sal said, this cannot be accidental,.. SOMEONE on board has to do this
If Dr Evil's submarine is waiting over the cable with its scissors at the ready, it simply needs to wait for some innocuous ship to pass over before activating the scissors at which point, AIS will show the innocent ship being over the cable at the time of the break and Sal will point to AIS logs as the evidence the ship is guilty and the whole workd will accept's Sal's conclusion 🙂
@@jfmezei: Which is why the investigators search for corroborating evidence, like missing or damaged anchors. Eagle S was still dragging it's anchor chain when it was intercepted by Finnish authorities.
I am Bulgarian and I am sure that MV Vezhen did it on purpose because this ship is owned by two Bulgarian brothers billionaires that have close ties with Russia.
I am Bulgarian and I have the same opinion. Domuschievi brothers have close ties with Russia and the ruling Bulgarian party GERB. Also One of their ships was caught with drugs in UK or Ireland last year.
It's high time shipping registry rules were reviewed - and ALL shipping in / out of the Baltic serving Russia ESCORTED in BOTH directions if not BANNED completely.
Countries need to state clearly that any attack on this type of infrastructure is considered as a direct attack on the country. Appropriate action needs to be taken.
Right, so you declare that such actions are an act of war. And Russia calls your bluff & does it again. You can now either a) use military force against Russia or b) demonstrate to Russia that your words are meaningless.
@@dgthe3 c) Station hunter subs or drones at likely crossing points, supplanted by acoustic sensors. If a bogey shows up and is observed damaging a cable, the bogey has a mysterious accident. Two can play this game...
I've had a third mate who was unable to look up from his remedial navigation practice long enough to acknowledge a contact report, and have to have the same contact reported to him three times before he became aware of it. I've had a mate tell me that a recreational vessel dead ahead, making 18 knots on a collision course, was a navigation buoy. And the same mate didn't believe me when I told him we were being set onto a reef, until someone else told him. So I can imagine the officers on vessels like these not being able to realize that they've been sabotaged and are dragging anchor. I can especially imagine them ignoring an AB from a third-world country telling them what's going on.
I read some really weirdly worded rumours about the Eagle S being released in the press.. It makes no sense. On the seas strict liability is in place! It doesn't matter if it was an accident or if you did everything right! The outcome is the only evidence that is needed.
they're 100% justified. NATO expanded again. Sweden is suppose to be neutral. And they had to have been in with Biden and Norway to blow up Nordstream2
Warfare? It is ridiculous. Makes no sense either way. It's as if you burn down my house, then I put my chewing gum on the windshield of your car. Cutting a cable every month is totally without any kind of effect at all. If they cut all Baltic cables at once, it would make some kind of sense as a threat. But this is silly. Tit for tat would be launching 500 drones to permanently take out all electricity in Sweden, with millions starving to death wihtin a few months since there exists no kind of civil defense in Sweden and no ability to even begin to try to repair an electric grid when there's no electricity. No communication and no payments doesn't help having no preparedness and no spareparts. How could the local grid companies even order the necessary components and tools from China where they are made???
What happens if they impound the ship and confiscate the cargo? Irrespective of whether this is an accident or not, repairs have to be paid for, so authorities should make it nasty enough for the ship's owner that they employ competent crew.
Of course there's going to be some sort of trial and the ship owner must pay for damages whether this is accidental or not. I'm quite sure they don't have the money or insurance so the ship and its cargo might be sold for compensation after trial is completed.
Neither can I. It is not a threat, then they'd cut all Baltic cables at once, or worse. This is irrelevant, so it cannot be done on purpose. Nor can it reasonably be accidents. And the war mongering globalists hardly do it themselves as a false flag, the damage is way to irrelevant even for that. It's a mystery!
EDIT: Just got picture confirmation today that the anchor is severely damaged. Basically half of it is missing (one "arm", so to say). For many years, there was no issues with pipelines or data cables in the baltic. Now all of a sudden there are four ships suspected of dragging their anchors. This is quite plainly not a coincidence. Russia has throughout history been involved with sketchy stuff in the Baltic sea. Most notable incident of course being during the Cold War when a Russian submarine was stranded in the archepelagos very close to where this ship is anchored right now. I hope the Finns with their ship and the Swedes with this ship come to some form of conclusion and do something about it.
The anchor dragging isn't suspected, actually, it's a fact. There are multibeam sonar images of the drag marks, pictures of the cut pipes, and at least two damaged anchors retrieved from the seabed. What's being contested is intentionality, and that's quite ridiculous too, everything considered.
Sketchy is an understatement. The Soviets sent out Migs and without warning shot down an unarmed Swedish surveillance plane that was not even in Soviet airspace. The entire crew was killed. There is a documentary on YT about it.
Totally agree with you that dropping the anchor was on purpose, this type of incident is extremly rare in the world. However I did not agree it was done by one crew without the knowledge of the rest. First of all they should know exactly where the cable is in order to drop in the proper position. That means at least one officer and Captain on the bridge plus few other crew was involved.
Chris Martenson of Peak Prosperity says something like once is an accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action. So 4 times is enemy action x2. Thanks Sal
It needs to be appreciated that the Finnish and Swedish countries don’t have to measure up the fine print in the law to make a seizure of a vessel. Facts are facts and the guilt is directed. Job done.
I two thoughts regarding an anchor drag: 1) If a ship's Captain allows a ship to course for more than a mile with its anchor deployed then they should be relieved of duty for incompetence. 2) There is no way that an anchor drag can be proceed without being noticed. I have the thought that it is a fairly obvious situation when a ship is dragging its anchor, from the drop in speed, the requirement for much more power to maintain motion and the requirement of the helm to trim in order to maintain a course (the ship would "pull" to the side the anchor was deployed on)... So in my opinion any anchor drag for more than a nautical mile could easily be concluded to be or considered to be an intentional act. It can't be an accident because the effects and affects are so obvious and noticeable.
Denmark by treaty cannot deny ships "innocent passage" through its waters. It seems though that they could require any ships from or to ruzzian ports to post a damage deposit of $1,000,000,000.00 U.S, provided by a reputable and very solvent Western insurance company. Every country said ship passed, in and out could require the same. Like Popeye used to say, "I've had enough, and enough is too much."
Or technically, keep the ship until investigations are finished then make demands towards the shipping company to cover losses, repairs and investigations. Keeping the ship until it is paid in full. The shipping company may not think the ship with cargo is worth that much so they'll rather let it go, but that's their choice.
What legal basis is there to seize any ship that cuts a cable? And why not claim against the vessel insurance policy? Or do you just think it would be amusing for countries to grab piles of rusty ships to block up their ports?
Back in the days before the US guaranteed the safety of global shipping, the flagged nation would be the one you would need to answer to if you messed with the ship.
Strange how within a year more cables have been "mysteriously" cut than the previous two decades. Hmm, just a thought. Maybe there should be a green light and a red light (or something) labeled "Achor" on the bridge to tell people if the anchor is up or down. Don't think it would be an impossible task to have a sensor hooked to the anchor mechanism which tells if the anchor is up or down. Even cars have had a warning symbol for decades to tell you if your handbrake is on.
In another comment, an experienced seaman, noted that the anchor dropping, and even a slow, motor assisted lowering, is going to cause such a racket, that anybody on the bridge, and in most parts of the ship will hear it, and not mistake it for anything else. In short, more than one person on board was involved in this, and at least one, was on the command staff.
Nobody thought of it before, probably because it seems proposterous that the captain shouldn't be aware that the anchor is out. Of course you know... Cables do get cut from time to time but this is usually because of a fumbled anchor drop in port. They may be unaware of the cable, or have to curse-correct during the operation and catch a cable by mistake. You don't drag an anchor for hours and don't know about it. I just don't buy it.
The MISSING point. Maybe I'm a little out of touch (last at sea in 1982) Who puts the steam on deck for the windlass to operate?? this used to take an hour or so just warming the deck line through and the Engineers would know what was happening to the steam demand on the boilers. Or are the modern windlass operated by hydraulics? In all these cases the ships left an alongside berth where the anchor would have been securely stowed, in this case since in Canada. It is too much of a coincidence that roughly 24 hours after leaving a berth in russia, now four ships anchors would mysteriously detach themselves and start dragging. I agree with the comment B.S. Great content and thanks for your research.
KBV is short for Kustbevakning, Coast Guard. If the vessel had not complied, I can guarantee that Sweden and, nowadays, including NATO, could find ways of being very persuasive. The Baltic states, plus Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, should make a treaty to impose rules that anyone damaging cables, accidentally or not, are subject to heavy fines. If it can be proven that it is intentional, it would, of course, still be subject to prosecution. But they should not get off easy by claiming it was an "accident".
You park and cut cables shown on a map -> automatic fines plus seizure of the vessel for few months - assuming there is an insurance, and if not then everything should be sold in order to compensate the havoc. If the sold value is not enough, blockade of said operator. No brainer really.
Said treaty should also include Germany and Poland. No outfit found guilty of cutting cables should be allowed free passage in or out of the Baltic Sea, to include use of the Kiel Canal.
@@craig7350On a boat you’d notice the anchor is down and dragging without a chime. And on a ship there’s simply haven’t been the need because it doesn’t happen. Perhaps insurance companies will insist on it now. Because they will be the ones who pay for this. Although it will be easy for anyone to just cut or shortcut the lines to the indicator. Perhaps cameras.
Yeah, it is a bit concerning that pipelines and cables are becoming targets. Nobody seems to want nuclear war, but we seem to be willing to destroy things that take a decade and a billion dollars to build. This feels like a game that has no winners. We all have too much to lose.
@RichFreeman if we don't stand up to it and take action it will happen more and more and emboldened others to do the same. There won't be any nuclear war , they are bullies and liars not idiots. Its called mutual destruction. We " the West " can't keep allowing them to attack NATO countries and call it an accident. Russia has literally fired a missle into Poland that killed 2 farmers and Poland blamed it on Ukrainian air defense . This has to stop!
@j_taylor if they call it what it is they have no choice but to declare war on Russia and they are terrified to do that so everyone says it's an accident. Get it?
This is the second try on this cable. Ye Ping likely made a try on this cable too but only suceeded on the two parallell non buried cables. The W Post is just silly. Why?
Because if this was faced square up, this would be very close to a situation where NATO Article 5 gets invoked. You gotta keep in mind that virtually all the Biden mid and lower level people are still in place, and the Biden policy was to try to slowly drag Russia down (the slowly boiled frog?) while exhorting "contain, contain, contain" without ever firmly facing Russia. We couldn't even get minimal arms shipments to Ukraine in time for their planned for 2023 counter-offensive. Basically, Pooty's nuclear sabre rattling worked. My guess is that the Nordic countries will try to confiscate enough ships, or threaten to confiscate enough ships (which are not owned by Russia, BTW), that the owners will take steps to prevent crews from mischief.
I served aboard a US aircraft carrier, even on such a large ship when the anchor was lowered everyone onboard was aware due to the noise and vibration.
@@robertlee6338 Quite the opposite: Nord Stream is the Russian's most valuable source of hard money. My guess would be somebody's covert forces, in order to prevent any temptation being plied upon the Germans to "be reasonable" and relent. Maybe even Germany: a self-denying ordinance!
🚨Sweden seizes ship after suspected Baltic Sea cable sabotage: Image shows broken fluke off the port anchor.🚨
www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx9g5wwp89o
Here is a video showing the process of lowering an anchor.
th-cam.com/video/kV6UbUUsT8M/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_syvSMYVlCxQcyiO
For proper anchor usage the line should be 3× the depth. So at 150 meters going to 50 meters would make sense that the ship came to a halt.
Some ships also had devils claw stoppers , plus a cemented pudding with canvas cover on the spurling pipe .
Don't equate WP with actual journalism here. They have already been caught spreading completely false narratives about NS1 and 2. So they have zero credibility with their reports solely based on their "anonymous sources".
Sorry to hijack the post but i have to say that Washington Post has been very "lenient" on russia during this war and the unnamed sources WP has, are the only sources claiming that "there was no proof intentional damage". Largest newspaper in Finland (also historically not being unbiased) Helsingin Sanomat has referenced to these unnamed sources as the gospel and saying they are the truth. For weeks now, they have repeated as this was the truth yet there is no official information about the results. Just unnamed sources of "some people are saying" which just isn't credible enough. There is clear and evident push to the agenda that the ship is unlawfully held and Finland is wrong. Who benefits of that?
I guess the Cable is still more valueable than a "civilian" floating coffin (we call them Seelenverkäufer "seller of souls" in German. I guess translated word for word this doesn't work , right?).
For decades there were no instances of anchor dragging cutting cables in the Baltic Sea. Now within a few months we have four instances of this happening, with each ship having ties to Russia or China.
For decades, no one ran into a bridge in Baltimore.
@@WALTERBROADDUS How many have since the first one?
@@TurbeJäbä-n8e there have been several ships that have had engine breakdowns just like, Dali. And near Bridges...
Just coincidence, comrade!
%100 agree with your comment
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
Ian Fleming. Goldfinger.
"I believe in coincidence. They happen everyday. I just don't trust coincidence."
Elim Garak
You beat me to it :D
@@joemadda
"Hollywood is a reliable source for managing international affairs?" Mrs Columbo likes to know.
Or a false flag.
@@volkerengels5298
Does Putin pay well Comrade?
I'm from Sweden 🇸🇪 and I can tell you that our most high ranking national swat team was put on the ship from a helicopter, so it wasn't only the coast guard vessel that "convinced"the ship to go into Karlskrona harbor... 😅
Also I've seen recent photos of the ships anchors, and one of the is heavily damaged.
Correction Sal. This cable was buried at the crossing point. it was buried the entire route Gotland Ventspils. Just to avoid trawler problems.
How I know? I was the project mgr.
Would a bouncing anchor dent an armoured cable buried +1 m? My bet is on a grappling device plowing down deep enough. You do not normally run these at this speed to not hurt the cable, but the objective was obviously not to just find it.
Additionally, the Baltic Sea is basically a lake with very little water tide or currents. Close to Latvia there is a 0.5 kts northerly current that shifts sand close to the shore. Not here.
I have seen that some claim that the ship went back and forth over the cable, not just later further south. Where they backed up to get the anchor up.
Now, the cable is an armoured cable that acts like a rubber band capable to break the ship with several tens of tons over hundreds of metets as the cable is pulled up by a blunt tool.
Anders...Thanks for the correction! I edited the video to reflect this.
if it is i wonder if it could still be damaged by intentionally dragging an anchor across it? and if not what would be required to achieve that? modification to anchor? specifically designed tool?
Buried or not, the cable is in any case damaged by external influences in a suspiciously similar way to other damaged cables.
To have a normal ancor and shain digging in 1 meter going in 10 knots sound extremely unlikely.
Mayby on very loose mud bottom ,but I wonder if the cable would not be cowered with something a bit more substantial than mud in that case? Or dug down deeper?, a trawler net wing plate would cut into very lose bottom also.
@@perstaffanlundgren That's probably why the speed dropped drastically south east of Gotland.
I agree with you Sal. Dragging an anchor for 50 miles is not an accident.
Yeah, and also going back and forth over it, is doing it with purpose.
All of these earlier suspected ships have dragged their anchor for over 100 km (over 62 miles). Veyzen case is still unknown on this.
This is the funniest channel. If you'd asked me 5 years ago whether I would be interested in a channel all about shipping, I would have said "Yeah sure, I'll watch that right after the hog futures forecast." But I found you during the pandemic, while looking for information on supply chain disruptions, and this is now one of my favorite channels. You seem to always have something interesting to talk about, and you present the information in a way that's straightforward yet entertaining. Excellent work.
Funny you should mention it. My newest channel will be What's Going on With Pigs!
@@wgowshipping Unironically don't forget to update us here.
I know China had an initiative of raising their pigs in multi-story extremely densely packed buildings to prevent a possible outbreak... yeah.
I sailed as boatswain on U.S. ships, and one of my jobs was to lower and raise the anchors, and to operate the winches on the bow for purposes of tensioning or heaving aboard the mooring lines when the anchor windlass was out of gear. To drop the anchor, the windlass needs to be out of gear and then the brake released. When this is done, there is an incredible amount of noise, not to mention a cloud of dust from the pulverized rust on the chain as it screams over the wildcat, (referred to here as the gypsy wheel). When this happens the noise would EASILY be heard hundreds of feet aft on the bridge. To have the anchor windlass IN gear and slowly lower the anchor still makes considerable noise from the motors powering the windlass, and again, the noise, although less than just dropping the anchor, would be discernible on the bridge. Yes, one person can raise or lower the anchors (by either method), but to do this without the people on the bridge knowing about it?? I also call B.S.
And everyone sneaking a smoke in the faux went deaf. Is no way drop anchor and 1/3 crew not notice
I agree I don't find it credible that the bridge (or even just one person) onboard knew about this.
Been a sailor too and there is NO way this shit is accidental! Even if all in the crew where deaf whoever steering the ship will know in minutes!
Thatswhy charges were brought up against all major officers (bridge crew) and crewmen involved aka assigned to the anchor and not the other crewmen with other tasks I guess.
Then I guess that you should know that be Baltic sea is a very congested area to navigate hence the anchor is always on stand-by for obvious reasons. When there is an anchor watch most of the times the only thing stopping the anchor from being dropped is the break which can easily be released with one hand.
It strikes me as suspicious that all four ships dragged their anchors after leaving russian ports.
No ships leaving Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Poland have had trouble with anchors. Only ship from russia.
Accidental? No way.
@@pasipulkkinen LMAO, sure
@@pasipulkkinen
You think the US has ANY control of foreign-owned shipping vessels? 😂😂😂
@@pasipulkkinen "There in no reason for russian to do this" sure, there's absolutely not any reasons for them to do this at all... 😂😂😂
@@pasipulkkinen Do you believe USA have orbital mind control lasers they use in Russian crews?
Anchor 😂😂 took years to find half a ship whit same equipment people are so dumb
Politicians moan about people getting their news from the internet, however, this channel is far and away better than any mainstream newspaper for understanding what is going on in the Baltic. Well done Sal for keeping us informed and providing explanations that someone who has never been in a ship like this can understand.
They moan bc it doesn't let them get away with everything like the media does
It’s all an unscripted sitcom. Billionaires are entertaining you in exchange for Imperialism. American, Chinese or Russian Imperialism is the split. Free for all fight of lands in South America and Africa.
Capitalist MAGA troops to support attacks on friends? No friends, right Ivan?
Washington Post ran an article: It was an accident. I rather believe Sal!
Pretty sure politicians have moaned about every new form of communication. To be fair, many people were told by our parents to not blindly trust things on the internet. Now said parents believe whatever crazy things they read on Facebook.
I’m sure those people are the mainstream media. As mainstream media to me is purchased by the wealthy. Run by the governments or the rich. Not to be trusted as a real honest source anymore. I fear that free market Internet, like TH-cam will eventually be on the chopping block as it offers too much freedom to prevent hiding from governments. All it takes is a person with a cell phone to spread the information that they need to get out there and it happens at the speed of the Internet. I prefer to get news podcasts with good sources as well as I look at international news as well to see what’s going on and hear each other talk about what the other countries are doing because countries love to express their dissatisfaction for things that other countries are doing and it gives you a little bit of a heads up about what your own countries doing that they don’t want to tell you about
You have become one of my primary news sources. Great work
which goes on to prove hybrid warfare is happening...or else I normally would not be watching this channel.
I never would have thought this channel would include intrigue and suspense…but you’ve created a new genre!
I'll admit I never really wondered what's going on with shipping, after finding your channel during the Dali crash aftermath I found that shipping is pretty interesting and I enjoy watching your channel. You are good at explaining the causes and effects to clarify what's going on. Thanks!
The fact that ship doesn't fit the Shadow Fleet profile is precisely why the ship was used!
It just takes a little more money to bribe the crew and Master of a non-Shadow vessel. The apparently legitimate ships will not be monitored and followed as closely.
Already after last cable cutting, all baltic states, Finland and Sweden are on high alert. Sweden actually assigned 3 extra military ships to patrol the area
That helped...
and the cable was cut this is all about money lets say the un blocks russia from exporting fert the price of food will go even higher
@@grizzz6884 Dont think the rest of the world can't make cows***? We don't need Russia. For anything. It's the almost the whole world cashing in on Russia's sabbaticle. Free market wins again.
The Baltic Sea states need to get together and put in an order (maybe from South Korea) for 500 seaworthy drones, to be able to monitor every suspect ship making the passage(s). BTW, acoustic sensors and DSP processing should be able to pick up the "signature" generated by an anchor or cutting device dragging along the bottom...
@@SpringIsBACK The suspected ships have been identified and boarded as is. And I'm pretty sure the Swedish navy still has microphones since the cold war that track all sounds in the South Baltic Sea.
Sweden has no ability at all to perform any kind of kinetic attack. But intelligence garthering is their thing. The USA wants it that way. We're just their colony, you know, Sweden hasn't had a foreign policy or a security policy since over 30 years now. The USA takes care of all that stuff for us.
Latvian here. For several decades there were no instances of anchor dragging cutting cables in the Baltic sea. Now within a few months we have 4 instances of this happening, with each ship having ties to totalitarian RuZZia or China. US stating that its not intentional is beyond stupid! Even criminal!
Same here. 35 lithuanian that now lives in Finland for the past 5years. Never heard about seacable damage before the starting Yi peng 3 “accident “ and now we have 4 of them in less than 2months
I think the U.S. made that same stupid comment about the gas pipelines being damaged. Other sources even claim the U.S. might be behind the it. Absolutely NOTHING about the U.S. surprises me anymore. I bet one of the oldest tricks in the book, is to do something and make it look like someone else did it. I also bet that it is the most used trick by the U.S.
For those thinking I am over reacting regarding the U.S. If you would see the U.S. from the eyes of a foreign country, you wouldn't question it either. Everyone else is sheep asleep.
Really that. It's plain to see that american republicans are pushing for divorce from NATO. As a Finn, it has been clear from day one to me that we can trust no-one but ourselves.
These anchor-draggings would end instantly and permanently if a captain of such a ship was shot while resisting arrest. Just saying.
The ship should be held indefinitely subject to the owners paying to have the cable repaired on top of a hefty fine.
In addition to those, compensating the time that the cables are out of operation. It seems that communication cables are relatively quickly repaired but I read that the EstLink 2 is going to be out of operation until the autumn of this year.
Would this be covered by insurance?
The captain is responsible for this, he needs to go to jail.
@@j_taylorInsurance companies gonna declare war before payment... (you know, force majeure)
what if some wanted that to happen to end all shipping its more likely the want to push every body on to star link
There is no way that the bridge team would not be aware of the anchor dragging on the sea bottom. The anchor would cause massive friction, varying with the water depth changing - the sea bottom in the baltic is not flat! The anchor chain would have to be paid out judiciously to match the water depth and then secured- the windlass brake alone would render and eventually let the entire chain run out until the bitter end becomes overloaded - structural damage to the chain locker bulkhead would have to be expected. These dragging events are definitely engineered. Even the most inexperienced watchkeeping officer would realise that something is amiss if the speed drops from 10 to 6 or 7 knots without a major weather-related factor at play. The entire crew, down to the messman, would have to realise that this is not a routine voyage.
By the time you hear the anchor going down, by the time the ship slows
, it is probably too late to avoid damaging the cable.
The question then is do you surrender, and pay for the damages? Or do you try to get away and hope you don't get caught. As Sal says, it need not necessarily be the Captain or whoever is in charge of the bridge. Anybody on the ship could be bribed to do it. Or even a stowaway hiding on the ship. Plenty of places to hide in a ship so big.
I think, for the past 50 years, SOP was to try to get away. You keep going for an hour or so (so you're not caught right next to the cable when somebody comes to investigate), slow down, stop, retrieve your anchor, and speed off. There is very little chance that you will be caught or even identified.
Imagine you're driving on the highway. You crest a hill, and the road slopes down, and before you know it, you're going 10kmh over the speed limit. How many of us would drive straight to the nearest police station, turn ourselves in, to pay the fine and have the points deducted from our license?
@@danielch6662its not an accident your comparison to driving is completely meaningless
@@danielch6662 Imagine you're sailing in the baltic sea in a huge freight ship, and before you know it your anchor suddenly comes loose all by itself and drops with a mindnumbingly loud creaking clang to the bottom, and you keep sailing and then zigzag over an area known for having vital intercontinental cables.
Would you turn yourself in? Would you be surprised if you were boarded and treated as hostile if you did not turn yourself in?
Actual high level journalism. Thank you
I am a former engineer superintendent. back in the early nineteen nineties, one of our crude oil tankers accidently lost an anchor and chain in very deep water (In the pacific). It happened at about 2 AM and the noise of the free running chain woke everyone up. The chain ripped the 'bitter end' out of the chain locker together with some plating and caused the fore castle deck plating to be 'set up' about one metre.
How many meters of Chain do Super Tankers generally have on their anchors?
@@kell7195 I have forgotten the exact number of shots in the chain but the replacement chain required 4 semi-trailers (18 wheelers) and the anchor required an additional 1. The replacements were landed in Newcastle NSW and had to be transported to Kwinana in Western Australia to coincide with the ship's arrival. We had cranes and a pontoon on stand by ready to rehouse the chain and anchor but only the 4 trucks carrying the chain turned up. This caused the then superintendent to charter an airplane to search for the truck with the anchor in the desert ( The truck driver had diverted from his course to visit his sister who worked on a cattle station. This led to a massive court case.
Russsian paid someone to do it? Can it also be CIA or EU intelligence?
@@suhaimiahmad3425 you spell CHI NA strangely
@@suhaimiahmad3425 Everyone can do it. But the Russians are lucky to be able to do it without consequences as NATO is a very tame bunch of usefull idiots . Obviously replacing a cable is cheaper than going to war. So Russia can be sure what ever it does , it will not suffer from retaliation as we stick to the to the rules , we wished Russia and China would also subscribe to.
So Russia has the biggest incentive to do those hybrid attacks as there will be no backlash and a cable is more expensive than those ships.
Greetings from Sweden, you have the best updates and analysis. Came here before reading the swedish papers 😅
There is pictures from the ship now showing a damaged anchor with one of the hooks missing!
If a US intelligence assessment is claiming these are all accidental, the analysts need to have CI investigations opened on them immediately.
"As reported by The Washington Post, US and European officials have gathered evidence - including intercepted communications - which have concluded that anchors were dragged across the seabed accidentally because of inexperienced crews aboard poorly maintained vessels.
One European official has sustained there is counter-evidence suggesting otherwise, however, US and European officials have declined to elaborate on the situation.
It is also unclear which officials participated in the investigations, as they spoke to the publication on the condition of anonymity."
Hmm, yes. 1. Washington Post the only reporter. 2. Anonymity - Well Deep Throat was anonymous but what could be so career threatening here? 3. What intercepted communications could convince you that it was not sabotage? 4. What intercepts could convince you Russia was not responsible? 5. Could the WP have swallowed deliberately placed briefing either by actors within the US with a vested interest in this narrative at this time or by similar foreign actors? 6. Where did the intercept intel come from, who interpreted it and does it cover all 4 incidents? 7. Why would you make an assessment that ignores evidence collected at the sites? Unless they have intercepts saying something like: "Operation Snip Snip confirmed as completed. Please make payment in Yuan to agreed account. Regards to " you would leave your money on Russia wouldn't you?
US Intelligence is trying to obscure what they really know - give Ivan some false confidence. "We fooled them, comrades - have some vodka." Also, WTF (why, not what) would US intelligence ever tell the truth to the Washington Post? The US Naval Intelligence has all kinds of data on this incident from the nuclear subs on patrol in the Baltic (very good sonar) and the passive listening gear that the (formerly Soviet) Baltic States have in place. There are multiple data streams that record every time a toilet is flushed on a vessel in the Baltic.
Finland investigation not only said the evidence was lacking, but believed no crimes were committed.
We (USA) ALWAYS deny Russian grey zone warfare tactics. Idk why but everytime they happen the US deny it and the EU says it happened..
@@garycheung5135 Following a rehearsed script no doubt.
I have dropped Anchors in Alaskan Waters on a 265+ foot ship. When the Anchor Drops the Whole ship can Hear it and feel it. Believe me everyone Knows when the Anchor is Dropped. I am Calling B.S. That no one Knew it dropped.
please keep us updated on this, love your channel. cheers
It’s currently anchored just outside my hometown. Might have a look tomorrow, weather allowing.
Me too. But it seems to be too far out to do any detailed observation from Aspö I am afraid?
@ From the latest reports it looks like it’s currently at the Hasslö shipyard, if I’m not mistaken. Edit: My mistake, seems it’s still some way out to sea.
@@DanielRisberg At the shipyard to get that anchor with the broken fluke fixed 😀.
You are my primary when I hear about one of these incidents in the Baltic. Thank you for patiently explaining to landlocked souls like me.
Thanks for another great episode!
I enjoy them a lot.
If everything is accidents, they must be so damn incompetent that they must be stopped from sailing anywhere. 🙄
I'm happy to see the Swedes finally shows some balls.
Great channel. Thank you ❤
Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪
Never known Sweden to lack balls when dealing with Russia.
and if you wanted to stop russias fert getting out to farmers that maybe the plan putin takes his orders from the wef he was one of their first young gobal leaders
Greetings from Finland to my Swedish friends 🤝
I’ve never known the Swedes or most any European nation to ever have the “balls” to stand up to the Russians. European countries, for decades, have kowtowed ( acted excessively subservient) to the Russians, and refused to stand up to them, with the exception of the Ukrainians and Estonians and may be the poles! This is specially applies to the Germans. Very sad.
I wish Sweden had the balls to name who blew up Nordstream. This tit for tat isn't going to end until countries like Sweden start calling balls and strikes as an independent nation. Unfortunately, despite growing rich due to staying neutral through two world wars, Sweden (for reasons I cannot fathom) have given up on being independent
IF this was an accident the Master should have contacted the DPA (Designated Person Ashore) as soon as notified of the loss of the anchor. As you said this could be one or a few crew members involved. However, back in the Warsaw Pact days the Bulgarians were known to do jobs "too dirty" for the Russians.
Bulgarian dissident Georgia Markov was attacked on London's Waterloo Bridge...the infamous umbrella gun with the tiny pellet filled with Ricin in 1979...attacked unknown...officially.
So. Yeah, Bulvāra doing the dirty work.
bulgarians still do the dirty jobs for rzza
Bulgaria is today in the EU and part of NATO. More likely for them to do it for Ukraine.
Heh, I'm old enough to remember that stuff. The Bulgarians had quite the reputation...
@@danielch6662 maybe... but Orban and Fico and an unknown number of commie sympathizes still exist...how many are FSB assets.
Dude, you put the geo in geopolitics. Thanks for doing such great work!🚢🌍🌎🌏
Swede here! o/
From as long as I remember there has been headlines in the news about Russia (every year basically) illegally entering Swedish territory, sometimes its submarines, sometimes divers and if they feel extra cocky, its their fighter planes "going off course"
Another thing that is new is that they send people, posing as tourists, that fly drones over protected buildings and areas. When/if caught they just make up a story about wanting to photograph some nature and had no ideeea that it was a military practice grounds. Our laws aren't very strict when it comes to this and they usually only get a fine, sometimes a short prison sentence.
Fully support Sweden!
@@tomriley5790
That sounds both stressful to observe, and frustrating that stronger reactions are not being made.
Maybe now we start to see those stronger reactions.
Kinda like Bald and Bankrupt being chased out of Transnistria last week for filming in the market after Bald went into Syria a day after HTS took over praising their virtues. Those pesky Russians. Imagine dragging an anchor over their pipelines
Do you still believe that propaganda when it's been long since documented that all the submarine sightings in Swedish waters were UK and USA subs?
These incidents bring to mind a line from _Goldfinger:_ "Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.'"
Makes you wonder if a Russian investor had them write the ending to the last Bond to convince us the bad guys always win. I'd prefer a Sean Connery ending any day.
There is no such thing as a coincidence here. There is only a conspiracy to make one appear to happen.
and the fourth time?
Also:
Once or twice is kind
Three or four is blind
To forgive is to suffer
@@AndyFletcherX31 war
It was nice to find your site a few years after watching Juan Browne on the regular, and then to watch you two collaborate. My maritime interests are purely national security-related. You provide so much good info.
As Anders alluded to in a comment earlier, cables are buried when water depth is less than 1,000 meters. Singapore requires 10-meter burial, most other cable requirements are 3-meters. All of this is dependent on ocean bottom, e.g. rock outcrops. Cables are "armored" for areas where exposure cannot be avoided. One caveat to this is that submarine cables are frequently manufactured before all bottom characteristics are fully investigated.
Another article reported there were multiple laptops on the bridge linked to intelligence/spying operations some with Turkish language keyboards. Sweden is analyzing those laptops.
Spying equipment was found also on Eagle S.
You shiukd change your name if you want to spear around with such nonsenese, so ppl won't notice
Sweden and Finland: taking up the practices of the Anglo pirate tradition just months after becoming a member in Francis Drake’s club….. Francis Drake also carried a letter of marque, remember….
@@ziegle9876please explain.
Are you alleging Sweden & Finland are the pirates here?
Wouldn't the Danes be doing all the piracy there?
The Danes used to target monestaries in England and Ireland, not they suckle at the teet of Uncle Sam.
Great work. Thank you for the recognition of Juan Brown. As a retired pilot and in the marine business for many years I appreciate the service that you are providing
"...our best Juan Brown..." 🥰
Greats recognizing greats. #ISWYDT
How sad but predictable the utter credibility collapse of Wapo now owned by Bezos. Thank you Finland and Sweden defenders of the Baltics. Thanks Sal for full and informed context.
💙💛
Unfortunately, you're on to something.
I mean, Bezos is the owner for a long time now, but as of last year he began bending the knew to trump, starting by suddenly not allowing his editorial staff to make an election endorsement at all, paying 1M to trump's inauguration fund (give experience from last time, it is by and large used as a slush fund to pay off other lackeys for their "services") and to top it off, he pays trump 40M through Amazon Prime Video for some show about Melanomia... err Melania nobody wants to see. And who knows what else happens behind the curtains.
In other words: Fuck Bezos and the Washington Post.
Unfortunately, you're on to something.
I mean, Bezos is the owner for a long time now, but as of last year he began bending the knew to trump, starting by suddenly not allowing his editorial staff to make an election endorsement at all, paying 1M to trump's inauguration fund (give experience from last time, it is by and large used as a slush fund to pay off other lackeys for their "services") and to top it off, he pays trump 40M through Amazon Prime Video for some show about Melanomia... err Melania nobody wants to see. And who knows what else happens behind the curtains.
Unless the WaPo is unknowingly passing Putin disinformation via Trump. No proof of that at this time but not too far fetched knowing Trumps obsession with Putin.
Thanks for all your analyses on the Baltic cable cutting as this is just around the corner from me. Greetings from the Hanseatic City of Hamburg!
Oh wow, they're getting quick with seizing these now.
Finns and Swedes already know what to expect!
The legality of seizing these ships was unclear, but after Finland seized that last one they've come to agreement: The sanctity of the seaways is about peaceful travel, not sabotage.
Nato launched Baltic Sentry and isn't going to let anything slide anymore.
pretty soon russians may seize fin and swede ships for exchanges
They have to take the ships, making the ship owners feel the pain is about the only thing that could make them spend money to secure the anchor controls.
Sal, many thanks for keeping us informed with your informative updates. I'm no mariner, but I also call the report from the USA source B.S! Four cable cuts in this region within a fairly short period of time is no accident!
directive from herr drumpf
@@theorenhobart
Doesn't sound like Trump's idea to me, but I could be wrong. I'll wait for confirmation to make a judgement. If it is from Trump I'll be surprised & sorely disappointed.
@@stevendaugherty7590 I don't like a single thing about Trump but it could be a way to make NATO governments consider increasing the money they contribute towards their own protection.
Thank you for showing how this works. I knew nothing about this, you made it clear.
"Let's do our best Juan Brown and..." LoL...Excellent. Love Juan's channel as well. Found yours because Juan had you on one of his videos.
It's Sunday the 26th of January and you're watching the Blanco Shipping Channel.
@@DeathBlossom867 Perfect 😆
Anyone who doesn't think we're already at war, isn't paying attention. And we can't afford that myopia.
you sound like the same conspiracy nuts talking about a bridge in Baltimore.
Absolutely right
Spot on!
Greenland, here we come! 🎶PaNa Ma do do do... do do do....🎶
The globalists have been waging an undeclared war on Us plebs since before any of us were born.
I don't know if anyone in the 2k+ comments have braught this up but that ship is not from 2022 since there are pictures of it from at least 2015 and it is a total rust-bucket. Does not look two years old. The fact that it has a "fake" identity should point to it being a part of the shadow fleet. It would be great to have an in-depth review of the darker back alleys of shipping like fake identities.
Well considering one of the ships that have done this got a "no pass" from Ghana of all places (hell their inspection basically came up as "This vessel is no longer seaworthy and should just be scrapped due to just how old it is" as it was pushing the age limit on that particular class and type of ship already prior to the inspection in Ghana) it's not surprising that they are old...
That was kind of what I commented, that it looked awful for only being 2 years old, if it has a fake id it explains a lot. Faking stuff isn't something new for Bulgarians.
Half hour is also long enough to dump some equipment overboard, such as a cable cutting device, surveillance equipment, or even a smallboat and some Ivans
Equipment as in an: "an anchor with a missing fluke" ? Do the Swedes really have to find cable cutting devices on the ship before they can 'legally' start procedures? The Chinese Yi Peng 3 was caught with no anchor at all.... Oops, somehow we must have lost it during the voyage.. Evidence gone.
@michaelhompus2475 you can use an anchor, but if Russia is trying to play sneaking bastards then using something other than the anchors would provide extra deniability. Nothing that a salvage dive team and a GPS can't refute, but it's still a possibility.
we Finns dont belive it was a accident... we dont know where WP got that info... and Eagle S is sieced still for investigation and for insurance
WP got their info from where they usually get their info, not the left cheek, not the right cheek, butt right there in between, in the middle.
There is brithis submarine trolling and cutting cables are you blind 😂
Hahaha, my comment about the WP was censored. Gotta love TH-cam. I guess I have to praise WP accroding to the community guidelines?
@@Isaac_132 : no, comments on YT just randomly get eaten up. It's unclear if it's that it's zapping comments too unlikely to cause controversy (and thus engagement), or just technical incompetence.
Sounds like the US might be trying to give Russia a ‘get out of jail free’ card 🤔
Thanks for your analysis. We don't get much information in the swedish news reports.
In the past I did a couple of cable clearance jobs. We used a couple of grapple anchors, a plow attached to the axle from a truck that would stick into the bottom about 7-10', about a half a shot of chain, and bunch of wire. The bottom of the plow was hooked so it would grab a cable. There was a strain gauge that the wire went over so that we would know if we caught something. We went slow, maybe 2-3 knts only in the middle of the Right of Way.
If we hooked a cable the first indication would be an increase in the force to pull the plow, it took 5-8,000 pounds of force to pull the plow when it had not caught a cable. When it caught a cable that would increase to over 10k #'s. The ship (really a work boat) would start slowing, it was kind of like when you pull a bow string. We would then stop and retrieve the plow string onto the deck of boat along with the cable we caught. Put two stoppers onto the cable. One of the stoppers had a large buoy on it, cut the cable with a cutting torch toss the buoy and that part of the buoy overboard. The other end of the cable got pulled into a cable traction machine. We'd then pull the cable in and put it in a cable tub to the edge of the RoW. There we'd cut it off.
Then go and recover the buoy and repeat.
We'd also remove fishing gear using basically the same process, but we didn't recover fishing gear.
There have been to many of these close together for it to be an accident. But is it just a proof of concept? Just trying to cause economic harm and harassment? Trying to show we can do this if you keep supporting Ukraine and we will do more of them? If this happens more often ships associated with Russia and China won't be able to get insurance to go anywhere near cables.
These cables are all designed to be repaired which is done all the time. Recover the cable onto the ship. cut it, test both halves, put the good half on the buoy. Then pull the toward the damage part until you find it. Cut that off, splice on new cable, and play that out until you get to the buoy, recover the good half. Splice that to the replacement cable and lay the bight onto the bottom.
But... Russia or China can provide insurance, right? Also, I understand that cable repairs are not uncommon, but, how much spare capacity to do repairs is there? Other posters say "not that much".
P.S. I'd say "all the above" (economic harm, harassment, threat), and... general chaos -- a Rooskie specialty.
Shadow fleet boats aren't insured anyway. Seize the boat and cargo and sell them to cover the costs of the crime and repatriating any crew members that weren't part of the crime, and then spend five years trying to figure out who actually owned that boat through the mess of shell companies these people use.
@tealkerberus748 Sal said this is not a shadow fleet ship.
@@tealkerberus748 the Vezhen is different, it's a modern vessel that should take away all questions about degraded or out of service equipment. It's clear that Russia is playing a game here. It's not clear what that game is, except to keep saying to the Europeans "we can do this to you any time we want" and induce fear? Fear of reprisals? Provoke action or distract from helping Ukraine? That part is less clear.
@@BikeNewLondon It's a distraction strategy - like the way trump is destroying people's human rights to distract from how the rich are getting a whole lot more powerful. You can't ignore it because what they're destroying is so important, but it takes your energy away from dealing with their real agenda so they get away with doing whatever they really want.
LOVE YOUR INFORMATION I am not a boat guy, but you are truly informative and knowledgeable and enjoyable to watch and gain knowledge. Thank you
The ship's name is Bulgarian - pronounced "Vegen" (soft "g", as in giraffe or Geneva). The officers are Bulgarian, the captain is a 41 y.o. Bulgarian guy. The rest of the crew are from Myanmar.
The ship is owned by the oldest Bulgarian shipping company, owned by Kiril Domuschiev, a Bulgarian tycoon and owner of a football club, former owner of a media group, and current owner of several businesses in the US through his pharmaceutical conglomerate. Definitely not shadow fleet, the ships of the company regularly load and unload cargo from the US and Canada.
Unlike previous ships of the same series (built in China) operated by the same company, which are owned by offshore Maltese companies, this one is officially owned by a Hong Kong based company.
In a statement to Bulgarian media the CEO of the shipping company said that it is possible that the ship snagged the cable, but he personally excludes sabotage. He mentioned that they discovered the "unrolled" anchor at 06:00 Bulgarian time (UTC+3), even though in the video we can see that they stop at 06:00 UTC - it is not known if he simply made a mistake or if he's lying. He also said that the Swedish authorities who boarded the ship were "a bit aggressive".
Although new, the ships build quality is not the best, I've heard of a situation where a ship of the same series had a propeller shaft failure at sea.
Current rumors and speculations in Bulgarian news forums are that it was either a russian-sympathizing crew member or the russians have pressured the owner of the company.
Guess what guys
It’s nothing accidental about these
Calling these accidental means not having to grow a pair and respond
They're allegedly accidental and certainly deliberate.
*Our Intelligence agencies believe it's an accident or "Our Donald"!?*
*Inquiring minds, would like to know!...*
Seems to me....
The intel reason for doing this is to see what goes down when given cables are cut.
And to see how long it takes to fix them.
Not because they need or want them down now....but for war planning.
Knowing who and what goes dark and for how long is good info for an invasion/infiltration.
Next time they get cut, it might be for another reason than intel collection.
Also helps them know which cables to tap via submarine intrusions after repairs are complete.
So you were there were you
@ *In the Public Health field, They are known as "Clusters". They always have a causation!*
Followed you're channel from the start, and really appreciate you're time and information provided on you're You Tube Channel, keep up the great work Sal!
Big thumbs up 👍👍👍😉
Awesome description, thank you.
I subscribed 😃
Anchors accidentally falling like people from a Russian building, they have so many anchors falling lately they might need to blockade Russia so they can do a recall.
Casus belli.
@@bluikkso So is attacking vital infrastructure.
@ A bit like destruction of NS2, you mean?
Clearly gravity is just extra strong for russian people and anchors lol
@@bluikksodid Sweden or Finland destroyed it?
Greetings and a huge thank you from little Latvia for the news and an actual deep dive (pun intended). As i don't watch the local news often, you dialled me in on our loss of the first cable that i know for a fact is our project, likely belonging to or hired by my household internet provider. The enemy had to be really determined and prepared to break a cable reportedly buried around 1m under the seabed. Besides we recently deployed additional sea patrols with intention of monitoring (or even escorting) the older shadow fleet tankers going from St. Petersburg and Russian Baltic Fleet. This will be a long hybrid-war we did not want, you bet on that.
Good to hear from our friends in Latvia! IMO, the Nordic and Baltic countries need to get cracking on numerous maritime drones to monitor / surveil those suspect ships. It seems like that would be most cost effective, unless a ship needed to be boarded.
Thanks, Sal! Best maritime channel on TH-cam!
The WaPo story was suspiciously careful to not quote or even name the "US officials familiar with the initial assessment".
No reputable person wants to stand behind the claim that this was accidental. Someone wants the story out there, but no knowledgeable person is willing to ruin their reputation by having it in the history books. That's a tell.
WaPo sells its news, that is a long-known fact. Anyone who negotiates with them knows it.
Especially since the policeman in charge of the investigation said that the investigation is still ongoing. And it's very strange that the WP knows it's an accident since he doesn't.
Thank you. Well said.
@@1djbecker FYI my factual criticism of that media was just censored by evil TH-cam.
@ That happens frequently and unpredictably, but it seems to be biased.
There should be no difference between accidents or purposeful dragging an anchor that damage cables. Like arrest and a $50m bail on the ship and ban it from innocent passage privilege.
*THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THE ANCHOR* ⚓ *DROPPING AND LIFTING, USING THE "DRAW ME A PICTURE AND I'LL TRULY GET & UNDERSTAND IT" METHOD*
Dropping, riunning over, then reversing and moving over again. So Vezhen really wanted to move over that cable.
Well said Sal.
You forgot the Anchor Strop wire run through the top link on anchor scured by bottle screws to ring bolts.
Thanks for covering this - Vezhen look guilty AF
Excellent analysis and report. This guy is confident in his knowledge/experience and obviously very qualified.
Loving your language/translation skills Sal… 🤣🤣
We call it "Washington Compost" for a reason...
The WaPo has fallen a long way.
...as reliable as $5 rolex.
Clarity and even-handed analysis. Thanks.
It doesn't matter if it was an accident, they should still be held accountable. 🙈
Like the Nord Stream pipeline
Go home Ivan, you're drunk.
@ no, I'm right. Evidently, it's just double standards for the West, as well hypocrisy.
@@rexbanner1560 Yes, Russia should be held accountable.
How bout lsrael... should lsrael be held accountable🤔
Way to Go Sal!!! On top of maritime events as usual!!! All of you other "sources" out there eat your hearts out!!!
Thank you for the news!
Oh yeah. Complete accident. Multiple Russian controlled ships all accidentally go through the multiple steps to drop their anchors, and all of them accidentally do so right where important cables run. Oops.
Good people on both sides...........
What could the purpose be? Beats me.
@@nutmagnet22 get over it, Lulu
If it only takes one man, why are the ships involved so blatantly going to/from Russian ports? That could've easily be avoided for plausible deniability.
@@andreimoutchkine5163 A tourist in a small sailing boat could do it. The average depth of the Baltic Sea is 55 meters. But WHY!? Cutting a little cable here and there once a month, while NATO is bombarding Russian cities with cruise missiles. Those two set of events cannot have any kind of relationship. Just strange.
Not sure why there can be ANY uncertainty about which ship is responsible for these breaks. there will be a second accurate time record of when the cable's functions were lost/degraded. and there will be second accurate tracking of any ships passing over the cable. It should also be trivial for the operators to determine how far along the cable the break was through various tests like time domain reflectometry (where a pulse is sent down a cable, partially reflects back off any discontinuity, and the time delay for the reflection is measured). The anchor chain cannot be dragging more than a few hundred feet behind the bow of the ship. It's almost impossible that there will be more than one ship in the required location at the required time.
Yes, how does the owner or captain squirm out of evidence that a cable began malfunctioning when the ship passed over it, and damage is located at the crossing point? They can't say "It was like that when we got there". 🙄
As others noted, the question is not whether the anchor dragged, it is whether it was intentional.
Of course the crew will deny any intent. And next month, another crew of another ship will deny intent.
@@j_taylor Why should intent matter. you cut our cable, your ship is seized, your cargo is seized, your crew is detained (until the damage is repaired and they pay for it). If any crew member wishes to tell the truth, they get immunity. end of.
Also, like Sal said, this cannot be accidental,.. SOMEONE on board has to do this
If Dr Evil's submarine is waiting over the cable with its scissors at the ready, it simply needs to wait for some innocuous ship to pass over before activating the scissors at which point, AIS will show the innocent ship being over the cable at the time of the break and Sal will point to AIS logs as the evidence the ship is guilty and the whole workd will accept's Sal's conclusion 🙂
@@jfmezei: Which is why the investigators search for corroborating evidence, like missing or damaged anchors.
Eagle S was still dragging it's anchor chain when it was intercepted by Finnish authorities.
I am Bulgarian and I am sure that MV Vezhen did it on purpose because this ship is owned by two Bulgarian brothers billionaires that have close ties with Russia.
Thank you for confirming a suspicion I have about Russki involvement (by proxy.)
I am Bulgarian and I have the same opinion. Domuschievi brothers have close ties with Russia and the ruling Bulgarian party GERB. Also One of their ships was caught with drugs in UK or Ireland last year.
It's high time shipping registry rules were reviewed - and ALL shipping in / out of the Baltic serving Russia ESCORTED in BOTH directions if not BANNED completely.
Well escorting will cost us a lot while banning them will cost russia a lot and as a sideeffect might make kaliningrad unholdable
Countries need to state clearly that any attack on this type of infrastructure is considered as a direct attack on the country. Appropriate action needs to be taken.
@allanwhite1776 You volunteering for the front?
Right, so you declare that such actions are an act of war. And Russia calls your bluff & does it again.
You can now either
a) use military force against Russia or
b) demonstrate to Russia that your words are meaningless.
like nordstream
@@dgthe3 c) Station hunter subs or drones at likely crossing points, supplanted by acoustic sensors. If a bogey shows up and is observed damaging a cable, the bogey has a mysterious accident. Two can play this game...
😂😂
I've had a third mate who was unable to look up from his remedial navigation practice long enough to acknowledge a contact report, and have to have the same contact reported to him three times before he became aware of it.
I've had a mate tell me that a recreational vessel dead ahead, making 18 knots on a collision course, was a navigation buoy. And the same mate didn't believe me when I told him we were being set onto a reef, until someone else told him.
So I can imagine the officers on vessels like these not being able to realize that they've been sabotaged and are dragging anchor. I can especially imagine them ignoring an AB from a third-world country telling them what's going on.
I'm guessing the captain has the ultimate responsibility and will be held accountable no matter why or how it happened.
I read some really weirdly worded rumours about the Eagle S being released in the press.. It makes no sense. On the seas strict liability is in place! It doesn't matter if it was an accident or if you did everything right! The outcome is the only evidence that is needed.
Asymmetrical warfare by Russia
Under full US support.
they're 100% justified. NATO expanded again. Sweden is suppose to be neutral. And they had to have been in with Biden and Norway to blow up Nordstream2
Warfare? It is ridiculous. Makes no sense either way. It's as if you burn down my house, then I put my chewing gum on the windshield of your car. Cutting a cable every month is totally without any kind of effect at all. If they cut all Baltic cables at once, it would make some kind of sense as a threat. But this is silly.
Tit for tat would be launching 500 drones to permanently take out all electricity in Sweden, with millions starving to death wihtin a few months since there exists no kind of civil defense in Sweden and no ability to even begin to try to repair an electric grid when there's no electricity. No communication and no payments doesn't help having no preparedness and no spareparts. How could the local grid companies even order the necessary components and tools from China where they are made???
@@bjorntorlarsson Ivan enough sticking uo for ruSSia Understand???
@@bjorntorlarsson Ivan shove your theory
The Finnish intercepted the Eagle S in their territorial waters, I think they have the clearer understanding of what the ship had done.
What happens if they impound the ship and confiscate the cargo? Irrespective of whether this is an accident or not, repairs have to be paid for, so authorities should make it nasty enough for the ship's owner that they employ competent crew.
That's exactly what the Finnish authorities have done with the Eagle S.
The ship and the cargo disowned by the West, the insurance is in the West, nothing is in Russia, even not the Washington Post.
This wasn't just incompetence.
Of course there's going to be some sort of trial and the ship owner must pay for damages whether this is accidental or not. I'm quite sure they don't have the money or insurance so the ship and its cargo might be sold for compensation after trial is completed.
@ Full competence in asymmetric war!
Great analysis Sal. Thanks for this update. The marine traffic data truly has a story to tell!
4 anchor drags, in the baltic. Gee, I cant imagine why...
Neither can I. It is not a threat, then they'd cut all Baltic cables at once, or worse. This is irrelevant, so it cannot be done on purpose. Nor can it reasonably be accidents. And the war mongering globalists hardly do it themselves as a false flag, the damage is way to irrelevant even for that. It's a mystery!
Because Russia loves us so much
EDIT: Just got picture confirmation today that the anchor is severely damaged. Basically half of it is missing (one "arm", so to say).
For many years, there was no issues with pipelines or data cables in the baltic. Now all of a sudden there are four ships suspected of dragging their anchors. This is quite plainly not a coincidence. Russia has throughout history been involved with sketchy stuff in the Baltic sea. Most notable incident of course being during the Cold War when a Russian submarine was stranded in the archepelagos very close to where this ship is anchored right now. I hope the Finns with their ship and the Swedes with this ship come to some form of conclusion and do something about it.
It is particularly “interesting” that all the ships involved are operating out of Russian ports…
The anchor dragging isn't suspected, actually, it's a fact.
There are multibeam sonar images of the drag marks, pictures of the cut pipes, and at least two damaged anchors retrieved from the seabed.
What's being contested is intentionality, and that's quite ridiculous too, everything considered.
@@henriikkak2091 Fact!
Isn't Sweden guilty to block the straight and free waterway from the Russian Empire to the Atlantic Ocean?
Sketchy is an understatement. The Soviets sent out Migs and without warning shot down an unarmed Swedish surveillance plane that was not even in Soviet airspace. The entire crew was killed. There is a documentary on YT about it.
Totally agree with you that dropping the anchor was on purpose, this type of incident is extremly rare in the world. However I did not agree it was done by one crew without the knowledge of the rest. First of all they should know exactly where the cable is in order to drop in the proper position. That means at least one officer and Captain on the bridge plus few other crew was involved.
Chris Martenson of Peak Prosperity says something like once is an accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action. So 4 times is enemy action x2.
Thanks Sal
Not quite. Four times is "Somebody is fuquing the dog: that guy should have been working for us since last week."
3 times is enemy action and 4 times is a war
😱 I’m stunned!
It needs to be appreciated that the Finnish and Swedish countries don’t have to measure up the fine print in the law to make a seizure of a vessel. Facts are facts and the guilt is directed. Job done.
I two thoughts regarding an anchor drag: 1) If a ship's Captain allows a ship to course for more than a mile with its anchor deployed then they should be relieved of duty for incompetence. 2) There is no way that an anchor drag can be proceed without being noticed. I have the thought that it is a fairly obvious situation when a ship is dragging its anchor, from the drop in speed, the requirement for much more power to maintain motion and the requirement of the helm to trim in order to maintain a course (the ship would "pull" to the side the anchor was deployed on)... So in my opinion any anchor drag for more than a nautical mile could easily be concluded to be or considered to be an intentional act. It can't be an accident because the effects and affects are so obvious and noticeable.
They should seize all ships that sever cables and keep them.
Denmark by treaty cannot deny ships "innocent passage" through its waters. It seems though that they could require any ships from or to ruzzian ports to post a damage deposit of $1,000,000,000.00 U.S, provided by a reputable and very solvent Western insurance company. Every country said ship passed, in and out could require the same. Like Popeye used to say, "I've had enough, and enough is too much."
Or technically, keep the ship until investigations are finished then make demands towards the shipping company to cover losses, repairs and investigations. Keeping the ship until it is paid in full. The shipping company may not think the ship with cargo is worth that much so they'll rather let it go, but that's their choice.
What legal basis is there to seize any ship that cuts a cable?
And why not claim against the vessel insurance policy? Or do you just think it would be amusing for countries to grab piles of rusty ships to block up their ports?
@@johnstreet797 "innocent" passage...
There's no such thing as an "innocent" BRICS vessel.
@@j_taylor Are you seriously asking what legal basis there would be to seize a ship that just committed a crime?
Thank you for the good information!
What is the purpose of flags on ships if they have nothing to do with the owner/operator?
Tax. Or more correctly: tax avoidance.
Back in the days before the US guaranteed the safety of global shipping, the flagged nation would be the one you would need to answer to if you messed with the ship.
Strange how within a year more cables have been "mysteriously" cut than the previous two decades.
Hmm, just a thought. Maybe there should be a green light and a red light (or something) labeled "Achor" on the bridge to tell people if the anchor is up or down. Don't think it would be an impossible task to have a sensor hooked to the anchor mechanism which tells if the anchor is up or down.
Even cars have had a warning symbol for decades to tell you if your handbrake is on.
And in the same place. No mystery at all.
What could the purpose be?
I have no idea. It is a mystery. Neither accidental nor any purpose.
In another comment, an experienced seaman, noted that the anchor dropping, and even a slow, motor assisted lowering, is going to cause such a racket, that anybody on the bridge, and in most parts of the ship will hear it, and not mistake it for anything else. In short, more than one person on board was involved in this, and at least one, was on the command staff.
Nobody thought of it before, probably because it seems proposterous that the captain shouldn't be aware that the anchor is out. Of course you know...
Cables do get cut from time to time but this is usually because of a fumbled anchor drop in port. They may be unaware of the cable, or have to curse-correct during the operation and catch a cable by mistake.
You don't drag an anchor for hours and don't know about it. I just don't buy it.
So strange that this activity started after NS was destroyed "mysteriously".
The MISSING point. Maybe I'm a little out of touch (last at sea in 1982) Who puts the steam on deck for the windlass to operate?? this used to take an hour or so just warming the deck line through and the Engineers would know what was happening to the steam demand on the boilers. Or are the modern windlass operated by hydraulics?
In all these cases the ships left an alongside berth where the anchor would have been securely stowed, in this case since in Canada.
It is too much of a coincidence that roughly 24 hours after leaving a berth in russia, now four ships anchors would mysteriously detach themselves and start dragging. I agree with the comment B.S.
Great content and thanks for your research.
KBV is short for Kustbevakning, Coast Guard. If the vessel had not complied, I can guarantee that Sweden and, nowadays, including NATO, could find ways of being very persuasive.
The Baltic states, plus Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, should make a treaty to impose rules that anyone damaging cables, accidentally or not, are subject to heavy fines. If it can be proven that it is intentional, it would, of course, still be subject to prosecution. But they should not get off easy by claiming it was an "accident".
If you want to run up the fines, have some damage claims lawyers whomp up penalties for "emotional damages". 😲
@@SpringIsBACK or some wierd guys in multicam land on your ship when in swedish waters
You park and cut cables shown on a map -> automatic fines plus seizure of the vessel for few months - assuming there is an insurance, and if not then everything should be sold in order to compensate the havoc. If the sold value is not enough, blockade of said operator.
No brainer really.
Said treaty should also include Germany and Poland. No outfit found guilty of cutting cables should be allowed free passage in or out of the Baltic Sea, to include use of the Kiel Canal.
@Comm.DavidPorter agreed. All countries around the Baltic Sea, minus Russia, of course, they would certainly not agree.
I've got a chime in my truck to alert me of almost everything, and there's nothing in a ship to say their anchor is down??
If every chime was an optional line item on the bill of sale, how many chimes would your truck have then?
@@blshouse I don't know, but if I had a boat I'd tick off the box that said "Alert me if my anchor is down before I drag it 100km"
Anchor down while under power would surely be a condition where you would want an alarm to sound.
@@craig7350On a boat you’d notice the anchor is down and dragging without a chime. And on a ship there’s simply haven’t been the need because it doesn’t happen. Perhaps insurance companies will insist on it now. Because they will be the ones who pay for this. Although it will be easy for anyone to just cut or shortcut the lines to the indicator. Perhaps cameras.
The chime on a ship is a seafarer!
Thank you for telling us. Here in Germany, news is keeping a very low profile on these incidents. 😢😢
Yeah, fear of escalation.
It's a small thing, but you can send feedback to the news outlets. And encourage others to do so, too.
The reason they have to call it an accident is because it is a friggin act of war!!!! Blatant ACT OF WAR!!!!!
Yeah, it is a bit concerning that pipelines and cables are becoming targets. Nobody seems to want nuclear war, but we seem to be willing to destroy things that take a decade and a billion dollars to build. This feels like a game that has no winners. We all have too much to lose.
Oh, just like the Nord Stream Pipeline? But that never led any investigation or to the culprits. That was swept under the rug really fast.
@RichFreeman if we don't stand up to it and take action it will happen more and more and emboldened others to do the same. There won't be any nuclear war , they are bullies and liars not idiots. Its called mutual destruction. We " the West " can't keep allowing them to attack NATO countries and call it an accident. Russia has literally fired a missle into Poland that killed 2 farmers and Poland blamed it on Ukrainian air defense . This has to stop!
I'm confused. It is called an accident *because* it is an act of war?
Are other accidents therefore also acts of war?
@j_taylor if they call it what it is they have no choice but to declare war on Russia and they are terrified to do that so everyone says it's an accident. Get it?
This is the second try on this cable. Ye Ping likely made a try on this cable too but only suceeded on the two parallell non buried cables.
The W Post is just silly. Why?
Look who owns it
WPoo is part part of the propaganda wing of the democrat party.
Because if this was faced square up, this would be very close to a situation where NATO Article 5 gets invoked. You gotta keep in mind that virtually all the Biden mid and lower level people are still in place, and the Biden policy was to try to slowly drag Russia down (the slowly boiled frog?) while exhorting "contain, contain, contain" without ever firmly facing Russia. We couldn't even get minimal arms shipments to Ukraine in time for their planned for 2023 counter-offensive. Basically, Pooty's nuclear sabre rattling worked.
My guess is that the Nordic countries will try to confiscate enough ships, or threaten to confiscate enough ships (which are not owned by Russia, BTW), that the owners will take steps to prevent crews from mischief.
I served aboard a US aircraft carrier, even on such a large ship when the anchor was lowered everyone onboard was aware due to the noise and vibration.
these cable breaks are really getting out of hand. After some point they're going to have to bury or armor these things
Or patrol certain boats connected
Who blew up Nord Stream?
Likely the same organisation that blew up Nord Stream is breaking these cables
@@robertlee6338
Quite the opposite: Nord Stream is the Russian's most valuable source of hard money.
My guess would be somebody's covert forces, in order to prevent any temptation being plied upon the Germans to "be reasonable" and relent. Maybe even Germany: a self-denying ordinance!
Putin's getting desperate
@robertlee6338 I agree. To have an excuse to blockade Russia's ports. Russia does not benefit from these sabotages.