Was it sabotage or an accident when critical infrastructure was destroyed in the Baltic Sea by ships dragging their anchor across the seabed? I have collected some thoughts in this Q&A style blog post.
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Do the journalists reading your piece go back to the anonymous sources and ask them for a response? If so, there should be a follow up story. If not, that means the journalists knew the leak was untrue. that knowledge was not included in the story because the leaker would not share future leaks.
Trump alluded to his appeal to the Chinese for help in stopping the war in Ukraine. In those circumstances, it would be 'unfortunate' if the Chinese involvement in the Baltic cable breaks was being talked-up...
The real story for a journalist at the Washington Post should have been the reasons behind those leaks. As a journalist you ought to know, that there´s always an agenda for making leaks. I fear that the critical journalism is declining in a period where it is even more needed.
If you have any knowledge about how anchors function on ships like this you know it is 100% impossible to drop anchor by misstake. It is a multistep work including several steps/people involved. Not like a recrationboat.
Then there's certainly a lot of "accidents" around the world lately in hot spots, like in Europe, Taiwan, they are frail, but seriously Wapo!😒"bad Sailors"? that media has completely lost its integrity and reputation it once had, Watergate would never have been discovered today with that ownership!
4 "accidents" in a row .. sure!
Anchor on sea ground slows ship down for hours ... nobody recognizes anything ... sure!
Ship losing anchor ... no need to tell anyone about it ... sure!
Next chapter: ICBM's fly over America ... by accident.
I’m not sure I understand. If the anchor is dropped without anyone knowing, then there is no one to stop the entire chain from running out.
I agree that one person could lower an anchor as you explain, but it would be hard to recover again without the rest of the crew noticing.
Someone has to drop the anchor, or the anchor is not properly secured. Specifically, the riding pawl or chain stop is not fitted and the brake comes loose.
The retrieval of the anchor would require the windlass to be engaged and that would show up in the engine room.
I think we agree. If the anchor falls because it isn’t properly secured, then I don’t see what would stop the entire chain from running out. On the contrary, it would more likely accelerate like this. So the only way to get say 50 meters of chain in the water is if a person is in control.
2005 December: 5000GT 🇳🇴 tanker unnoticed drops port anchor & 4sh. No sound heard from the ships bridge, but speed reduction noted but believed to be from head wind and sea.
2 cables destroyed.
See page 40 for more info.
I wasn't able to find any information about that incident.
I am sure some ship has dragged their anchor somewhere, if nothing else for alcohol related reasons. I mean, we also had this one.
It’s hard for me to believe because the sound of the chain is quite loud. Unless the weather is poor, crew is all aft drinking and listening to loud music…
It gets a bit speculative, but in this case I think it looks like they adjusted the speed to make sure it would happen at night. The moment when it slows down slightly and you speculate that the anchor has been dropped coincides more or less with sunset, and it is retrieved at sunrise.
I thought we had all concluded by now that it doesn't matter if it was deliberate or accidental, but that it happened. And NATO is doing something about it which sends a message to any country which might or might not have ordered it?
I imagine it would be very easy to subtly handle payments for sabotage via Chinese payment systems like Alipay or WeChat etc. Also I'd imagine it would be difficult for western intelligence to follow payments in these systems without Chinese cooperation.
Finally someone talking sense. It’s highly disturbing this BS was briefed *and gobbled up* by some of the few remaining newspapers that not only should know better but also would have had the means to fact check.
Very bad idea by the governments and bad performance by - some of - the media.
Anders, could you please talk to us about project 2025? Seems like Trump has it all working out, signing orders that the 900 page document said would happen in the first week. I follow you here and on youtube. Canada is coming up to elections and we're getting a lot of garbage, to disrupt elections.
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https://bsky.app/profile/bjornnavalarch.bsky.social/post/3lc5y6vyuc22y
Just a thought.
They could call it a deliberate act.
It is possible that the crew may not know the anchor is lowered.
The entire chain would not necessarily be in the water.
There is not a need for special mechanisms to release the anchor...it can just be run out.
https://youtu.be/TrT1Pl3pR6Y
Anchor on sea ground slows ship down for hours ... nobody recognizes anything ... sure!
Ship losing anchor ... no need to tell anyone about it ... sure!
Next chapter: ICBM's fly over America ... by accident.
I agree that one person could lower an anchor as you explain, but it would be hard to recover again without the rest of the crew noticing.
The retrieval of the anchor would require the windlass to be engaged and that would show up in the engine room.
2005 December: 5000GT 🇳🇴 tanker unnoticed drops port anchor & 4sh. No sound heard from the ships bridge, but speed reduction noted but believed to be from head wind and sea.
2 cables destroyed.
See page 40 for more info.
https://maritimecyprus.com/wp-content/upl…
I am sure some ship has dragged their anchor somewhere, if nothing else for alcohol related reasons. I mean, we also had this one.
Very bad idea by the governments and bad performance by - some of - the media.