Friday, July 30, 2010

What Struck The Japanese Oil Tanker M. Star In The Persian Gulf?

Damage control: The M Star oil tanker owned by Japanese shipper Mitsui OSK pictured at sea near Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates July 29. After Mitsui OSK said it believed the M Star might have been the subject of an unidentified attack in the Strait of Hormuz, U.A.E. port officials examining the ship said it may have hit a submarine or a mine. Port officials had earlier suggested the damage might have been inflicted by natural causes such as a post-earthquake wave. Reuters

Top Three Theories On What Damaged Japanese Oil Tanker Near Iran -- Christian Science Monitor

Numerous theories have surfaced for what damaged the Japanese oil tanker sailing between Oman and Iran on Thursday. Investigators say it may have been a sea mine, a pirate attack, or a collision with a submarine.

Whatever it was that shook a 260,000-ton Japanese supertanker as it sailed through calm waters between Oman and Iran just after midnight Wednesday, it was not a freak wave.

But beyond that, officials investigating a huge dent in the side of the M. Star are still some way off establishing exactly what happened.

Read more ....

My Comment: It does not take a specialist to look at the above picture and see that this oil tanker did hit something .... and that something was big.

Hmmm .... any subs reported missing in the past few days?

1 comment:

RTLM said...

Humph. I think Israeli sub drivers are better than to slough into a fully laden tanker while at the surface. There looks to be some minor damage aft of the initial bonk.

I would imagine the tanker was fully laden at the time given where the impact occurred.

Looks be the size and shape of an Iranian Kilo sonar dome.