A cargo ship, linked to the Russian ghost fleet, which has been investigated for suspicious activity in the Baltic was spotted by an Irish Air Corps aircraft dropping an anchor close to an undersea cable in Irish waters.
It has emerged that the incident earlier this year occured in waters off the north east coast. The Air Corps had dispatched an aircraft to monitor its movements as it is a list of Russian related vessels.
There has been several incidents in the Baltic Sea where anchors, dropped by Russian linked vessels, have damaged critical internet cables.
The Air Corps was able to film the ship, dropping the anchor in the area, and following communication from the Irish crew the cargo vessel fled. It was not confirmed if the ship was intentionally targeting undersea infrastructure or if it was a case of bad seamanship.
The ship, sailing under a flag from Caribbean region, had been in trouble in the Baltic Sea in the same month. German authorities escorted it out of the area along with Swedish and Danish naval colleagues.
On that occasion she was sailing from St Petersburg en route through the waters near Gotland, an island off Sweden.
The sighting of it in Irish waters was made earlier this year and it was being monitored after intelligence was shared from a friendly nation with the Irish State.
An Irish Air Corps maritime patrol vessel was despatched to keep watch – it is understood that they recorded it, using specialist camera equipment, as it dropped the anchor.
It is understood the ship was contacted by radio by the Irish Defence Forces and directed to haul its anchor back up and it departed the area.
The Journal has learned that the ship is back in Irish waters and is heading towards the west coast.
It is understood that the ship has steamed from the Bay of Biscay and is currently off the Cork and Kerry coast.
Using an open source flight monitoring service The Journal was able to follow an Air Corps CASA 295 aircraft which went to a location near the ship this afternoon.
This publication has previously revealed that Ireland held a major exercise behind closed doors to test how Ireland will deal with a complete loss of the internet after a targeted attack.
It is understood that the event, known as a tabletop exercise, was held in February and involved multiple Government departments and agencies including the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána and other emergency services.
The scenario was a concerted cyber attack which was combined with the loss of multiple undersea cables.
There are a large amount of fibre optic internet cables connecting Europe to the US and other parts of the world running through Irish waters. They carry all high speed internet traffic, including banking and other critical data.
Shoot these ships immediately. Sink them. No more fucking around. Anchor near cable? Boom.
Purposely destroying our infrastructure is an act of war. So that would be the appropriate response.
Maybe, but sane people don’t want to escalate something that could lead to a war.
They should absolutely do something but we are tip-toeing around mines here. So let’s at least think before we start running.
Treat it like an act of war. If we would blow up a Russian railway like or telephone cable that would be construed as one, surely.
Yes, but since the offending country 1: has nuclear weapons and B- keeps saying “whoopsie didn’t mean to pinky promise” everyone just throws up their hands and says “well they claim it was an accident so just bump the sanctions 2% and call it a day” rather than the literal acts of war that they would be in any other context.
It’s like watching what’s happened in the US happen on a global scale.
We all know things are being smashed on purpose with the intention of making life difficult for other people, yet nobody is doing a goddamn thing to stop it.
And just like in the US, I’m sure there are plenty who would absolutely love to row out and try to stop it themselves but a large ship is just gonna steamroll a small one. I would love to row out and start some shit with the ships cutting cables. But by myself, I’m getting crushed without a second thought, and tons of people will watch on and go “well what did they expect all by themselves they should have gone out in force as a group if they wanted to really put a stop to it. Now I gotta go post a Facebook update saying I stand in solidarity with the cable”
I’ll let the readers sort out this metaphor.
I just think, kill the captain. Like drive there with a small boat, snipe him, take it over. Then do whatever.
It can’t be the status quo that they can pull this shit without consequences. Make it known that it’s deadly for the captain and crew (if there even is a crew, they probably just send one person to fuck the cable) to pull this bullshit.
Maybe they’ll learn (they won’t but at least it’s one less captain).
God I hate Russians so fucking much tbh.
”I’m the captain now!”
Shot across the Bow, send boarding party, take over and sail to convenient port for confiscation of cargo. Auction off ship and cargo, use the revenue to repair damages and to support Countries currently under military attack by Russia.
Unfortunately, that would cause dangerous debris near the cables. Let them leave first, then do what you want somewhere safer.
True and also it would probably cause oil spill. Didn’t think about that. But still. Just shoot the captain then lmao.