April 05, 2012

Don't mess with the Coasties!

The Coast Guard just sank a Japanese trawler.

No, it wasn't an act of war or a mistake. It's that one which was swept away in last year's tsunami and was spotted recently off the coast of Canada. It was determined that it was too dangerous to try to tow it into port, and it was a navigation hazard. So the Coast Guard sank it, with gunfire I presume. (Going on board to set scuttling charges would have been too dangerous.)

Not often the Coast Guard gets to fire their guns for real. It's nice to know they can hit what they aim at. (Not that there was any doubt about that.)

UPDATE: Yes, they did fire their guns at it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 08:16 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 If you don't mind me asking, why was it deemed dangerous either to tow it or to board it? (I think I understand why as a navigation hazard)

Posted by: Jaked at April 05, 2012 10:38 PM (K1fG5)

2 Probably because its been unmaintained and exposed to the elements for a year.  Not to mention having been hit by a tsunami.  Who knows what kind of internal damage it has?

Posted by: metaphysician at April 06, 2012 05:52 AM (3GCAl)

3 Jaked, that's what they said in the news report.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 06, 2012 05:55 AM (+rSRq)

4 The danger of towing it was one part of the decision, but the other is simply that it's scrap value wasn't worth the effort or risk.  It had already pretty much been scrapped and was just a hulk at the pier when the tsunami hit,  There was actually a ship in the area before it was sunk that was considering claiming it for salvage and towing it back, but they decided not to after considering the weather, fuel cost, delayed time to get back to their usual work, etc.  And with where it was, the coast guard wasn't going to leave it around long enough for anyone else to come get it.

Posted by: David at April 06, 2012 07:52 AM (+yn5x)

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