(Conspriacy - False Flag Attack on Japanese Tanker - Strait of Hormuz)

[joe_momma]

Seems there was an explosion on a VLCC tanker in the Strait of Hormuz - few details so far.



http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japanese-tanker-damaged-straits-hormuz-outside-attack-considered

[joe_momma]

Seems there was an explosion on a VLCC tanker in the Strait of Hormuz - few details so far.



http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japanese-tanker-damaged-straits-hormuz-outside-attack-considered

[DMac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM2ZArMX5o8

[DMac]

Explosion rocks Japanese tanker in Persian Gulf (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iV1R7V9IJw2dQfRwLHnCIsHFJPdQD9H8512O2)

By ADAM SCHRECK (AP) – 45 minutes ago


snip

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An explosion damaged a Japanese oil tanker Wednesday as it steered through the tense waters at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where the ship's owner said the vessel possibly came under attack.

Authorities on both sides of the narrow Strait of Hormuz dismissed suggestions of a deliberate strike, however, pointing instead to natural causes. The U.S. naval fleet that patrols the region said the cause of the blast remains unclear.

[DMac]

From what I'm reading now it seems there was a minor tsunami wave that hit the tanker after an earthquake took place in the area.

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?cid=27180&cat=dis%E2%8C%A9=eng

***EDIT***



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHvOH9YeYUM



Today Explosion EX-20100728-27180-NLC (Non-Localized) Strait of Hormuz M. Star Oil Tanker (Japanese Flagged)

Situation Update No. 3
On 28.07.2010 at 14:16 GMT+2

A Japanese oil tanker damaged by a freak wave in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping lanes, was making its way to a port in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. The ship's owners reported an explosion onboard and said it may have been caused by an attack but a port official who spoke to the crew said there was no evidence. No oil leaked from the supertanker, named M Star, although some members of the 31-strong crew were injured, said a general manager at the UAE port of Fujairah where the ship was due to arrive at 5 p.m. (1300 GMT). "The cause of the incident was a freak wave and there is damage in the upper accommodation decks of the ship and a few injured people on board," he said. "The ship is not being tugged and there is no damage to the engine." He said the ship would be checked and should be able to resume its journey to Japan. Oman's coastguard cited "a tremor" as the cause of the incident, while an official from the Omani transport ministry said it was "business as usual" in the Strait of Hormuz.

A seismologist in nearby Iran said an earthquake with a magnitude of about 3.4 happened in Bandar Abbas. Captains of other ships near the incident also mentioned the earthquake, Attollah Sadr, head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation, was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency. Earlier, Japan's transport ministry said an "explosion" had occurred at around 00:30 a.m. local time. "A crew member saw light on the horizon just before the explosion, so (ship owner Mitsui O.S.K.) believes there is a possibility it was caused by an outside attack," Japan's ministry said in a statement. The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain issued a statement saying the cause of the explosion and extent of damage was unknown. "Initial damage assessment from the ship's owner, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, Japan, is that one life boat was blown off the ship and there is some damage to the starboard hatches," it said. On board were 16 Filipino and 15 Indian crew members. The tanker, bound for Chiba, near Tokyo, is carrying around 2.3 million barrels of Qatar Land and Abu Dhabi Lower Zakum crudes, industry sources said. Any impact on the Asian spot crude market would be negligible and the tanker would have taken three weeks to arrive in Japan, traders said. "This (event) won't stop the flow of crude, so there will be no impact on what is able to be bought," a Tokyo-based crude trader said. Around 17 million barrels per day of oil flow via the Strait of Hormuz, and Middle East crude accounts for 90 percent of Japan's total imports.

[Large Sarge]

the odds on a wave hitting just the straits and with a tanker.... (the ideal set up)

maybe it was a test run?

if it was a botched attack, seems like more info would spill out....

skeptical on the roque wave/ earthquake story myself

[Ironfield]

An update from my morning newspaper. Source The National (http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100729/NATIONAL/707289843/1133)

ABU DHABI // Investigators were combing a Japanese oil tanker docked in Fujairah last night after it was damaged by what its owners claimed was an explosion.

The M. Star was travelling from Al Ruwais to Japan when the blast occurred in the Strait of Hormuz early yesterday. The cause is unknown but the ship’s operator, Mitsui OSK Lines, and the Japanese transport ministry said it was “highly likely” to have been an outside attack. However, Emirati and Omani officials attributed the damage to a freak wave.

http://gulfnews.com/polopoly_fs/a-dent-is-visible-in-the-side-of-the-m-star-1.661009!image/2186218520.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_475/2186218520.jpg

Larger image from the Gulf News article (http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/attack-ruled-out-in-hormuz-tanker-incident-1.660998)



According to the US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, the explosion hit the starboard side of the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel at about 4.30am yesterday. A lifeboat was blown off the ship in the blast and hatches were damaged.

Kazumi Makamura, a spokeswoman for Mitsui OSK, said the galley windows were damaged and “the bridge wing door was buckled ... there is other damage we are checking. We do not know when the investigation will be completed”.

She confirmed one of the ship’s 31 crew members suffered minor injuries. As for the cause of the blast, “There is nothing that can explode in that part of the vessel,” a different company spokeswoman, Eiko Mizuno, told The Associated Press.

A crew member saw a flash of light before the explosion, indicating a possible external attack, she said.

The ship, which was loaded with 270,000 tonnes of oil, arrived in Fujairah about 5pm yesterday, and investigators boarded the tanker to assess the damage.

No oil was spilled in the incident, officials said. A port source said the company’s Britain-based insurance carrier was sending a surveyor and a weapons expert to examine the ship.

The UAE’s state news agency, WAM, cited a UAE official as saying there was no possibility the damage was caused by an attack, adding that no trace of explosives was found on its outer body structure. It said a large wave that resulted from a “seismic shock” was responsible.

click here

There was no unusual seismic activity in the region, according to a spokesman for the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology.

The Omani transport ministry also attributed the damage to a large wave. “There’s no reason to suspect foul play,” a spokesman for the ministry said. “Our information from the Omani coast guard officers, who have been at the vessel, said that it was a strong wave that caused the damage. It has already docked in Fujairah for inspection.”

Dr Mustafa Alani, the senior adviser for security and terrorism at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre, said initial investigation will focus on the nature of the damage to the ship. “It’s very easy to tell if it’s an external attack or not from whether the damage is pushing inside or internal,” Dr Alani said.

He said there were three possibilities for an attack: piracy, a state-sponsored attack or terrorism, the first two of which he discounted.

“If this was piracy, it would have been followed by an attempt to hijack the ship and there are no reports of an attempt to board.”

Pirates are unlikely to travel into the highly patrolled Strait of Hormuz, where the US and other international navies are active, Dr Alani added.

Monsoons in the Gulf of Aden also make the seas too rough for pirate skiffs at this time of year. About 40 per cent of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important waterways.

Riad Kahwaji, the chief executive of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said it is difficult to draw conclusions until a full investigation has been done but discounted the theory that a wave could have been responsible in the relatively sheltered waters.

Built in 2008, the M. Star is a double-hulled tanker. Single-hulled vessels have been gradually phased out since the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 that resulted in one of history’s most devastating oil spills.

* With additional reporting by Eugene Harnan, Anna Zacharias and Saleh al Shaibany

-Ironfield

[joe_momma]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piXQGmJTt_g&feature=player_embedded#!


Always a good view.

[Phoenix]

http://gulfnews.com/polopoly_fs/a-dent-is-visible-in-the-side-of-the-m-star-1.661009!image/2186218520.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_475/2186218520.jpg


No "wave" - except a blast wave - did that.

[Plastic]

No "wave" - except a blast wave - did that.


Agreed, the damage is too focused in one area for a wave.
Now watch, word will come down that it was from a mine and the Iranians get the blame............ Of course, there will be no mention of the Israeli sub/s in the area capable of deploying mines as most subs can.

[Quixote2]

With that damage pattern, is their a mine that jumps out of the water after release from the ocean floor, and then detonate above the water?

[Plastic]

With that damage pattern, is their a mine that jumps out of the water after release from the ocean floor, and then detonate above the water?




A couple possibles.


From wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_mine

Unusual mines

Torpedo mine
A CAPTOR mine being loaded onto a B-52 bomberThe torpedo mine is a self-propelled variety, able to lie in wait for a target and then pursue it e.g. the CAPTOR mine. Other designs such as the Mk 67 Submarine Launched Mobile Mine[28] (which is based on a Mark 37 torpedo) are capable of swimming as far as 10 miles through or into a channel, harbor, shallow water area and other zones which would normally be inaccessible to craft laying the device. After reaching the target area they sink to the sea bed and act like conventionally laid influence mines. Generally, torpedo mines incorporate computerised acoustic and magnetic fuzes.

The U.S. Mark 24 "mine", code-named FIDO, was actually an ASW homing torpedo. The mine designation was disinformation to conceal its function





Bottom mines

Bottom mines are used when the water is no more than 60 meters (180 ft) deep or when mining for submarines down to around 200 meters (660 ft). They are much harder to detect and sweep, and can carry a much larger warhead than a moored mine. Bottom mines commonly use pressure sensitive exploders, which are less sensitive to sweeping.

These mines usually weigh between 150 and 1,500 kilograms (330 to 3,300 pounds), including between 125 and 1,400 kg (275 to 3,090 pounds) of explosives



And when on active duty I heard of some rocket propelled mines too. These would sit on the bottom, and when their sensors picked up the right shipping sounds the weapon would launch at the target. I was under the impression at the time that it was designed to take out the keel of the ship though, in which case it would detonate directly beneath a ship. You do not have to sink a ship to destroy it, break it's keel and stick a fork in it.

[keehah]

Lucky buggers!

Takes more than one shot obviously to blow up and bring down a tanker. Double hulled beasts.

[crazychicken]

With that damage pattern, is their a mine that jumps out of the water after release from the ocean floor, and then detonate above the water?


Code named the Jumping Jack mine.

VERY sinister. LOL

CC

[cortez]

any power outtages from when the HAARP fired up?? :rocket_hor