

What was the cargo ship, Arctic Sea, transporting, and why was it hijacked? - sutro
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KH26Ag01.html

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philwelch
This isn't the first mysterious incident with cargo ships and the Russians
I've heard of.

I grew up in Port Angeles, Washington. Port Angeles is located on the Olympic
Peninsula, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Vancouver Island. The Strait
of Juan de Fuca just happens to be the primary route to the Pacific Ocean from
Naval Submarine Base Bangor, in nearby Bremerton. Bangor is one of two naval
bases in the United States that houses America's fleet of Trident nuclear
missile submarines.

A Russian cargo ship anchored itself in the middle of the strait about twelve
years ago and just sat there without explaining themselves. The obvious
explanation is that the Russians were probably counting submarines leaving and
returning to Bangor. I suspect the Strait is shallow enough that it's not
feasible for the submarines to leave the Strait submerged, and on fishing
trips my dad and I saw one of them. Even surfaced, they are damn silent. I
suppose they could have left Bangor through Canadian waters, though I don't
know the political feasibility of sailing subs full of nuclear weapons through
Canadian waters.

After the Russian cargo ship hung out in the strait for awhile, the American
authorities figured they'd investigate it. So they got together with the
Canadians and flew a helicopter over the ship. The ship evidently shone a
laser at the helicopter (this is a couple of years before the days when lasers
were an everyday cat toy) and blinded the American naval intelligence officer
that was observing the ship. Investigating further, the Coast Guard decided to
board the ship and search it for the laser. When they got around to boarding
the ship, the laser was nowhere to be found. Eventually, the ship left the
Strait.

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ryanwaggoner
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Juan_de_Fuca_laser_in...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Juan_de_Fuca_laser_incident)

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bluefish
While interesting speculation, I don't understand why we've frontpaged this
story on a community site generally focused on technology, startups and hacker
culture. I'd love to see this on a community site called UnsolvedMysteryNews,
but until one exists, flagging for relevance.

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andreyf
I don't know about you, but speculation about the reality of international
affairs certainly "gratifies [my] intellectual curiosity". See:
<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

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electromagnetic
Aliens, it's definitely aliens. Wait, it's called the Arctic Sea, penguins
it's definitely penguins, _emperor penguins_! Wait, it was sailing too far
south for penguins in a non-refrigerated vessel, Alien-Emperor Penguin
Hybrids! Being, er delivered to North Korea, to, er, make counterfeit US One
Dollar Bills!

There, solved it. So now that's over and done with, can we find something else
to satisfy your intellect, not mysteries that are only a mystery because the
investigation isn't complete yet.

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pyre
> Wait, it's called the Arctic Sea, penguins it's definitely penguins, emperor
> penguins!

You forgot the 'intellectual' part. Penguins are in the Southern Hemisphere,
unless you count zoos.

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electromagnetic
You caught me, I have plans to release Emperor Penguins onto the Arctic
glaciers, now you might want to forget this whole conversation . . . unless
you want to fight a Mexican Snorkelling Kangaroo!

Dammit I haven't made those yet either. Supervillanry is hard :(

P.S. You pointed out the most logical flaw in an illogical conspiracy theorist
dig, I feel quite honoured.

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chrischen
"In its latest version, official Russian television said ecologists had
hijacked the Arctic Sea because they had ran out of fuel for their boats. "
... _riiiggghhhhtt...._

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wmeredith
Remember to visit the "new" page and vote with your _votes_ as well as your
flags.

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njharman
What's the point if you can't downvote crap? Out of 30 articles 2 were good
enough to upvote, about a dozen needed downvotes the rest were meh.

Comments should be up only, articles should be up/down.

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10ren
How can a ship disappear from radar?

I would think sinking would be the only way - unless ships transmit an
explicit signal for radar to pick up.

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maxer
i found it it interesting.. missles to iran isnt my cup of tea to be honest,
although speculative, was interesting, reeks of a tom clancy story

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lurkinggrue
It contained a Black Oil, an extraterrestrial virus that controls the host. I
believe there were 2 FBI agents checking that ship out before it got hijacked.

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andreyf
If Russia has been shipping these to Iran for awhile, what was the Bush
administration doing shaking nukes at Iran? Did they not know about it, or
simply not care about retaliation against Israel?

