Venezuelan Warship Shoots at German Cruise Ship, Rams It and Sinks Itself

Rick Moran | 4:24 PM on April 03, 2020

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, right, lead a rally condemning the economic sanctions imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Venezuela, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019. Supporters of Maduro joined him after he called for protests against the recent moves by the U.S. to tighten sanctions against the ruling authorities. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Reports out of Berlin tell of a German Arctic cruise ship being fired on by a Venezuelan naval vessel, which then rammed the passenger liner, sinking itself in the process.

No, this is not a story that appeared in The Onion.

The Jerusalem Post says that the incident occurred on March 30 and took place in international waters.

The Iranian regime-allied Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused the captain of the RCGS RESOLUTE cruise ship of “terrorism and piracy” and sought to force the ship into a new direction on the high seas. The cruise ship, which had no passengers on board and was sailing under a Portuguese flag, has a reinforced hull that enables it to sail through ice water.

An unarmed passenger ship accused of “terrorism and piracy”? Well, it is the Venezuelan navy.

RCGS Resolute is a purpose built polar expedition vessel of the highest ice class, rated 1A Super, designed to operate in difficult ice conditions. pic.twitter.com/AMLsae56Vn

— Venezuela BTH (@VenezuelaBTH) April 1, 2020

Columbia Cruise Services continued, stating that “Shortly after mid-night, the cruise vessel was approached by an armed Venezuelan navy vessel, which via radio questioning the intentions of the RCGS RESOLUTE’s presence and gave the order to follow to Puerto Moreno on Isla De Margarita. As the RCGS RESOLUTE was sailing in international waters at that time, the Master wanted to reconfirm this particular request resulting into a serious deviation from the scheduled vessel’s route with the company DPA.”

According to the statement, “While the Master was in contact with the head office, gun shots were fired and, shortly thereafter, the navy vessel approached the starboard side at speed with an angle of 135° and purposely collided with the RCGS RESOLUTE. The navy vessel continued to ram the starboard bow in an apparent attempt to turn the ship’s head towards Venezuelan territorial waters.”

Should I be laughing? Is it really that funny? Just the image in my head of some hapless Venezuelan captain giving the order to ram a cruise ship again and again makes me giggle.

Isn’t that something of a metaphor for the whole, rotten regime?

The cruise company said the RCGS RESOLUTE sustained minor damages, not affecting vessel’s seaworthiness, it occurs that the navy vessel suffered severe damages while making contact with the ice-strengthened bulbous bow of the ice-class expedition cruise vessel RCGS RESOLUTE and started to take water.”

There were no deaths among the Venezuelan marines aboard the war ship. The Venezuelan authorities returned the navy personnel to safety.

On a more serious note, what is the Venezuelan navy doing attacking any ship, much less an unarmed passenger ship? Perhaps they were practicing for when they take on the U.S. Navy.

But then, if they fired on the U.S. Navy, it’s pretty damn likely we’d fire back.