4 ms·

The Venezuelan ship had a 76mm gun, maybe one like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_76_mm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_76_mm Why

The Venezuelan ship had a 76mm gun, maybe one like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_76_mm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_76_mm Why would you ram when you could shoot up the other ship with 85 to 120 fourteen pound shells per minute, with no risk to your own ship? Maybe they didn't actually have the ammo. Or maybe they decided to play chicken with the cruise ship and lost.

detaro 7y ago
Because pushing/ramming a bigger ship (especially if you do little damage) is more in the realm of the kind of bullying that gets tolerated by other countries than firing on a civilian ship with a heavy gun. It appears they misjudged the "little damage" part.
jandrese 7y ago
They weren't trying to sink the cruise ship, they were trying to turn their tiny destroyer into a tugboat and push the cruise ship into a port where it could be seized.
- topspin 7y ago
  Piracy then.
  - pasquinelli 7y ago
    Privateering if you're Venezuelan.
    - hef19898 7y ago
      Both are illegal since the late 19th century. But Venezualan vessel was an official navy ship. So more offical commerce raiding?
- duxup 7y ago
  Doesn't seem like they would likely be able to maintain control of a ship like that enough to really force some small directional changes each collision.
jvanderbot 7y ago
TFA claims the navy vessel was attempting to steer the larger ship. It at least answers your question, but raises more questions ...
battery_cowboy 7y ago
Those shells will do nothing to stop the ship but will just kill a lot of people for no gains. If they wanted to seize the ship, they should have brought a boarding party with them, I'm sure they have trained sailors for that. Source: I'm a former naval officer and I served as an ordnance officer on a ship with that exact 76mm gun. I also acted as the officer of the deck for quite a few boardings.
- greedo 7y ago
  Would the shells be able to breach the hull and sink it? I know the cruiser had a hardened hull, but I assume that's not exactly shell proof?
  - battery_cowboy 7y ago
    No, you can punch holes, but it's almost a certainty that the bilge pumps will keep up. Also, you can't easily shoot below the water line.
- elorant 7y ago
  So how do you stop a cruiser like that?
  - FireBeyond 7y ago
    With a boarding party via helicopter or specialized boarding craft (fast boats and rapeling?).
    - derefr 7y ago
      And how do you stop a ship if you consider it a biohazard and don’t want it to get near your dock (and also don’t have the equipment to safely board it without effectively throwing your sailors’ lives away), but it’s insistently coming in anyway? (Perhaps because it’s a “ship of the dead”, drifting unmanned toward your port. Or because it’s, say, just a big barge carrying a pile of tires that’s on fire.) ...would a sufficient number of depth charges work?
Scarbutt 7y ago
They were trying to steer the cruise not destroy it , but didn't expect a reinforced hull.

detaro 7y ago

Because pushing/ramming a bigger ship (especially if you do little damage) is more in the realm of the kind of bullying that gets tolerated by other countries than firing on a civilian ship with a heavy gun. It appears they misjudged the "little damage" part.

jandrese 7y ago

They weren't trying to sink the cruise ship, they were trying to turn their tiny destroyer into a tugboat and push the cruise ship into a port where it could be seized.

topspin 7y ago
Piracy then.
- pasquinelli 7y ago
  Privateering if you're Venezuelan.
  - hef19898 7y ago
    Both are illegal since the late 19th century. But Venezualan vessel was an official navy ship. So more offical commerce raiding?
duxup 7y ago
Doesn't seem like they would likely be able to maintain control of a ship like that enough to really force some small directional changes each collision.

jvanderbot 7y ago

TFA claims the navy vessel was attempting to steer the larger ship. It at least answers your question, but raises more questions ...

battery_cowboy 7y ago

Those shells will do nothing to stop the ship but will just kill a lot of people for no gains. If they wanted to seize the ship, they should have brought a boarding party with them, I'm sure they have trained sailors for that. Source: I'm a former naval officer and I served as an ordnance officer on a ship with that exact 76mm gun. I also acted as the officer of the deck for quite a few boardings.

greedo 7y ago
Would the shells be able to breach the hull and sink it? I know the cruiser had a hardened hull, but I assume that's not exactly shell proof?
- battery_cowboy 7y ago
  No, you can punch holes, but it's almost a certainty that the bilge pumps will keep up. Also, you can't easily shoot below the water line.
elorant 7y ago
So how do you stop a cruiser like that?
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  With a boarding party via helicopter or specialized boarding craft (fast boats and rapeling?).
  - derefr 7y ago
    And how do you stop a ship if you consider it a biohazard and don’t want it to get near your dock (and also don’t have the equipment to safely board it without effectively throwing your sailors’ lives away), but it’s insistently coming in anyway? (Perhaps because it’s a “ship of the dead”, drifting unmanned toward your port. Or because it’s, say, just a big barge carrying a pile of tires that’s on fire.) ...would a sufficient number of depth charges work?

Scarbutt 7y ago

They were trying to steer the cruise not destroy it , but didn't expect a reinforced hull.