Neptune's Navy

 
Who Rammed Who?
1994

Norway is charged Sea Shepherd with ramming their warship. Our position is that we were rammed by the warship. Aside from the fact that we would have proudly taken credit if we had indeed rammed the Norwegians, (after all, it's a skill that we excel at) the documentation proves that the rammer was the Andenes.

 

	The Andenes crosses the stern to overtake Whales Forever. The Norwegians maintain that they had the right of way because they were coming from the starboard side. The regulations hold however, that the overtaking vessel must give right of passage to the vessel being overtaken, in this case the Whales Forever. It can be plainly seen that the Whales Forever is turning hard to port and not hard to starboard as the Norwegians insist.
	After overtaking from the port stern side of the Whales Forever, the Andenes begins to cross the bow at about 22 knots. The Sea Shepherd ship is still leaning to port. The Norwegian warship then turns slightly to port, placing it on a collision course with the Whales Forever. Captain Watson stops his engines and directs his bowthruster to starboard in an attempt to brake his ship and to keep his props away from the towing rope
	This photo was taken seconds before impact from the wheelhouse of the Andenes. The warship would have struck the Whales Forever midship if Captain Watson had not cut his engines and pushed to starboard on his bow thruster.
	There is no bow wave in front of the Whales Forever. If Captain Watson intended to ram the warship, we would not have done so with a crew member standing on the bow. Frederik Schelver can be seen standing at his station on the bow. He jumped away from the impact at the last moment.
	The Andenes strikes the Whales Forever across the bow. The bow wave of the warship is clearly visible.
	As the warship passes the bow of the whale saving ship, a long gouge is ripped into the hull of the Andenes. Cameraman Derek McCurdy is plainly visible on the top deck. He recorded the entire sequence.
	This photo of the Andenes being repaired in B?do, Norway, illustrates that the extensive damage caused to the warship was her own fault. If the warship was rammed there would be a punched-in section on her hull. The scar indicates a long scrape which could only have been incurred by the vessel doing the ramming.

 

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