US Coast Guard sinking of Japanese ghost ship

well looks like she will make a good fishing spot!Hope someone got the numbers for it?

I never realy believed in lying a hull but this makes me thinking again.

This was a crime from North-Americans Coast Guard. I do not agree sinking the ship. It was good Metal that could have been disassembled and recycled for reuse in oven from a Yard. USA does not seem thinking Green, why should us? Fishes do not need Garbage in their floor, like they do with a aircraft carrier as well.

I don't think there are many people bottom fishing in 2000 meters. Not that there is anything at that depth to catch anyway.

I agree with that. If it was considered a hazard it could have been fitted with a radar transponder and tracked. As it got closer to the coast someone would have salvaged it. There was little justification for sinking that ship like that except for a bit of sport.

The photos show a commercial fishing boat sniffing around it. They probably would have been happy to pump out the fuel if nothing else. I wonder if they got chased off so the Coasties could have a shootup.

I read somewhere that the fishing boat made a salvage claim but were unable to tow it probably because the Coasties stopped then getting anywhere near it to put a line aboard.

A midwater trawler has all the power it needs to tow a load of barnacles, it appears there was another reason as reported on an ABC News site:

"The Coast Guard’s plans to sink the ship, which was set adrift by last year’s tsunami, were initially put off when the fishing ship Bernice C claimed salvage rights. Those rights were abandoned after an inspection showed the ship was not worth saving."

Some not too remote reasons the CG did their thing:

Based upon findings from Japanese beach debris, there was some (not too much but in this nannie age ---?) worry that the ship could have radioactive contamination. This could only be determined by putting a crew onboard to test for things, deemed too risky (I've had to do this on shore based stuff with much less contamination risk).

The ship's insurer did not want the vessel to reach shore and pollute a beach or become a collision cost

The ship would safely enter the rust cycle and be gone in a few hundred years

The ship would enter Puget Sound and be lived on by Tom Hanks for a Sleepless II, thus sparing the American public a few tears

I know of the footage you mention shoot the muck out of it then when it was on fire ,, they preceeded to put the firehose on her maybe the Captain decided it was a too good of an oppertunity to miss out on . , Live training excercise ??

U.S. Coast Guard fires on "ghost ship" in Gulf of Alaska - YouTube

From the reports I read the fishing vessel made and then relinquished their salvage claim. No other salvage claims were apparently made. This was a no brainer. If a collision had occurred it would have been the Coasties who would have been blamed for not dealing with the hazard. This was, IMO, making the best of a bad situation. Since there are apparently other vessels in the mix of debris making its way to the US west coast there will likely be additional situations like this with which to contend.

after looking at the videos, i would say the c.g. needs to sight in those guns or make the coasty pullin' the trigger pay for the shells..