A cargo ship, linked to the Russian ghost fleet, which has been investigated for suspicious activity in the Baltic was spotted by an Irish Air Corps aircraft dropping an anchor close to an undersea cable in Irish waters.
It has emerged that the incident earlier this year occured in waters off the north east coast. The Air Corps had dispatched an aircraft to monitor its movements as it is a list of Russian related vessels.
There has been several incidents in the Baltic Sea where anchors, dropped by Russian linked vessels, have damaged critical internet cables.
The Air Corps was able to film the ship, dropping the anchor in the area, and following communication from the Irish crew the cargo vessel fled. It was not confirmed if the ship was intentionally targeting undersea infrastructure or if it was a case of bad seamanship.
The ship, sailing under a flag from Caribbean region, had been in trouble in the Baltic Sea in the same month. German authorities escorted it out of the area along with Swedish and Danish naval colleagues.
On that occasion she was sailing from St Petersburg en route through the waters near Gotland, an island off Sweden.
The sighting of it in Irish waters was made earlier this year and it was being monitored after intelligence was shared from a friendly nation with the Irish State.
An Irish Air Corps maritime patrol vessel was despatched to keep watch – it is understood that they recorded it, using specialist camera equipment, as it dropped the anchor.
It is understood the ship was contacted by radio by the Irish Defence Forces and directed to haul its anchor back up and it departed the area.
The Journal has learned that the ship is back in Irish waters and is heading towards the west coast.
It is understood that the ship has steamed from the Bay of Biscay and is currently off the Cork and Kerry coast.
Using an open source flight monitoring service The Journal was able to follow an Air Corps CASA 295 aircraft which went to a location near the ship this afternoon.
This publication has previously revealed that Ireland held a major exercise behind closed doors to test how Ireland will deal with a complete loss of the internet after a targeted attack.
It is understood that the event, known as a tabletop exercise, was held in February and involved multiple Government departments and agencies including the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána and other emergency services.
The scenario was a concerted cyber attack which was combined with the loss of multiple undersea cables.
There are a large amount of fibre optic internet cables connecting Europe to the US and other parts of the world running through Irish waters. They carry all high speed internet traffic, including banking and other critical data.
It is truly beyond my comprehension how such a pathetic country like Russia can so easily invade other nations with force, destroy their infrastructure through both direct and cyber attacks, while Europe stands by, afraid to respond because WW3. Meanwhile, Putin keeps his poison spreading across the world, and has now the strongest west military force under his full control. Can EU politicians even connect the fucking dots?
Now just hear me out.
Trump and Musk are in bed with Putin.
Putin props himself up on his elbow as he takes the last drag of his cigarette, the sheet carelessly exposing his right nipple. He looks deeply into Trump’s eyes, a coquettish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Guys, guys. What do you think would happen if something were to happen to a lot of those intercontinental data cables?”
Musk giggles and says, “The walls are talking to me. Or is it that gargoyle in the corner?”
Putin rolls over to his other side to gaze lovingly into Musk’s eyes, while Musk ignores him to stare in awe at various nonexistent things he sees around the room. “But Musky,” he slowly trails one finger from Elon’s belly button down in the direction of his crotch, “those can take a long time to repair. They’ll need something that doesn’t require those cables. And, cough we have something like that, don’t we?”
Trump says, “Remember that time when the hand of God saved me from that bullet at the very last moment? Many people, everyone really, couldn’t stop talking about how valiant I looked. Plymouth Valiant - great car. Some say the best car, the very best. They are all saying it. From the moment that car stopped being produced it was all downhill, just like a river flowing downhill. Did you know the liberals don’t like rivers? Because the Rio Grande makes it harder for the illegals to come here from Mexico. Why is it spelled like that? Where did that “e” come from? What does Rio mean anyway? You know we should rename it, like we did the Gulf of America. It could be the River of America, and that would really be grand, everyone’s saying it. We could find a way to set it on fire, that might be easier than building a wall. You know you can get fire from water, it’s not that hard really, I saw it coming out of faucets in Michigan - we should learn how they did that and just do it to the Rio Grand-”
Putin says, “OK, so we are agreed.”
He lovingly kisses them both on the mouth, savoring the flavor of Trump on Musk’s lips just a moment, pulls the sheet up close in modesty, and runs from the room on his tiptoes with a brief giggle, wondering which admiral he should call first. He nearly trips over JD Vance, who is curled up with his collar and leash near the threshold.
Do you write any other horror stories?
One man’s horror is another man’s maga porn.
Man do you have a camera in Putin’s bedroom or what?
Absolute cinema, yet likely non-fiction.
It’s interesting because in Ireland there are discussions about maintaining the historical neutrality, with one of the pro neutrality points being that it is not an interesting enough target to be attacked. But given that it’s a major data center in Europe, it appears that it is a tasty target for sabotage.
The Russian navy seems so incompetent I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was an accident
Only if you ignore the fact it was already in trouble with the Germans doing the same thing.
My bet is the oldest person on that boat is 22.
Putin and Russia realized long ago that they can’t play on our level. And instead of trying to improve, they decided to sabotage the others to not look as bad compared to them.
Wars in the this century are won by making your victim think that they’re not under attack and that you’re not a real threat until it’s too damn late to react.
From what I recall more or less what Sun Zi (Sun Tzu) recommended 2500 years ago.
Maybe we should make that not work and just start killing suspicious sailors?
Arrest those fuckers.
Shoot these ships immediately. Sink them. No more fucking around. Anchor near cable? Boom.
Nah that leads to expensive cleanup.
arrest the crew, detain the ship, sell it. Use proceeds to pay for increased defence expenditure and/or donate to Ukraine.
The literal only reason russia does these provocations is because it is the only thing russia can get away with without being turned into a glass mine. We have been at a shadow war with russia for a while and they just gained 50 oblasts. It is very much us vs them situation and us who live in ex soviet countries know it very well.
Yeah I agree don’t shoot the ship because of oil spill. But kill the captain in my opinion and arrest the crew for many years. It has to be dangerous to cut sea cables, otherwise they’ll never learn. Short of shooting the ship or killing the captain, I see no other way.
But I’m pissed off and hate Russia so I might be biased.
I don’t think randomly shooting people without any evidence or trial is a good idea. Unless they’re the likes of trump/putin and everyone around him and put into office by him. Cause that is tyranny and protected under 2nd amendment.
I disagree. Shooting captains dropping anchors near undersea cables is reasonable.
You, on the other hand, are insane to think we can keep going like this.
I mean… apparently we can tell when the ships have their anchor down. Because the plane could notice it… so if there is an anchor down, near a cable, shoot the captain.
Idk what else to say. Obviously don’t just shoot random ships. Only if they have their anchor down near sea cables.
Also the 2nd amendment is a joke. If not now, then when? When will someone finally kill trump, musk and Vance? Asking for a friend.
You need some kind of due process.
Many freight captains would have no clue where cables are.
No. I do not. I need for everyone who controls a ship to know that anchors near sea cables mean certain elimination.
Or
Free ship. Arrest crew.
Kill captain and detain crew. Make it dangerous to pull this bullshit.
russian ship near a cable: “sink them”
USA ship and warplanes all over the place: nobody gives a fuck
https://www.itamilradar.com/2025/03/18/unusual-us-activity-over-the-black-sea/
Trust me. I give a fuck. You can be glad that I have no political power. Because I would order to shoot down anything and everything that enters here without permission.
Shot across the Bow, send boarding party, take over and sail to convenient port for confiscation of cargo. Auction off ship and cargo, use the revenue to repair damages and to support Countries currently under military attack by Russia.
Purposely destroying our infrastructure is an act of war. So that would be the appropriate response.
Maybe, but sane people don’t want to escalate something that could lead to a war.
They should absolutely do something but we are tip-toeing around mines here. So let’s at least think before we start running.
We are at war and have been for years. There doesn’t have to be bombs dropping for that to be the case.
Yeah kinda has to be bombs dropping for there to be war proper. And we really don’t want that to happen.
Russia says it’s not their ship, so I can be boarded and seized
Yes, and we have boarded them.
I was referring to destroying the ships.
Treat it like an act of war. If we would blow up a Russian railway like or telephone cable that would be construed as one, surely.
Yes, but since the offending country 1: has nuclear weapons and B- keeps saying “whoopsie didn’t mean to pinky promise” everyone just throws up their hands and says “well they claim it was an accident so just bump the sanctions 2% and call it a day” rather than the literal acts of war that they would be in any other context.
It’s like watching what’s happened in the US happen on a global scale.
We all know things are being smashed on purpose with the intention of making life difficult for other people, yet nobody is doing a goddamn thing to stop it.
And just like in the US, I’m sure there are plenty who would absolutely love to row out and try to stop it themselves but a large ship is just gonna steamroll a small one. I would love to row out and start some shit with the ships cutting cables. But by myself, I’m getting crushed without a second thought, and tons of people will watch on and go “well what did they expect all by themselves they should have gone out in force as a group if they wanted to really put a stop to it. Now I gotta go post a Facebook update saying I stand in solidarity with the cable”
I’ll let the readers sort out this metaphor.
I just think, kill the captain. Like drive there with a small boat, snipe him, take it over. Then do whatever.
It can’t be the status quo that they can pull this shit without consequences. Make it known that it’s deadly for the captain and crew (if there even is a crew, they probably just send one person to fuck the cable) to pull this bullshit.
Maybe they’ll learn (they won’t but at least it’s one less captain).
God I hate Russians so fucking much tbh.
”I’m the captain now!”
Unfortunately, that would cause dangerous debris near the cables. Let them leave first, then do what you want somewhere safer.
True and also it would probably cause oil spill. Didn’t think about that. But still. Just shoot the captain then lmao.
So very tired of Putin’s bullshit…
These ships are shit for the environment as well. Old, unsafe and uninsured vessels. Decreases safety at seas. The loopholes used to operate like this needs to be filled. Not just to prevent sabotage and making the seas safer, but to shut down circumvention of sanctions.
For that sort of problems they invented torpedoes.
If Russia doesn’t like that then maybe they should stop fucking around
Sinking a ship near the fiber cables won’t make things better, easier to service/fix, and may cause a war
We’re already at war, get your fucking head out of the sand.
Then throw yourself into the meatgrinder to protect the shareholder profits
When we sink a ship with the flag of Panama, are we at war with Panama?
That’s it, article 5, USA invades Panama…
It there ANY reason that a ghost fleet exists other than avoiding EU law?
Removed by mod
You can also stop invading neighbouring countries and respect international law. That works too you know.
Putin: „impossible! What does it even mean?“
Removed by mod
It’s not just US though. I think a sovereign country should have a say in who they trade with and who they do not. Thinking USA somehow holds the puppet strings was probably plausible before Trump, but right now I’m simply surprised they have managed to survive this far without collapsing completely. It’s not in any way plausible that the country led by that baffoon, doing all the things he’s doing currently, is somehow the puppet master of the western world, straight dictating who does what.
No, it’s been a choice by the EU to also join USA (or is it the other way around? I think the US propaganda machine could’ve managed to make it seem like US-led effort, but is it?) in these economical battles against an aggressor attacking a sovereign European country. And it simply makes sense, don’t need any large conspiracies to explain that. Just sensible. Europe defending Europe.
Regarding Israel though… I guess the military power of the US, no matter how much of a buffoon is ultimately at the helm, causes some to consider twice before putting on sanctions against them. But that image is largely falling apart right now, and I’d love to see Europe uniting in sanctions against Israel, too. Those disregarding others’ sovereignty and attempting to assimilate them, deserve nothing good from us or as many of others we can sway.
I mean they are the single most powerful military force in the world right now, with no one even close to equal them. It holds some weight necessarily, when they choose to do something. Or choose not to do something.
But that alone being enough to simply dictate what other nations do? I think not. And it’s becoming more and more clear to me that it probably never was like that. But they have a ridiculously large backing for soft power too. Maybe this image we have about this is purposefully build to make murica seem like such a power player. Maybe it’s all just bark, little bite? They do have the biggest set of teeth though, so if they do bite, it might hurt unless you have a lot of friends to stand with you.
The original comment was removed but I’m guessing the poster was trying to say the US is some scheming puppeteer of foreign countries to make this happen?
LMAO I could have believed that around 2005.
You could have even swung that convincingly in 2010.
This administration wouldn’t know what a puppet IS without the hand shoved up their asses drawing some pictures for them. They are the puppets. Half of them have an education in name only, their diplomas and degrees were paid for by status or money. Their positions secured through ass kissing and the ability to say “yes master whatever you wish”
You are spot on with your assessment of the military industrial complex. In my youth I enlisted, and it’s an entirely different beast from the inside. Simultaneously more and less coordinated than you thought, just in different areas. Day-to-day sure things might get fucked up, a clerical error makes comical goofs and endless maintenance delays… But once “war were declared” then I have never seen anything that moves in coordination more smoothly except literal machines.
Even with a group of idiots at the wheel, they aren’t the ones with boots on the ground. They aren’t the ones coordinating the logistics. If they decided to go to war, I would HOPE enough of the military would refuse to cooperate that any efforts fail before they get off the ground. I would have absolutely gone AWOL if the administration declared war on an EU nation. Not only do I have friends there, I know enough about them to know if we’re fighting, they aren’t the ones who started it.
I can only hope that the people in the military now would just decline any orders to invade a foreign country based on trade bullshit from an orange blob.
All that said, if they DID decide to start shit, I fully believe the EU is capable of defending its home from invasion, if not just blitzkrieg-era bombardment.
You could stop the armies, but not the navies.
Yeah that was how I read it, and I assume from the downvotes a lot of others too, but I guess it was a bit ambiguous. To be fair, here’s their elaboration: (Comment)
Make of that what you will.
I made no comment about the EU, only that 1. the US’s sanctions necessitate shadow fleets 2. The US’s sanctions are orthogonal to international law.
You can see deleted comments by clicking here:
I think a sovereign country should have a say in who they trade with and who they do not.
I am making no prescriptions of what should be, the question is “why does Russia have a shadowfleet”, I’m describing the fact that the US’s comprehensive sanctions have more teeth because they sanction countries for violating them and are unrelated to international law, hence why such a country requires a shadowfleet to trade with anyone who isn’t already sanctioned by the US.
The EU and UK have their own sanctions, but they only reflect the EU’s willingness to do business with Russia, not their willingness/ability to cut off anyone else who does business with Russia.
Fair enough, I see your point now. I don’t know enough about the US side of the sanctions, or more in-depth details from any side, so I can’t say if that is wrong or right. But I do know that the wording in your earlier comment had very different implications than what you are now saying. But maybe that’s on me for not asking clarifications.
Of course. Terrorist state. I hope more and more politicians will understand this
Special cable operation.
I just hope Russia’s deniability is less plausible then they would like to have it.
