What nearly punched a hole in this Japanese oil tanker?

[Accidental Martyr]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/what-nearly-punched-a-hole-in-this-japanese-oil-tanker

A Japanese oil tanker suffered....something Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz.

[T.A.M.]

A collision with a small borg ship?

TAM:)

[Aitch]

Superman? :cool:

[AvalonXQ]

Replicators.

[KingMerv00]

Ice cube right ahead!

[Accidental Martyr]

Superman? :cool:

Come on, get serious. Superman would have punched a hole completely through the ship! ;)

[BenBurch]

An old mine is the most likely candidate.

[Aepervius]

A whale ?

[Ziggurat]

An old mine is the most likely candidate.

If the details in that link are correct, that seems unlikely to me. They said the dent extended from the waterline up. A mine should have caused the dent primarily below the waterline, shouldn't it? I'm going with terrorist attack if the Japanese crew are telling the truth, collision if they aren't.

[blutoski]

The cavitation is above the current waterline... was the ship emptied since the incident, or did it have the same draught as in the photo?

If it was the same draught, it really looks like it was struck above the waterline, which strongly suggests a slow-speed collision with a relatively big boat or buoy.

"The crew reported no collision." - well, of course not... they'd get fired.

[kalen]

You should see the other guy.

Seriously, there should be some evidence of what caused this still on the ship. If it was an explosion, there would be residue. If it was a collision, there should be paint chips, or scratches, or DNA, or something...

[dasmiller]

I'm thinking collision with another ship, maybe a sideswipe or a glancing blow. Notice how the paint looks like it's scraped off over the ribs? An explosion wouldn't do that, but I'd think a collision would.

I suspect that it's actually pretty tricky to get an explosion that will stove in the skin over a large area without rupturing it.

[Dancing David]

A whale ?

Moby Duck!

(The Great White Mallard!)

[Dancing David]

I'm thinking collision with another ship, maybe a sideswipe or a glancing blow. Notice how the paint looks like it's scraped off over the ribs? An explosion wouldn't do that, but I'd think a collision would.

I suspect that it's actually pretty tricky to get an explosion that will stove in the skin over a large area without rupturing it.

Bingo!

It looks like a collision, but I am not a structural person, would a focused explosion make such a rectangular pattern?

[geni]

Bingo!

It looks like a collision, but I am not a structural person, would a focused explosion make such a rectangular pattern?

The shape is due to the struts that support the skin.

[Mike!]

Al Gore banged his head against it, several times.

[noreligion]

The son of Godzilla :)

[wendyinthewind]

Chuck Norris

[BenBurch]

If the details in that link are correct, that seems unlikely to me. They said the dent extended from the waterline up. A mine should have caused the dent primarily below the waterline, shouldn't it? I'm going with terrorist attack if the Japanese crew are telling the truth, collision if they aren't.

A floating mine would not cause much below the waterline. The energy would "want" to escape the easiest way possible and that is into the less-dense air.

[noreligion]

What about that small iceberg floating around in the straight of Hormuz? Or possibly the Romaine?

[Halfcentaur]

MOnsters!

[casebro]

What about that small iceberg floating around in the straight of Hormuz? Or possibly the Romaine?

Arugula would be a bitter pill fo the captain to swallow.

[TSR]

.
Okay, I did it.

But that tanker had it coming -- it insulted my mother.
.

[Ysidro]

Either Cthulhu is sleepwalking or Spongebob is bigger than we thought!

[Furcifer]

What's the plural of Kraken? That.

[TSR]

What's the plural of Kraken? That.
.
"Lisa"

Always blame Lisa.
.

[Soapy Sam]

My guess is a harbour wall.

There's no sign of paint scraping or gouging, so if it was a collision with something, either it was moving at the same speed as the tanker, or the tanker was stationary.
The square shape is just an artifact of the welded structure of panels.
The damage is near the stern. Nearly every time I've seen impacted panel damage near the rear of a ship, it's been because , while manoevring on thrusters, they smacked into a wall or other fixed structure.

In short, I suspect they did it themselves, possibly long before reaching the Strait of Hormuz.

[luchog]

Sharks with frikkin' laser beams.

[Aepervius]

It was gamora. AS this thread from Edge shows.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=181581

[Dancing David]

The shape is due to the struts that support the skin.

That is what I figured, is the strength of materials why it seems to end line above the water line?

[Wolrab]

As a graduate of the Anders Bjorkman School of Maritime Physics, I can definitively say that another tanker was dropped on the ship from a height of two miles.

[Hallo Alfie]

Global warming.

[bit_pattern]

It was da groupthink dat done it!

[Hallo Alfie]

Coulda been a queue of asylum seeker boats.

[noreligion]

Could have been an angry Bruce Banner.

[Hallo Alfie]

Pentagon plane parts?

[Furcifer]

As a graduate of the Anders Bjorkman School of Maritime Physics, I can definitively say that another tanker was dropped on the ship from a height of two miles.

It's clearly in the shape of a pizza box.

[wendyinthewind]

Bigfoot, obviously.

[jhunter1163]

Blimps.

[Mikemcc]

A need to cover up poor piloting to the ships owners...?

[I Ratant]

Straits of Hormuz.
Now, what untoward event could happen there?
Couldn't have been the Iraqi Navy, we sank both of their boats.
Loonies from the other shore, who like the NYC "bomber" failed Detonation 101?

[TjW]

I see no one else has mentioned HAARP, so I will.
Though it hasn't got the characteristic "O-marks".

[Jungle Jim]

Al-Qaida-linked group claims tanker attack in Gulf.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38551481/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

[Skeptical Greg]

Note to self: Double the TNT next time..


Nothing like taking credit for a massive fail ..:rolleyes:

[Jack by the hedge]

BBC is now quoting a UAE report of residue of "home-made" explosives found on the hull. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10890098

Straits of Hormuz.
Now, what untoward event could happen there?
Couldn't have been the Iraqi Navy, we sank both of their boats.
Loonies from the other shore, who like the NYC "bomber" failed Detonation 101?
Funny you should mention that as the article says "Their stated aim is the release of an ageing Egyptian cleric from a US jail for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center attack - not a cause that has widespread resonance these days."