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Nearly a year to the day since the Baltimore bridge incident. That was due to a total loss of power to the ships' propulsion system. Be interesting to hear the outcome as to why the North Sea collision happened. It does make you wonder... a tanker full of jet fuel destined for US military aircraft. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but even so...
Choosing who you want to win between Liverpool & Newcastle is like choosing which one would you prefer - chronic haemorrhoids or numerous penile warts.
I did two stints on HMS Southampton, a Type-42 destroyer. The first when she was newly commissioned in October 1981 for almost 3-years. Then a further 2-years from 1986 to 1988. I left her in July 1988 shortly before she deployed to the Middle East for 6-months service on Armilla Patrol during the Iran-Iraq War. I'd just spent the previous two years in between on HMS Cardiff (a sister ship) with two six-month trips escorting shipping through the narrow Straits of Hormuz to the big oil terminals in Saudi and Bahrain. The Iranians used to attack shipping regularly & we did two weeks on, two weeks off for 6-months protecting the huge oil tankers as they transited the narrow waterway in convoys.
Anyway, a couple of months into her deployment, HMS Southampton was rammed by the huge P&O container ship MV Torbay in the narrow Straits or Hormuz. She was badly damaged. Divers from HMS Vernon were flown out to assess the damage, remove her Sea Dart missiles (the 20-missile magazine took the brunt of the damage) and patch her up for returning home to the UK via a piggy-back on a heavy sealift vessel.
Rammings at sea are nothing new - even to modern warships with all the kit they have to help prevent such accidents. In fact, it's not that uncommon. The Southampton didn't have any mechanical or technical issues. It was all down to human error - namely the young & inexperienced officer of the watch on the bridge that Saturday night.
Despite dense fog at the time, a mariners nightmare btw, it may well have been a steering gear failure. Remember the huge container ship Ever Given blocking the Suez Canal a few years back? That was attributed to a steering loss.
Same here. I've got nothing against Bournemouth or Brighton. I'd much rather see those clubs finish higher than the likes of Man United (*spit) or Tottenham (*spit).