Thread by @steffanwatkins

Ah here we go again; #USSRoss, or not?

h/t @GrangerE04117

https://twitter.com/Capt_Navy/status/1409981044481314824

- No RC-135s in the air over the Black Sea that I know of.
- There could be a U-2 (because there could always be a U-2, they show up seldomly when they're taking off / landing / in transit)

🇺🇸 #USNavy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ross (MMSI:338822000|CS:NGWB), doing 13kn, is being tailed by another vessel labelled "U153" with an MMSI of 45678458 (invalid)
#USSRoss #DDG71 #6thFleet ⚓

marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/sh…

📸 2020-11-15
flic.kr/p/2khaQWW

I would guess they've met some friends because they're wiggling.

U153 can be followed with @MarineTraffic too 👇

marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details…

There is a #U153 that is with the Ukrainian Navy, the Matka-class missile boat "Pryluky", if I have that right. That's... interesting.

marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details…

🇺🇸 #USNavy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ross (MMSI:338822000|CS:NGWB)

Wiggle wiggle wiggle, slowed right down, and now speeding up heading directly away from Crimea.

#U153 is down to 3.4kn

I hope there's video.

#USSRoss #DDG71 #6thFleet ⚓
marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/sh…

Of course @YorukIsik was all over it first, and we concur!

https://twitter.com/YorukIsik/status/1409984633475903489?s=20

By the way, without visual confirmation, or even Marine VHF audio, we have no clue if we're just watching an allied EW operation to mess with Russian coastal defences, or if the ships are really there.
So with that caveat, enjoy the show!

...aaand it's still parked. So, the spoofed mmsi from the wrong ship was the give-away I should have paid attention to.

https://twitter.com/YorukIsik/status/1409995542109769732?s=19

If USS Roosevelt had been using its AIS properly, there would have been no opportunity to spoof anything. What we thought was the #USSRoss was using the MMSI I had for the #USSRoosevelt, which we know isn't in the Black Sea, but didn't have its AIS on, allowing the deception.

Right after @YorukIsik @CovertShores found the webcam view of the #USSRoss the AIS from the fake-#USSRoss stopped. "They" are watching social media, testing us? This sure feels like a NATO EW operation to tickle Russian coastal radar awake, and deteriorate public trust in #OSINT.

The #USSRoss has an assigned MMSI, which last I checked was 366350000, and was last heard in 2018. The #USNacy 6th Fleet isn't friendly to #OSINT, being transparent isn't their jam.

marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details…

#USSRoss transited into the Black Sea using an MMSI of 999999999, which if you hadn't guessed, is a bogus number they used to hide their identity... but, the Black Sea is a fishbowl, they're not hiding anything from the Russians.

They could show where they transit and operate by default, and turn off AIS when they *need* to, like the Royal Canadian Navy does, unless they're actively hunting pirates (et al)

In 2018 it was the #HMCSStJohns off the coast of Syria, well within range of coastal defences, who paraded around doing their patrols with their AIS on, for the world to see - including the Russians and Syrians.

https://twitter.com/steffanwatkins/status/1009448367980711936?s=20

The AIS signal was received from Marine VHF which is limited to LOS, as it was received by multiple AIS receivers and passed to multiple AIS providers,
exhibit B (MarineTraffic saw it too):

https://twitter.com/UyI7rtE3EMHTf1n/status/1410014593766858756?s=20