auonsson Profile picture
Sep 25, 2024 20 tweets 7 min read Read on X
RUBY, infamous for repeating cycles of breaking down and working fine and ran out of Tromsö, NO on safety grounds, loaded with 20k tons ammonium nitrate is closing on heavily trafficked Dover Strait.

She has made good speed, straight course and precise turns last 36h.
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Story is that her hull, rudder and propeller are broken to some extent and she needs repairs.

Her flag state is Malta and that is her stated destination. But Malta has signalled she wont even be allowed into territorial waters. Image
This was the state of her rudder and propulsion just a few days ago. Image
Opinion: I think this situation has seen some really bad handling.

Not only was a potential hybrid threat handled poorly with dockings and transits next to population centres, military bases and critical infra.


The more likely case, a ship and crew in an emergency, has also been neglected. And she keeps on steaming, with an ever present risk. No matter if we speak potential nefarious motives or just a ecological, collision risks.

Fair winds , RUBY.
She has two Malta-flagged tugs right behind her. Circled blue icons.


Image
Shady movements fertilizer ship RUBY has turned towards Thames / London. She is slowing down atm, but just 4 km shy of crossing into UK territorial waters.

Her last hours of travel look fine from AIS, but she has damages. She is loaded with 20k tons potentially explosive NH4NO3. Image
RUBY's course in relation to the fairway she was travelling along an hour ago. Dashed purple line my edit. Image
Mistake above: it should be 5.3 kilometers to UK, I made a mistake measuring.
AMBER II has changed destination to Rotterdam, Netherlands. Aka Europes top port.

AMBER II is RUBY's assisting tug who has been with her since Tromsö, partly also towing her. Image
"Testing 1,2,3. Are the anglosaxians reacting yet?" Image
RUBY has stopped 3 km from the border of UK, about 120 km from London, 0 km from one of or may the busiest shipping lane in the world. Image
There is a low pressure system with high winds passing. This is a good explanation for RUBY seeking shelter. If this is the reason UK has a new visitor til about Saturday. Image
Have not seen anything interesting on AIS during day.

RUBY is close to stationary and with 20 knots wind I think she might be running engine? Not anchored.

Her tug, AMBER II is driving around slowly and just drove to 1128 m from UK.

No sign of Royal Navy =)
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With winds moving in RUBY was left to her own devices 3h ago when her tug AMBER II took of, broadcasting Rotterdam as both destination and origin, the latter being false.

RUBY was ordered to have a tug by her side by NO authorities and given her condition that is likely well.
3 temporary safety certificates with due date Sep 25 was issued by NO authorities and not renewed.

I am not sure what that means legally. Out of insurance? Less obligations? Nothing?

Would be nice if someone knowledgeable chipped in.
It is also interesting to note how close other ships move to RUBY.
DK authorities advised "widest possible berth" in their navigational warning a few days ago.

Cruise ships, freighters and tanker alike. Just now a tanker even stopped close by (might be fuel for RUBY) Image

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More from @auonsson

Sep 13
A Russian brand new fishing boat is almost blocking Öresund strait.

They seemingly lost propulsion 4 hours ago, drifted north towards the very narrow channels (~300m) but seem to have anchored.

Swedish coast guard and police have been at scene.

AIS-caveats apply.
A Russian brand new fishing boat is almost blocking Öresund strait.

They seemingly lost propulsion 4 hours ago, drifted north towards the very narrow channels (~300m) but seem to have anchored.

Swedish coast guard and police have been at scene.

AIS-caveats apply. Zoom in.
Fishing boat in question is built this year 2025. Left St Petersburg about 3 days ago.

MECHANIC STEPANOV IMO: 9916252
Read 23 tweets
Sep 9
This is the main logistics hub for armaments into Ukraine.
Tanker (and hence fighters) inbound, Italian AEW&C inbound. Image
Polish AirborneEarlyWarning&Control aircraft landed a few minutes ago. Image
Read 4 tweets
Sep 6
I thought I had found indications of a targeted GNSS jamming attack against president von der Leyen's aircraft this Sunday.

Then I disproved my own hypothesis. Here's how!

This is common for me, I usually don't show it because it takes a lot of effort to explain also 0-results
Hypothesis: if vdLeyen-flight was jammed by a directional jammer other aircraft in the emission cone would also be affected

I got the idea upon looking at an animation by @lemonodor

Marked flight began reporting bad GPS-values just as the pilot of vdL reported issues over radio Image
Animation I refer to available at this link: bsky.app/profile/lemono…
Read 9 tweets
Sep 2
Swedish island Gotland is completely without power, for the second time in two weeks.

Gotland is considered paramount to NATO control of Baltic Sea.

As far as I know last outage is still being analyzed and cause is not known.

svt.se/nyheter/lokalt…
Power company now claims lightning strike as cause.

Article linked was updated.
Last hours lightning around Gotland. Image
Read 7 tweets
Sep 2
Pilot of the aircraft carrying president von der Leyen experienced GPS issues as they approached Plovdiv airport, Bulgaria Sun Aug 31.

Recordings of tower and plane comms are clear.

Transponder reported good GPS-signal and is likely separate from the instrument pilots used.
Half an hour after first reporting GPS-issues the aircraft of von der Leyen is taxiing on Plovdiv airport as the pilot repeats "we had GPS-issues" and thanks the flight controller for the support.

Full recordings with additional comms available at liveatc.net
From this we can derive that the pilot did *experience* GPS/GNSS-issues.

Given the area and years of jamming it is likely to have been caused by the common jamming of area.

Other explanations are possible.
Read 25 tweets
Sep 1
The plane carrying EU top Ursula von der Leyen was forced to land manually after being hit by GPS/GNSS jamming.

News texts seem to indicate it was directed specifically at Von der Leyen and the airport Plovdiv.

"GPS around airport was knocked out for an hour."
Image
Image
Read 17 tweets

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