8 meter sailboat sinks

How marine crews recovered a prized yacht that sank in Lake Ontario

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The Severn II is a 90-year-old racing yacht and it's the crown jewel of the Gyles family. In mid-June, the eight-metre long vessel sank to the bottom of Lake Ontario when it collided with another racing boat during its last regatta outside the Toronto islands. Here's how marine crews recovered it.

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Mike Lynch and daughter among missing after yacht sinks: What we know about disaster - and 'alarming' potential cause

The British-flagged luxury vessel named Bayesian was carrying 22 people when it got into difficulty off the coast of Sicily. Seven bodies have now been recovered from the wreckage.

News reporter @samuelosborne93

Friday 23 August 2024 12:24, UK

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Seven bodies have been found after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily.

Twenty-two people were on board the vessel named Bayesian when it got into difficulty in the early hours of Monday, with 15 people rescued.

Here's what we know about the sinking of the luxury vessel so far.

Follow latest updates on the superyacht sinking

What might have caused the sinking?

The British-flagged luxury vessel, named Bayesian, capsized at around 4.30am local time on Monday morning off Palermo, according to ship-tracking site Marine Traffic.

It sank in as little as 60 seconds with 22 people on board, 12 passengers and a crew of 10, according to the Italian coastguard.

Waterspouts, essentially tornados that form over water, were seen as powerful winds battered the area overnight, local media said.

The yacht may have sunk faster with all the doors open due to the hot weather, Sailing Today magazine editor Sam Jefferson has said.

"I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that," he said.

Official pictures show air conditioning units in several of the rooms, however, which could counter the suggestion open windows caused the vessel to sink faster.

The huge mast is also likely to have played a role, he added.

What are waterspouts?

Waterspouts typically occur during thunderstorms and can develop very rapidly, within minutes.

Their spin generally reaches wind speeds between 75-200mph, but can reach as high as 300mph.

They can travel at about 10-20mph typically but can reach greater speeds, making them difficult to avoid - especially in something as slow-moving as a yacht.

Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, called the reports of a tornado or waterspout "rare" and "quite alarming".

"The vessel was at anchor in a recognised anchorage," Mr Schanck said.

"Depending on wind direction and the state of the sea, this informs the captain whether it is a safe area to anchor or not. There was nothing that was too concerning, for my eye. All in all, the captain used the information they had to make a safe call."

Who owns the yacht?

The yacht belonged to the family of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch. He was confirmed to have died after rescuers found his body on Thursday. Mr Lynch was on holiday with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who is still missing, and his wife Angela Bacares, who was rescued.

Mr Lynch, 59, was known as the " British Bill Gates " and has been in the headlines in recent months over a high-profile fraud case.

In June, a US jury cleared him of all charges, which were related to the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP). The yacht trip is believed to have been a celebration of the end of Mr Lynch's legal troubles.

HP accused him of deliberately overstating the value of the company before it was acquired by the American tech giant.

Mr Lynch was extradited to the US to face trial in May last year and spent 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco as he awaited trial on 17 charges of conspiracy and wire fraud brought by the US Department of Justice - which were later reduced to 15 charges. He always denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted.

Read more: Lynch's co-defendant dies days before yacht sinking

Who was on board when the boat sank?

The passengers were largely British and American, with crew members were from New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada.

Charlotte Golunski was among the Britons rescued. Her LinkedIn profile says she is a partner at Mr Lynch's firm Invoke Capital and has worked there since 2012.

Speaking after the ordeal, Ms Golunski told Italian media that she lost her daughter Sofia for "two seconds" amid the "fury" of the sea but was able to retrieve her. She said she held the infant above the waves until the lifeboat was ready.

"Many people screamed. Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us were able to get on board," she told ANSA.

The girl's father James Emsley also survived, according to Sicily's civil protection agency.

Also on board were Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley, his wife Judy Bloomer, a top US lawyer Chris Morvillo, who worked on Mr Lynch's criminal case, and his wife Neda Morvillo. Divers confirmed on Thursday that their bodies had been recovered.

The yacht's captain James Cutfield survived, along with South African crew members Leah Randall and Katja Chicken.

Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat, was the first to be found dead, the Italian Coastguard confirmed to Sky News.

During rescue efforts, divers saw "corpses through the portholes" of the wreck as they recovered the body of a man at a depth of 50m (164ft), according to Salvo Cocina, the head of the Civil Protection of Sicily.

What do we know about the vessel?

The Bayesian is owned by a company controlled by Mr Lynch's wife.

It was known for its unusual 72.3m (246ft) single mast - one of the world's tallest made of aluminium - and shared its name with the statistical method Mr Lynch's Autonomy software was based on.

It was built by Italian company Perini Navi in 2008 and last refitted in 2020.

It was listed for rent for up to €195,000 (£166,000) a week, according to online charter sites.

The luxury vessel , which was managed by yachting company Camper & Nicholsons, could accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites.

It won a string of awards for its design, according to online specialist yacht sites.

Mr Schanck, of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, said the vessel would have been equipped with "high standard" life-saving appliances and radio communications.

He added the yacht would have met all international standards and UK Maritime Coastguard Agency regulations before its voyage.

It was previously named Salute, or "health" in Italian, when it flew under a Dutch flag. Its minimalist interior featured light wood with Japanese accents designed by the French designer Remi Tessier, according to descriptions on charter sites.

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What were its last movements?

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of "at anchor", according to vessel tracking site VesselFinder.

The Bayesian previously travelled to other parts of Sicily before its last sighting off the coast of the port of Porticello.

On Sunday, the boat was seen off the coast of Cefalu before it travelled towards Porticello, MarineTraffic data shows.

In the days before, the yacht travelled around four of the Aeolian islands, just north of Sicily.

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Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the sinking.

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How did the superyacht carrying tech tycoon Mike Lynch sink off Sicily?

Lynch’s was among five bodies retrieved by divers on Wednesday after the Bayesian sank, according to reports.

Five bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, and a sixth on Friday , by divers searching for those missing from the superyacht which sank off the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean. The bodies found include British tech tycoon Mike Lynch , the UK’s Telegraph reported. The bodies have not been formally identified by the authorities yet.

It is understood that they were retrieved from inside the sunken yacht, which is reported to be lying on its side on the sea bed at a depth of 50 metres

This brings the total death toll to seven; one person, reported to be the chef from the yacht, was confirmed dead on Monday.

The yacht capsized on Monday at about 5am (03:00 GMT) after it was hit by stormy weather caused by a “waterspout” – or mini tornado – according to Italian authorities.

The cruise had reportedly been undertaken to celebrate the acquittal of Lynch in a fraud trial in the United States in June.

His co-defendant in the trial, Steve Chamberlain, who was also acquitted in June, was killed after being hit by a car on Saturday.

Here’s what is known so far about the yacht, those on board and who died or were still missing after it sank.

Who was on the superyacht which sank?

According to the Italian coastguard, the 56-metre-long (184 feet) British-flagged yacht, called the Bayesian, was carrying 22 people, including 10 crew members.

One person has been confirmed dead after rescuers located a body on Monday at a depth of about 50 metres (164 feet), the AFP news agency reported. Officials have not yet given the name of the deceased but Italian media reported that he was the yacht’s chef.

AFP reported on Tuesday that divers had spotted a second body inside the sunk boat, quoting a source close to the search operation. Authorities have not confirmed it yet, though.

While not all the names of the six missing passengers were not made public officially, they were understood to include:

• Mike Lynch, 59, a British-Irish technology businessman who co-founded British tech company Autonomy in 1996 and was once likened to Microsoft founder Bill Gates; he earned a PhD from Cambridge University
• Hannah Lynch, 18, Mike’s daughter, who had just completed her final school exams and was due to begin a degree in English at the University of Oxford this September
• Jonathan Bloomer, the 70-year-old British chairman of Morgan Stanley bank and the Hiscox insurance company, was confirmed as missing by Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain
• Judy Bloomer, Jonathan’s wife, was also confirmed as missing by Hussain
• Chris Morvillo, from British international law firm Clifford Chance, was confirmed to be missing by Salvatore Cocina, head of the Civil Protection in Sicily

Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued. Among others rescued were Charlotte Golunski, 36, a board director at Luminance, a software startup founded by Lynch; her husband, James; and their one-year-old daughter, Sophie. Golunski is understood to have kept her daughter alive by holding her above her head while she was in the water.

All those rescued are in stable condition, although eight of them have been hospitalised, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos.

What do we know about the Bayesian?

Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi constructed the superyacht in 2008 and refitted it in 2020, according to the company’s website.

The yacht’s owner is listed as Revtom Limited, a firm solely owned by Lynch’s wife, Bacares, according to company documents seen by the Reuters news agency.

It was formerly called Salute but was renamed Bayesian after Lynch’s PhD thesis and his software that earned him a fortune. Both of these were based on the statistical Bayesian theory, championed by mathematician Thomas Bayes.

Where was the Bayesian last seen and where was it going?

The Bayesian was last located on Sunday evening in the Tyrrhenian Sea, east of the harbour at Porticello, according to ship tracking websites Vessel Finder and Marine Traffic.

Porticello is a port city located near the Sicilian capital, Palermo.

The yacht had departed on August 14 from the Sicilian port of Milazzo. Its destination was reported to be the Italian city of Bagheria by the tracking websites.

Did a waterspout cause the yacht to sink?

Italian authorities reported that the stormy conditions that caused the yacht to sink were triggered by a waterspout.

A waterspout is a rotating column of whirling air and water mist – sometimes referred to as a mini tornado – according to the website of the US National Ocean Service.

The website adds that a tornadic waterspout is a tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water. They are similar to land tornadoes and can occur during thunderstorms.

Who is Stephen Chamberlain and how is he connected to this case?

Chamberlain, 52, was Lynch’s co-defendant in a fraud trial in San Francisco, which saw both men acquitted in June.

Chamberlain died in a hospital from injuries sustained when he was hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, on Saturday. His death was confirmed by his lawyer Gary Lincenberg in a statement on Monday.

The fraud case related to Hewlett Packard’s $11bn acquisition of Autonomy, the firm Lynch grew into the UK’s leading tech company before it spectacularly unravelled after being bought by HP in 2011.

Lynch was extradited to the US in May 2023 and he spent more than a year under house arrest before his acquittal. Chamberlain was the former vice president of finance at Autonomy.

The yacht trip was supposedly a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal.

How did the rescue operation unfold?

Specialist divers began a search anew for the six missing people on Tuesday. Three divers, equipped with oxygen cylinders, descended beneath the surface to examine the wreck.

They initially faced difficulty accessing the yacht’s chambers because they were constricted by furniture.

An investigation into the wreck has been opened by prosecutors in the nearby Sicilian town of Termini Imerese.

What have survivors and witnesses said about the incident?

“It was terrible. The boat was hit by really strong wind and shortly after it went down,” survivor Golunski told the ANSA news agency.

She added that she had lost hold of her one-year-old daughter in the water for “two seconds”, but then managed to grab her and hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety. She reported that people were screaming.

Karsten Borner, a captain of a nearby yacht who witnessed the sinking, said he had turned on the engine of his ship to prevent collision with the Bayesian. “We managed to keep the ship in position and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone,” he told reporters.

Bloomer’s wife, Judy, is a trustee of the Eve Appeal, a UK-based gynaecological cancer research charity. Athena Lamnisos, the CEO of the Eve Appeal, was quoted by the BBC saying she was “deeply shocked to hear the news that our very dear friend and her husband Jonathan, are among those missing”.

Watch CBS News

Luxury yacht sinks off Sicily, leaving U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch, 2 Americans among those missing

By Anna Matranga

Updated on: August 20, 2024 / 7:47 PM EDT / CBS News

Rome  — Six people, including two U.S. nationals, a British technology entrepreneur and one of his daughters, were still missing Tuesday after a large luxury sailing yacht sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Sicily during a violent storm. The 184-foot Bayesian had been anchored about half a mile off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, with 22 people on board — 10 crew members and 12 passengers.

The vessel sank at about 5 a.m. local time (11 p.m. Eastern, Sunday) after being hit by a possible waterspout spawned by the storm. Italian media said the winds snapped the boat's single mast, unbalancing the vessel and causing it to capsize.

Fifteen of those on board managed to escape the yacht and were rescued by a Dutch-flagged vessel that was anchored in the immediate vicinity. They were brought ashore by Italian Coast Guard and firefighters.

One body — an unidentified male — was recovered, but six people remained missing, including British software magnate Mike Lynch, once described as Britain's Bill Gates. 

Lynch was acquitted in June of fraud charges in the U.S. that could have landed him with a decades-long prison sentence. In an unusual twist, Lynch's co-defendant in that fraud case, who was also acquitted, died Saturday after being hit by a car while out jogging in England.

Lynch's teenage daughter Hannah was also among those missing, along with Lynch's American lawyer Chris Morvillo, a former assistant district attorney in New York, and his wife Neda. British banker Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, was also still missing Tuesday.

Among the survivors was a 1-year-old British girl who was being treated at a nearby hospital along with her parents. They were doing well, according to Italian media.

"For two seconds I lost my child to the sea, then I immediately was able to grab her again in the fury of the waves," the girl's mother, identified only as Charlotte, was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency. "I held on to her tightly in the stormy sea. Many were screaming. Luckily the life raft opened up and 11 of us managed to get aboard."

"It was terrible," she told ANSA. "In just a few minutes the boat was hit by a very strong wind, and sunk soon thereafter."

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Dutch vessel that came to the rescue, told ANSA he had been anchored near the Bayesian.

"When the storm was over we noticed that the ship behind us was gone, and then we saw a red flare, so my first mate and I went to the position and we found this life raft drifting, and in the life raft was also a little baby and the wife of the owner."

Recovery efforts were back underway Tuesday, with speedboats, helicopters and divers continuing to search for the missing — as well as for answers, as to how a state-of-the-art superyacht could disappear in a flash. 

According to Italian media, Fire Brigade divers reached the boat and saw bodies trapped inside some of the cabins, but they had been unable to recover any of the victims from inside the vessel by Tuesday, due to obstructions. The Bayesian appeared to have sunk in an area with a depth of about 160 feet.

Witnesses said the boat sank quickly. 

"I was at home when the tornado hit," fisherman Pietro Asciutto told a local news outlet. "I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very large. I suddenly saw it sink... The boat was still floating, then suddenly it disappeared. I saw it sink with my own eyes."

The director-general of Sicily's civil protection agency, Salvatore Cocina, confirmed to CBS News partner BBC News  that three of the six people still missing Monday were British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, whose company Autonomy Corporation PLC was acquired in 2011 by HP ; one of his daughters, Hannah Lynch, who is believed to be 18; and the boat's chef, Ricardo Thomas.

CBS News has seen corporate documentation showing a company called Revtom, solely owned by Lynch's wife Angela Bacares, who was among those rescued from the accident, as the owner of the yacht that capsized off Sicily. 

While the yacht was a privately owned pleasure boat, the waters around the island have claimed many lives over the last decade.

Dozens of migrants have died attempting to reach Sicily and smaller Italian islands in the region. Sicily sits only about 100 miles from the east coast of Tunisia in north Africa, and the Mediterranean crossing has been a frequent site of both nautical rescues and disasters as smugglers routinely send small boats overloaded with desperate people into the sea.

Alex Sundby , Joanne Stocker and Chris Livesay contributed to this report.

• Boat Accident

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Analysis: Chain of Negligence caused the loss of the Moskva cruiser

The shock of the sinking of the slava-class cruiser moskva, the flagship of the russian black sea fleet, continues. in the absence of a satisfactory evidence-based explanation for the event, there has been much speculation. although the actual cause of the ship's sinking is not known with 100 percent certainty, it is clear that the flagship sank as a result of a chain of negligence, half of the crew died, and russia's pride was broken..

Tayfun Ozberk 17 Apr 2022

After coming under deadly fire on the evening of April 13, one of the Russian Navy’s most important ships, the ex- Moskva, was reportedly sunk in the Black Sea on April 14 while being towed to the nearest port, Sevastopol. Before Russian media announced the fire and the evacuation of the ship’s crew, Ukrainian forces claimed they engaged the cruiser with homegrown Neptune anti-ship missiles.

Russian media announced the sinking of the mighty cruiser, after fighting the fire and damage for more than a day. On April 17, the Russian Defence Ministry posted on social media a video of the ceremony for the cruiser Moskva, showing that some 240 people survived, or about half the crew.

There are numerous contradicting sides to this occurrence. For example, what caused the fire and explosion, why the Moskva was unable to detect the incoming missile, how only two anti-ship missiles could sink a 12.000-tonne cruiser, and how the Neptune missiles, which were not operational at the start of the war, were fired.

What caused the fire? Ammo explosion or Neptune strike?

Russia claimed an explosion of munitions caused the fire, while the Ukrainians say they hit the Moskva with two Neptune anti-ship missiles. Russia hasn’t commented on a missile attack and continues to claim the ship caught fire due to an explosion on board and sank due to stormy weather while it was being towed.

In this case, Russia’s statements and claims appear to be inconsistent. Because, while a massive ship like the Moskva is sailing, it is unprecedented for ammunition inside the ship to burst, engulfing the entire ship in flames with no exterior shelling. Furthermore, there was no bad weather in the Black Sea while Moskva was being towed, as Russia stated. The wave height at the time was about 1 meter, and the wind speed was around 14 knots, indicating mild weather and sea conditions.

The report of the fire aboard the Moskva by Russian state media platforms came just hours after Ukraine’s claims that the ships had been fired upon by anti-ship missiles. The conflicting reports by the Russians and the timing of the incident reinforce the view that Ukraine’s claims are accurate.

Ukraine’s assault with Neptune missiles is another curious matter. Because, according to the December 2021 announcement of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the delivery of Neptune anti-ship missiles was scheduled for April 2022. However, the war fully broke out in February, so it was unclear whether Ukraine has these missiles in its arsenal. The Black Sea Fleet’s unlimited operations near Ukrainian territorial waters reinforced the view that the delivery had failed due to wartime conditions. This was because many believed that if Ukraine had these missiles on the coast, it would establish an A2/ AD (anti-access/area denial) zone, making Russian forces reluctant to approach the Ukrainian coast to avoid a missile attack.

The fact that the Neptune missiles had not been used for 45 days since the beginning of the war strengthens the opinion that the missile was prepared to gain the initial operational capability in the process and that the initial attack on the Black Sea Fleet flagship was made to take advantage of the surprise effect in the fog of war.

A claim: TB2 drone distracted, Neptune missile struck

In the absence of clear statements from the official side, some speculations are circulating on social media that the cruiser Moskva was busy tracking the TB2 Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicle, which has inflicted many casualties on the Russian forces since the beginning of the war, and that the Ukrainian forces caught the ship at this vulnerable moment to strike.

There’s also some other speculation suggesting that “ Moskva has/had a single main air defence radar (3P41 Volna) for guiding S300 missiles, which has only a 180 degree field of view. Therefore, 360-degree coverage is provided by the 3-D long-range air search radars MR -800 Voshkod/Top Pair for short-range missiles SA -8. ” The claim reveals that the Top Pair radar couldn’t distinguish the Neptunes flying over the sea from the crests of the waves due to the stormy weather.

These claims lack a solid basis, as the ship in question is a cruiser with good air defense capabilities. Although TB2 drones are very useful in naval warfare, cruiser-type ships are designed to track and repel multiple air contacts. As a result, paralyzing a Slava-class cruiser with one or more drones is unrealistic.

On the other hand, it is not reasonable to compare a search radar (MR -800 Voshkod/Top Pair) with a tracking radar (3P41 Volna). Prior to the introduction of fixed face AESA radar technology, warships use search radars to detect air contacts. If the air operator believes the contact is a threat, he/she forwards the contact to the tracking radar to illuminate the target for surface-to-air missiles. Tracking radars are not there to “detect” a target, but to illuminate the contact that has already been detected by the search radar. These two types of radars are pieces of a puzzle that serve the same purpose.

Also, these radars may have some blind sectors due to the structure of the ship, but there are other radars to cover the blind sectors, just like the Slava class cruisers have more than one radar (Top Dome, 2xPop Group, 3xBass Tilt, Kite Screech fire control radar). So this ship can continuously track the air contacts, even if the contact moves into the blind sector of the radar, the operator can forward the contact to another tracker and keep following.

Many people liked and shared but I am sorry to say that this is a wrong analysis. You cannot compare a "tracking" radar with a search radar. Even if the 3P41 (Top Dome) radar was dealing with drone threats, this is a tracking radar, you cannot detect an air threat with it. 1/8 https://t.co/JPSbAwJAsK — Tayfun Ozberk (@TayfunOzberk) April 15, 2022

As mentioned above, the sea state was not tough to hide the sea-skimming missile from radar. Even if there was a tough sea, the search radar would detect it, but it might have some difficulties in maintaining the contact due to the sea clutter. When the sea state is high, the missile’s flying altitude gets higher because the missile’s altimeter adjusts the altitude from the wavetop.

Slava-class cruisers are equipped with the 4xRum Tub electronic support system, which can detect Neptune anti-ship missiles’ radar seekers. After detecting the radar seeker, the ship would have about 2 minutes to defend against the missile. In addition, the Moskva was armed with 6x30mm/AK630 close-in weapon systems that have their own radar and are capable of detecting and engaging the incoming missiles themselves.

Chain of Negligence

The cruiser Moskva had enough sensors and weapons to deal with anti-ship missiles and was expected to perform better against airborne threats . Of course, this is a paper opinion, since the operational readiness and performance of the sensors and weapons were not publicly known. But it did provide air defense in the area of operation, which means that it protected not only itself but also other units in the Black Sea from air threats.

Contrary to what many people think, anti-ship missile defence (ASMD) is much more than just pushing the fire button.

First of all, military intelligence must provide very accurate information about the missiles in the hands of the enemy. In addition, the weapons and sensors used for ASMD on the ship must be operational, perform well, and be fully maintained. Besides, the training of personnel must be at a very good level. Since the ships have only a few minutes to react after the detection of an incoming missile (and there is no time to think here), the measures must be activated automatically, which can be done only by well-trained personnel.

Poor intelligence

Russia’s first and most serious mistake in this situation is a lack of intelligence. Considering the size of the missiles, it is not a device that can be easily camouflaged, so it would have to be detected by Russian intelligence. For a month and a half, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet operated irresponsibly within the range of this weapon, believing that Ukraine did not have a weapon that could endanger its ships. Had these missiles been operational from the beginning of the war, they would have been launched on a ship in the last month and a half. During that time, Ukraine received the missiles and prepared them for launch, and Russian intelligence could not detect them.

Inadequate Sensor and Weapon systems

As mentioned above, the cruiser Moskva cruiser was expected to perform better against the Neptune missiles. There is no record of the cruiser Moskva defending itself against the Neptune missiles in this incident. There is no record of what happened on the ship at the time, but at the very least the ship should have detected the missile, albeit late, and countered with the CIWS, even if it did not have time to defend itself with an anti-air missile.

In this situation, the first possibility is that the missile cannot be detected and that it cannot be countered even if it is detected. Specifically, this means that either the ship’s ESM system did not provide the required early warning, the weather radar did not detect the threat, or the guns were not ready to fire even though the sensors tracked the threat.

Poor training level

On a warship, crew training is the most critical concern. Continuous training should be offered because people operating in various stations of the ship during ASMD must respond quickly without waiting for commands. What happens during ASMD on NATO ships is known as ZIPPO responses, and it is commonly practiced.

The failure of the Moskva to respond to the missile demonstrates that not only do the personnel lack intelligence, but they are also not mentally and physically prepared for this occurrence. There are no records of the CHAFF or decoys being launched, of electronic jamming, of the ship maneuvering, and of the necessary reactions with weapons after the missile is launched, but the fact that such a capable ship is so helpless against an attack far below its capacity shows that the personnel are not well trained.

Another issue related to Russian sailors’ insufficient training is fire fighting and damage control. A 12,000-tonne cruiser is not normally expected to be sunk with only two missiles. Even if it is hit, the cruiser will most likely be rendered inoperable. Of course, where the Neptune missiles strike is also a factor. If it hit near the torpedo arsenal or missile launchers, the force of the blast may have been amplified. Such a vast and powerful ship, however, must be prepared for such scenarios. The crew was evacuated barely a few hours after the accident, and the ship sank the next day. In this situation, the ship’s personnel were insufficient to fight the fire and save the ship. Furthermore, at the time of the explosion, the cruiser Moskva was not far from the base in Sevastopol , allowing for outside aid.

These omissions might take several forms. As more information on the Moskva incident becomes available, it will be possible to develop more accurate interpretations and learn lessons. The truth is that the loss of the Russian flagship to a state without a navy will go down in naval history, and Russians will mourn the Moskva cruiser for many years.

Update: The first picture showing the damage sustained by Moskva following the missiles strikes has surfaced:

***BREAKING*** -> https://t.co/JfGRiqMVf6 #Moskva Sinking: Images Reveal Once Powerful Russian Navy Ship On Fire First analysis shows fire aft of Vulkan missiles and ahead of S-300 missiles, Possibly this is before a larger explosion First analysis, caveats apply, OSINT pic.twitter.com/b4FbBHsxLo — H I Sutton (@CovertShores) April 17, 2022

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Boat Sinks During Search for Missing Diver in Lake Michigan

Wisconsin officials are working to retrieve a boat that sank during the search for a missing diver in Lake Michigan

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin officials were working Thursday to retrieve a boat that sank during the search for a missing diver in Lake Michigan.

Multiple agencies joined the search for Patrick Kelly, 72, of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, after he failed to surface Tuesday while diving around the wreck of the S.S. Wisconsin about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) off the coast of Pleasant Prairie. Searchers recovered Kelly's body Wednesday.

The Kenosha County Fire and Rescue Association’s search boat started taking on water Tuesday afternoon about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from shore, WDJT-TV reported. Other boats rescued the eight crew members and most of their equipment before the vessel sank about 65 feet (19.8 meters) to the bottom of the lake.

Kenosha County officials said they were working with the state Department of Natural Resources to retrieve the boat.

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Picture emerges of flimsy boat that led to death of eight migrants and leaves 10-month-old baby in hospital

The migrants were declared dead after their boat carrying around 50 people ran aground off french coast, article bookmarked.

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Pictures have emerged of the flimsy rubber boat that sunk off the coast of France , leading to the death of eight migrants .

The eight people died overnight while attempting to  cross the Channel . An additional six migrants are in hospital, including a 10-month-old baby, authorities have said. 

Rescue services were called to waters in the commune of Ambleteuse around 1am local time. The rubber vessel had around 50 people on board and started to sink not long after leaving the coast.

On Sunday morning, the wreckage of a vessel thought to be the boat was pictured on the coastline.

Jacques Billant, the prefect of the Pas-de- Calais region, said that rescue crews were alerted that a boat with 59 people on board was in difficulty in waters off the coast of Ambleteuse.

“A new drama took place around one in the morning and we deplore the death of eight people,” he told a news conference, adding that the other 51 on board were now in the care of rescue and medical crews.

Six people were taken to hospital “in relative emergency,” including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, he said.

The dead were men from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan, Mr Billant added.

French maritime authorities said that 200 people were rescued in a 24-hour period over Friday and Saturday.

Responding to the deaths, foreign secretary David Lammy said: “It’s awful. It’s a further loss of life.”

He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme he had been to the National Crime Agency and seen the “awful sort of rubber dinghies that people are coming across the Channel with, many of them, of course, not able to make it in these contraptions”.

The government has been “discussing how we go after those gangs, in cooperation upstream with other European partners”.

Sir Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday for talks with counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem “and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania”.

The prime minister has said he is interested in the rollout of the policy, under which Tirana will accept asylum seekers on Italy’s behalf while their claims are processed.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “This is yet another appalling and avoidable tragedy and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who’ve died.

“These perilous crossings are seemingly becoming more and more dangerous, suggesting smugglers are taking greater chances with people’s lives as they try to evade detection efforts by the UK and French authorities.

“The government’s ‘smash the gangs’ slogan and its security-heavy approach is contributing to the death toll because the refusal to establish safe asylum routes means these flimsy vessels controlled by people smugglers are the only real option for desperate people fleeing persecution.

“Until UK ministers and their counterparts in France start sharing responsibility over the need for safe routes, we should expect this weekend’s tragedy to keep repeating itself time and time again.”

The incident comes more than a week after the deadliest attempted Channel crossing this year, when six children and a pregnant woman were among at least 12 migrants who died when their boat was “ripped open”.

More than 53 survivors were plucked from waters off Gris-Nez point, between  Calais  and Boulogne-sur-Mer, during a major air and sea rescue operation on 3 September.

More than 30 people have died in Channel crossings this year.

The Labour government has vowed to “smash” the people-smuggling gangs behind the crossings, in part through increased cooperation with other European nations.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper moved to  establish a new Border Security Command  in her first days in office, while in August, Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron  pledged to work together more closely  to dismantle migrant smuggling routes.

Some 22,440 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, with nearly 9,000 having made the crossing since the general election.

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Water rescue boat sinks in Lake Michigan during search efforts, cause under investigation

KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. — First responders faced a dangerously close call while trying to locate a missing scuba diver near a shipwreck.

The Kenosha County Fire and Rescue Association’s boat sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan Tuesday during the search efforts.

Eight people from multiple communities were on board.

"To see all your friends out there, it was surreal. Very scary," Town of Paris Fire Chief Colin Hennessey said.

"Shocking to hear the radio transmission," Somers Fire Chief Ben Andersen recalled.

The boat, a Bayliner Rendezvous 2659 measuring 26.5 feet long and 8.5 feet wide, went out on Lake Michigan just before noon Tuesday to search for missing shipwreck diver Patrick Kelly, who was later found dead. Hennessey, also vice president of the association, said the boat was part of a grid search and was on the water for about two hours.

After returning to the marina for equipment, the boat went back on the water. Around 2:30 p.m., trouble hit about four miles from the shoreline and two miles from the search area.

Watch: Water rescue boat sinks in Lake Michigan during search efforts

"They said they were taking on water and rapidly losing power," Andersen said.

Thankfully, the eight people on board were able to get onto two other boats safely.

City of Kenosha Alderman Rocco LaMacchia said he was grateful no one was killed.

"I know accidents do happen, but this is a very expensive accident," LaMacchia said.

Leaders with the association wanted to be clear that the boat is not owned by any municipality.

What caused it to sink is still unknown. Hennessey told TMJ4 News that the boat is "constantly maintained." Crews perform a 360-degree check of the vessel before launching it into the water.

"That boat was floating for a very long time, so the idea of it being a plug we truly don't believe it is, but what actually caused it is under investigation," Hennessey said.

The association says partner agencies will help cover water rescues while their boat remains at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Their goal is to retrieve the boat as soon as possible.

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