The Terrifying Explosion in the North Sea that Could Change Everything
What happened off the coast of England yesterday?
Programming Note: I will be hosting a Substack Live tonight with at 8 PM ET to discuss the newest developments on Ukraine. Please follow Olga’s incredible work at the
and join us tonight for this important conversation.If you missed my Substack Live chat with Rep. Frank Pallone, here’s a short clip of it below. Our conversation touched on Medicaid, Ukraine and what the hell House Dems are doing to stop the madness. You can watch the full Substack Live here.
The Terrifying Explosion in the North Sea that Could Change Everything
(Painting of the sinking of HMS Lusitania from the German Federal Archives)
If you looked at The New York Times homepage yesterday afternoon, you would have found a short story buried below a much more prominent one about the Menendez Brothers and their renewed quest for freedom:
A container ship collided with a U.S.-flagged oil tanker off the northeastern coast of England on Monday, causing multiple explosions and forcing the crews of both ships to abandon their vessels. One person was hospitalized, according to a local lawmaker.
The Stena Immaculate, a 600-foot long oil tanker, was anchored in the North Sea when it was struck by a container ship called the Solong, according to Crowley, the Florida-based company that manages the tanker.
The collision caused a cargo tank containing jet fuel to be ruptured and “fuel was reported released,” the company said in a statement. “The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard,” it said, adding that “all Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for.”
The collision happened in broad daylight shortly before 10 AM, as the Stena Immaculate was on a 70-day contract with the US. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, transporting 220,000 barrels of jet fuel on behalf of the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency. According to CBS News, it “is one of just 10 tankers enlisted in a U.S. government program designed to supply the armed forces with fuel during times of armed conflict or national emergency.”
That’s not all. There are reports, disputed by the Solong’s owners, that the Portuguese-flagged Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, a compound that releases hydrogen cyanide gas when making contract with water. According to the Daily Express:
It is a highly toxic chemical asphyxiant which disrupts the body’s ability to use oxygen.
Exposure to sodium cyanide can be rapidly fatal. It particularly affects the brain, heart and blood vessels and the lungs.
Sodium cyanide is used commercially for fumigation, electroplating, extracting gold and silver from ores and in chemical manufacturing.
Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, off which the Stena Immaculate was anchored, said that, “the container ship may have been on autopilot at the time of the crash.
"Autopilot just steers a course, they don't deviate, there's no bend in the sea," he added.
An American sailor aboard the Stena Immaculate later said that “a massive ship came from out of the blue” to strike the tanker.
The man said the Solong didn't immediately stop after smashing into the Stena, and that it felt like it continued to drive into the ship for about 10 minutes after the initial impact. The man said other crew members on the Stena, which was apparently carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military, described how it appeared as though nobody was on the bridge of the Solong at the moment of the crash.
What else happened yesterday, at the same time as this incomprehensible crash? From Reuters:
Russia accused two British diplomats on Monday of spying and gave them two weeks to leave the country, reinforcing the downward trajectory of Moscow's diplomatic relations with Europe even as it negotiates to restore ties with the United States.
Britain's Foreign Office rejected the allegations against its diplomats as "baseless".
Moscow has been angered by Britain's continued military support for Ukraine and by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent statements about putting British boots on the ground and planes in the air in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force.
Last week, the British Royal Navy tracked a Russian warship escorting the Russian cargo vessel Baltic Leader through the English Channel and the North Sea over the course of three days. According to Newsweek, “the cargo ship was reportedly transporting a shipment of military equipment from the Russian naval base in Tartus, which is being evacuated after Moscow's contract with Damascus was terminated.” The Baltic Leader had been sanctioned in 2022 by the United States for transporting weapons for the use of the Russian military.
Since the Russian annexation of Crimea, almost 200 Russian civilian vessels have been engaged in what researchers have deemed “suspicious activity” in the North Sea. This comes on top of repeated reports that Russia has for years jammed GPS and other satellite-based navigation systems, predominantly in and around the Baltic Sea, disrupting transportation routes and affecting communications in eastern NATO countries.
Was yesterday’s crash in the North Sea just a coincidence, a terrible accident in broad daylight between a stationary American oil tanker carrying military cargo and a cargo vessel that may have been transporting deadly toxins? Or is it possible that it was something more? The Russians have long jammed satellite navigation systems and engaged in suspicious maritime activity in the North Sea, all while carrying a particular grudge against Britain, off whose coast this incident took place. Whatever the case, a U.S.-flagged oil tanker, one of just ten vessels in the Tanker Security Program, has now been deeply damaged. The oil that it was transporting on behalf of our military has spilled into the sea. Our sailors were lucky to escape with their lives.
What is deeply disturbing is that even if he knows what really happened, our commander in chief will do nothing about it.
Thank you so much for this article and information! Very important event that get buried by all the other BS going on.
Good catch and I loved the “short story buried’. Immediately brought to mind a short story buried in the New York Times I read in the physical paper years ago about a Cheney energy task force meeting where sanctioned oil was discussed as being on the table… available to be exploited. I’ve searched for it in the intervening years… And never been able to find it online.