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 Easy E wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Galef wrote:
What is that time frame for when these ships were last known to be there and when they were discovered missing?
Do we have the technology to have removed them in that time span unnoticed?
Is this in the same area, or in many areas around the world?

When I fist read this, my first thought was otherworldly involvement.

Please tell me you're joking why would aliens want our old ships?

Not the aliens. Us. To fight the aliens. That's why we're raising the Titanic. To fight aliens.

5 Internets to whoever can correct name this movie

Raise the Titianic based on the book by Clive Cussler? Of course, I don't recall fighting aliens in that one.

5 Internets to Easy E!

Were there no aliens in that one? Maybe I'm thinking of some gawdy bandwagon film for Battleship.

Either way that was definitely the movie I was thinking of XD

Maybe it is the Deep Ones? maybe they are tired of use polluting the oceans and are cleaning it up. and once they are done, they come up and start to breed with us so we no longer will exist to pollute the ocean?

 jreilly89 wrote:
So are we still sure it's not ocean movements? Honestly that was my first guess when I clicked on it.

Could ocean movements dislodge the ships in their entirety, but leave their imprints intact?

Maybe the ships are in the same place but it is us that has moved somewhere else.

That seems like a lot of work for rusted, salt encrusted steel. Is this classified as grave robbing?

Wow. Had to have been a huge operation involving s lot of people, companies, contractors, foundries...

 kronk wrote:
That seems like a lot of work for rusted, salt encrusted steel. Is this classified as grave robbing?

Wow. Had to have been a huge operation involving s lot of people, companies, contractors, foundries...

Illegal salvage is a huge thing in Indonesia. Also, yes, this would be grave desecration. Typically, sunken warships are classified as protected burial sites.

Honestly, who would have the money and resources to mount an underwater operation of such magnitude as to disassemble or raise three ships without being caught? Certainly not your average garden-variety graverobbers.

Maybe it was the Chinese government doing it for shiggles, kind of like flipping the bird at the West. We know they would at least have the resources for it, but what would be the motive (aside from the aforementioned bird-flipping)? It's not like China needs the scrap metal that badly.

 Ahtman wrote:
Maybe the ships are in the same place but it is us that has moved somewhere else.

It's actually one giant metaphor about suddenly finding that you've moved on; the memories are still there, but the weight has gone.

Crazy how nature do dat.

Whoever stole 3 entire WW2 warships is not a small operation.

That's a large scale crane and diving team working for weeks....

Yeah, someone would have noticed the lifting equipment, and whatever barge was storing them.

Plus, scrap metal value has fallen through the floor in the last couple of years, so it makes no sense.

We're definitely looking in the right place?

 Avatar 720 wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
So are we still sure it's not ocean movements? Honestly that was my first guess when I clicked on it.

Could ocean movements dislodge the ships in their entirety, but leave their imprints intact?

Absolutely. The strength of the ocean is incredible. Considering we've yet to see any evidence of barges storing the ships, salvage teams, etc., it's difficult to say for sure this is salvage crews doing it and not ocean drift.

The ocean is pretty strong, but even in turbulent waters it would probably just smash the ship's around, not pluck them away. Didn't they say holes were left? Surely whatever moved them would have also filled the holes?

No has posted the "... it's Aliens' guy yet?

I expected more from you Dakka OT!

What state were these wrecks in. Lifting a fairly intact wreck at shallow depths is a job and half. But 70 odd year old wrecks, weak, under tension, stuck in the seabed. Damn the amount of pieces they'd have come up on Cranes and lifting bags after being cut up. Like they said it wouldn't happen.
But here we are with missing ships. Damn nazis from the future with underwater dinos.

If they had moved via currents wouldnt sonor still find them elsewhere? How far is sonors effective range?

They'd have to know where to look.
So they've just seen it on sonar and no divers have verified it?

I'd say there's no way currents would move a wreck.70 metres down plus tonnage of the ship that's some way down in the mud they would be stuck.
The vacum/ pull between the mud and keel would make that unmovable. So I'd say.

Also the wreck is a wreck... They would of been torn to bits moving. Any weaker points would of been ripped off the hull..

Anything but a clean pull...
The wrecks are stuck solid.

I am not a maritime expert, but I call bs on currents moving three fething wrecks. I would bet Frazzled's house on it.

I'd rather think the Kantai Collection way; they're becoming ship girls raised from the depths and soon go to protect us from mankind's evil feelings. With the love of their admiral, of course.

Don't show me the exit, I know the way.

 kronk wrote:
I am not a maritime expert, but I call bs on currents moving three fething wrecks. I would bet Frazzled's house on it.

I'd say salvage, but its seems like a remarkably poor rate of return.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Maybe it is the Deep Ones? maybe they are tired of use polluting the oceans and are cleaning it up. and once they are done, they come up and start to breed with us so we no longer will exist to pollute the ocean?

So...Cthulu is a litter picker? What, is he doing community service or something?

MS Exeter was a heavy cruiser displacing about 9,000 tons. It's a lot of metal to grub up and carry away, not to mention the danger of detonating unstable ammunition.

Whoever is good enough to pull this off needs to come and deal with the SS Richard Montgomery wreck near Sheerness, containing 1.400 tons of WW2 explosive ordnance.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Maybe it is the Deep Ones? maybe they are tired of use polluting the oceans and are cleaning it up. and once they are done, they come up and start to breed with us so we no longer will exist to pollute the ocean?

So...Cthulu is a litter picker? What, is he doing community service or something?

He lost a bet with the Loch Ness monster. He figured that, faced with Trump or Clinton, Americans would pick the lesser evil and write in Cthulu.

The Telegraph says it was salvagers. The article says the HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter were rediscovered in 2008 so that's 8 years for the wrecks to get broken up and taken away by salvage operations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/dutch-probe-mystery-of-wartime-shipwrecks-that-appear-to-have-go/

Prestor Jon wrote:
The Telegraph says it was salvagers. The article says the HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter were rediscovered in 2008 so that's 8 years for the wrecks to get broken up and taken away by salvage operations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/dutch-probe-mystery-of-wartime-shipwrecks-that-appear-to-have-go/

And no one saw any salvage crews or ships?

 jreilly89 wrote:

Prestor Jon wrote:
The Telegraph says it was salvagers. The article says the HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter were rediscovered in 2008 so that's 8 years for the wrecks to get broken up and taken away by salvage operations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/dutch-probe-mystery-of-wartime-shipwrecks-that-appear-to-have-go/

And no one saw any salvage crews or ships?

How often do any ships go by the wreck sites that would A) be interested in any activity occurring there B) correctly identify the activity as illegal salvage of WWII wrecks C) would report it to British or Dutch authorities? The articles I've seen give the impression that it's been years since the British or Dutch govts or anyone directly affiliated with them have been to the wrecks. The Royal Navy admits that there's too many warship wrecks for them to monitor all of the sites.

Prestor Jon wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:

Prestor Jon wrote:
The Telegraph says it was salvagers. The article says the HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter were rediscovered in 2008 so that's 8 years for the wrecks to get broken up and taken away by salvage operations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/dutch-probe-mystery-of-wartime-shipwrecks-that-appear-to-have-go/

And no one saw any salvage crews or ships?

How often do any ships go by the wreck sites that would A) be interested in any activity occurring there B) correctly identify the activity as illegal salvage of WWII wrecks C) would report it to British or Dutch authorities? The articles I've seen give the impression that it's been years since the British or Dutch govts or anyone directly affiliated with them have been to the wrecks. The Royal Navy admits that there's too many warship wrecks for them to monitor all of the sites.

Between all sunk in wartime.

The ability to watch every single one is just not possible.

Also depend on area... A busy shipping route nearby. You be found quick.

Backpbeyonf of waters miles from anywhere... Less so.

 jreilly89 wrote:
So are we still sure it's not ocean movements? Honestly that was my first guess when I clicked on it.

Undocumented ocean movements strong enough to make entire cruisers dissappear? Unlikely. Cruisers are heavy you know. And if the Java Sea had a current strong enough to displace entire ships, it certainly would have been known, given the extensive studies done on sea currents over the centuries. Also, if it were ocean movements, one would expect all ships to have been gone. But the cruisers are all gone, while a much smaller destroyer is still there, albeit damaged.
I read some speculation that the ships might just have been covered by sand, but again then it is strange why some others were not covered.

So this is what those NK missiles were made from.