The relatively localized and water-line damage definitely looks like something at or near the surface. Hopefully it was one of those crazy Iranian subs, and it's now in pieces on the bottom of the ocean.

It looks like damage from an explosion to me. It would appear that the actual explosion happened a small distance from the hull --- maybe 20-30 feet. Notice the sharp indentation at the waterline. This is called "reflective wave damage" and results from the explosion being reflected off the relatively uncompressable water and doing more damage right above the waterline. Also notice that there is more damage above the major portion of the "dent" than to the sides of it. This is also characteristic of an explosion.

If a major vessel has collided with the tanker there would have been radar contact and alarms going off as the vessel got too close. My guess is that an inflatable loaded with explosives exploded just short of contact with the ship. This would not have set off radar collision alarms and would have produced this sort of damage.

Since we're speculating (pulling crap from our a$$es before the investigation is finished), here's my idea.

My parents use to live on a sailboat and have travel all over the Pacific (from Alaska to NZ). One them always has to be on watch since container ships are widely know [by crusiers] to lose containers over board. The problem is that these containers are like an ice berg with the majority of their mass submerged. Now add in the

Murad was quoted by Emirati state media the previous day as saying an unusually large swell caused by a tremor damaged the ship. Other officials in the region also pointed to large waves or seismic activity in the area.

and

A photo released by the Emirates state news agency WAM after the tanker arrived in Fujairah showed a large, square-shaped dent near the waterline on the rear starboard side of the ship's hull.

So, a square-shaped dent and unusually large swells could have thrown/pushed a container into the hull.

Or the Iranians are target practicing again. Maybe one of their dumb-a$$ little boats, they use to harass NATO forces going through the straights, came to a sudden stop one night against the hull of the M. Star. Would explain the explosion.

Blame it on Iran or N. Korea

Uncle Will,

Or Obama, or Bush, or Eisenhower, or heck, maybe even George Washington!

who gives a Hoot !!!...it's insured, fix-it, be done with it...........

Hey jeeesus, Don't you like a mystery? Hope you notice I didn't say a good mystery.

Julie: you may be more right than others think. It is amazing to know just how many containers have fallen off of ships and are either floating around in the ocean or at best at the bottom of the sea. People may not realize it but most of those containers are sealed airtight and weather proof so depending on the cargo could be floating around just waiting for a ship to attack :). Seriously tho I think you could be right from looking at the picture. The company I worked for imported 50 to 70 containers per year and we did have 4 of them lost at sea.

When I read much of the comments and remember that Yale and Harvard gave university diplomas to Dubbia, I wonder where the hell is this country going?!

We call ourselves the richest and most powerful country in the world at the very time that we are $14,000,000,000,000 (trillions) in debt and we can not fight 7th century Taliban!!

Thanks Julie for pointing out the pulling of the c--p out of the a$$e$. Can anyone imagine that Harvard gave a masters degree to Dubbia and a Law degree to Obama?! May God Bless America.

Julie----that's a very distinct possibility........I have been a Captain for 30 years and have seen 40 ft containers floating around. The square dent is interesting and it would have sounded like an explosion when it hit. Interesting theory....thanks!!

"So, a square-shaped dent and unusually large swells could have thrown/pushed a container into the hull."

Sounds good to me.

Whatever hit the ship, if it was a sub, must have been pretty stealthy and is most likely at least 30 or 40 foot shorter and on the bottom wrecked!

Look to me like that the damage is near the stern. Was the ship backing down?

Roger,
the report says the damage was in the aft portion of the ship,sooo either the tanker was running in reverse which isn't likely in the straights or the container you mention was powered some how which would make me wonder how that could be. looking at the photo it looks like a dead on hit from the side.I don't know what hit it but it sure looks like it was moving at several knots to do that kind of damage.

It wasn't hit by something square, that's just the pattern from the ribs underneath. The dent is actually rounded in the middle and concave, look at the vertical and horizontal ribs in the dent. I also don't think containers are that big. The strange thing is that the damage is above the waterline, so that rules out subs colliding. I would even suggest that the steel beams underneath the hull are stronger that the hull itself, not sure if that's true though. If it is true wouldn't a collision have pierced the hull before bending the beams that much? A collision would have directed a lot of force on a very small area and pierced the hull like a knife before bending the beams. It seems a blast with no shrapnel, set just a meter or two above the water line and away from the hull could easily push the hull in like that without breaching it. A rogue wave is certainly capable of this type of damage, except that the focus of a rogue's energy would be a lot higher up on the hull and possibly spread over a wider area. There does appear to be some discoloration on the bottom right of the dent that may be scorch marks as well.

radagast,

The report said it might have been caused by a rogue wave generated by seismic activity, but it didn't say whether there were any reports of seismic activity in the area. I would think sensors would have detected any seismic activity had there been any.

If you look closely at the photo, you will note that the center of impact occurs between the 3rd and 4th horizontal ribs above the waterline. The square shape of the larger "dent" is an artifact of how the horizontal and vertical ribs attenuated the deformation.

My theory is that the vessel was struck by an anti-ship missile, whose warhead failed to explode. Thus the concavity was caused by KINETIC impact, not an expolsion. Iranian HY-2 missiles were used against shipping in the Gulf, damaging both the Sungari and Sea Isle City in 1987.

Hezbollah used Chinese-made C-802 ASM's against Israeli naval vessels as recently as 2006, so it is entirely possible that Al Qaeda has access to these weapons.

Doctor - that was one of my thoughts as well, the more that I look at the picture.

I have served on naval vessals in the Persian Gulf. I have never seen any containers floating around, infact that body of water is small enough and normally calm enough that a container would be easily recoverable.

The Straits of Hormuz is a very narrow and would not take much for someone to see it from the shore and go out and recover it with a private boat.

For the person that commented on the Iranian Patrol Boats that would go out and harrass shipping during the Iran/Iraq War, the U.S. Navy fondly refer to that as "Boghammers."

Had to be to do this kind of damage.

Oh yeah, witness the scorching on the hull. Not.

Ryan,

Since you work for a container line, is it true that containers are frequently lost at sea?

captain of what ??? --- the damage is in the rear of the ship ---- something ran into the tanker.

Quick call Steven King....

Maybe the captain was practicing parallel parking. My parents' '71 Fury III Stationwagon had a dent like that in it once. To this day, nobody knows how it got there!

I agree with you Dr No......some whale is swimming around this morning with a very large headache.

Alright, I will. The Captain was napping, so the First Mate decided to try doing some donuts, and he hit one of the light poles in the parking lot.

The captain and first mate were on a three-hour tour with a millionaire, his wife, a movie star, a professor and a girl from Kansas when they were hit by the Polar Express.

In a crewmember's attempt to end the ongoing joke that he could suck a golfball through a garden hose, he decided to prove this theory wrong. To his dismay, he could actually suck the ship through a straw but stopped himself in time!

A rogue black-hole generated by the CERN collider collapsed near the ship and caused an expanding shock-wave. A distant relative of mind who knows people who believe anything said he heard our government has learned how to control these man-made black-holes and was trying to steer one into Iran when it collapsed.

LOL we might get lucky and make it onto Abovetopsecret.com if we keep this up!!! WOOHOO! GOALS TO STRIVE FOR!

Rosie O'Donnell was relaxing on a floaty when she was struck by a ship. Reports indicate that Rosie left the scene unscathed but the whereabouts of the ship are unknown at this time.

Hoosier ... LMAO, wow.

Look again. There appear to be large dark marks on the red paint in and around the damaged area.

I think the Toyota theory is most likely :-D Probably a LandCruiser or something, to cause that much damage. Gas pedal stuck, and the driver on their cell phone, not noticing.

I still think hoosiervet nailed it: Rosie O'Donnell on a floaty.

@ Hoosier ~ LMAO; the best explanation, and what a visual!

How could a wooden boat like a dhow create an almost perfectly square indentation like that in the steel hull of a massive oil tanker? I would think the dhow would be little more than kindling after such a collision, with hardly any more damage than some lost paint to the tanker.

The hull could bend at the seams, but not the steel ribs. They are pushed in like 2-3 feet. The debris from a dhow would be everywhere also floating on the water if it got ran down by a tanker. The fact that the hit was in the stern means that the tanker didn't strike the dhow. The dhow had to be moving really fast when it struck the tanker in the rear and there's no way a dhow is gonna not see a tanker -even at night you know it's in front of you!

Seems to me that the sharp point on the front there would at least creat some sort of hole or at least scrath the paint. Next idea please

They weren't being pushed by a tug at the time, so I think we can rule that out. There actually is what seems to be some discoloration in the bottom right of the dent. The hull wouldn't have been on fire from a blast, but it would have sustained some soot and residue, which would look a lot like what is pictured.

Yeah it was Limbaugh's Enviro-Terrorists that did it. The same ones that blew up the BP oil rig. You got to hand it to those commie pinko leftwing un-American traitors, they sure are a determined scrappy bunch. I heard that they just purchased a Nautilus submarine at a Pawn Shop. That's what did it.

There were reports that some of the sailors heard protest songs being played on a pipe organ right before the collision!

But seriously, this is the Straight of Hormuz. An area rife with Muslim terror groups and extremists who have attacked shipping and naval vessels in the past and have made warnings of future attacks. They have the means, the manpower, the experience, the political will and home turf advantage. So you're totally right - a bunch of white hippies in the Middle East lead a covert attack on shipping. :/

Nope ... it's Bush's fault.

I'll buy that!

That sponge never did get his boating license!

Thank God!

dang, you took the words right out of my mouth. Yep it was spongebob.