Originally Posted by
bakseetblatherer
That damage is on the tip of the bow. That really looks like the cruise ship did the ramming, it would be a real trick for the naval vessel to only ram the tip of the cruise ship
Not at all. We're not talking Roman galleys from "Ben Hur" here. The Venezuelan ship was faster and more maneuverable, it's not likely that the liner could get the drop on an alerted warship. And from the story, the Venezuelans were trying to force her into their waters, not sink an unarmed cruise liner and kill a bunch of people. (which would have all sorts of international consequences, none of which would be good for Venezuela). What likely happened was that they tried a dangerous and tricky maneuver to turn the cruise ship by physically pushing it onto a new course. To do so they would have to "ram" it "
on the tip of the bow". And then they got their surprise.
Karma can be a bitch, sometimes.