- Trump shares video showing speedboat exploding
- US officials say boat was carrying illegal narcotics
- Strike comes amid increased deployment of warships to Caribbean
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, President Donald Trump said, in the first known operation since his administration’s recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
Trump told reporters at the White House: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.”
They didn’t even believe they were headed to the U.S.
They just went to another country, targeted a random boat they believe was headed to fucking Trinidad or somewhere in the Caribbean and killed everyone on board.
They’re sending a nuclear submarine? Is this nuclear powered as in just the energy it uses or is it a submarine with a nuclear weapon?
I know they’ve been targeting that area and trying to intimidate for a while, but this seems like a bizarre escalation even for them.
Just curious, what are the chances they’re on high alert bc Xi, Kim Jong Un, and Putin all attended China’s military parade today and they misidentified a Venezuelan ship as a threat for some reason and fired on it?
Nuclear submarines typically refers to the powerplant, though for the US that is pretty redundant since all active US sub’s are nuclear. Many or all of those subs are capable of carrying nuclear weapons though. The US historically has tried to not talk too much about where they have nuclear weapons deployed. This regime may not have that level of discretion, and honestly probably doesn’t actually know what nuclear submarine even means.
As for the rest, they are literally out murdering people in international waters to distract from how dog shit their government is.
The reference is definitely about nuclear-powered submarines, not nuclear payloads. They specifically say it is a fast attack submarine, so that would be a Virginia-class, which primarily carries Tomahawk cruise missiles, not Trident II ballistic missiles. They are nuclear-capable but not a standard load that would be on a ship already on deployment. That’s what the other type of submarines are for…
The Ohio class, 14 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and 4 cruise missile submarines (SSGNs), which carry the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Those 14 SSBNs form a large backbone of the US nuclear deterrent so they aren’t used for this type of thing. The advantage they have is lurking anywhere on the globe at any time hiding from everyone able to launch a nuclear attack to any point on the globe within minutes. Their entire purpose is pointless if enemies knew where they were, that’s what the Virginia-class are for.
I doubt it. This was very much intentional and premeditated to intimidate Latin America and win support of their base for wars. The alleged drug ship was a target they had no legal or tactical justification for attacking, except that the people on board are symbolically “the bad guys.” It’ll be framed as a crusade justified by the opioid epidemic and war on drugs amongst MAGA. At the same time, the unprovoked attack against non combatants hopes to scare Venezuela, other Latin American governments, and powerful narcotics organizations alike.