Japanese whalers to face new enemy in 'Godzilla'

[The Straight Story]

A controversial animal-rights group preparing to embark on its annual harassment campaign against Japanese whalers has stepped up its effort this season by enlisting the aid of ... Godzilla.

The swift and ominous-looking interceptor vessel has the moniker Gojira, named after the ferocious monster in the legendary Japanese film, which in English means Godzilla.

The 115-foot boat was launched by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Monday in Fremantle, Australia, and has joined the larger vessels, Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, in Hobart. At midweek all three will begin their journey to Antarctic waters, where their crews will await the arrival of the Japanese whaling fleet.

Japan also means business. The whaling ships will carry armed members of the Japan Coast Guard to help prevent sabotage by the activists, according to the Japan Times.



http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/22423/japanese+whalers+to+face+new+enemy+in+godzilla/

[sakabatou]

1. They're using the American Godzilla?

Boo!

[TK421]

9. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing...where's Forkboy when you need him?

[Forkboy]

32. Don't get me going on that movie!

:)

[AsahinaKimi]

28. Yeah

The American Godzilla got Trashed by the Japanese one in FINAL WARS.. I love that scene.
http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/godzilla-vs-american-godzilla/285850

[Forkboy]

33. They also bust the movie in the beginning of GMK.

When the commander mentions that Japan has to be ready from an attack from big monsters and mentions "an attack on the East Coast of America at New York" two cadets listening whisper to one another, "Was that really Godzilla?" The other replies, "The Americans think so, but our guys have their doubts." :)

[AllenVanAllen]

35. It's really a generic version of the Tri-Star Zilla at that.

The head and fins are the biggest difference I see. Since the name "Gojira" is a combination of the English word Gorilla and the Japanese word for whale "Kujira," it would have been cool to see a more literal approach to the graphics on the new Sea Shepherd vessel. The right eye of a gorilla and left eye of a whale on the sides of the ship would have been more fitting. I really love the name choice.



Kinda' like this.

[AndyTiedye]

2. If The Japanese Whaling Fleet Actually Leaves Port, That Is

The whaling ships will carry armed members of the Japan Coast Guard to help prevent sabotage by the activists, according to the Japan Times.

The Japanese whaling fleet is still in port, and they have no supply ship. In a normal year they would have left for the Antarctic over two weeks ago.

from the Sea Shepherd website:

Never before has the Japanese whaling fleet left later than November 19th. That was more than 10 days ago, which means they will certainly not be able to begin whaling around December 20th as they do every year.

If the fleet left today they would not begin whaling until January, and this delay will certainly see no whales killed during the month of December.

Apparently one of the primary reasons for them not departing is that their supply ship the Hiyo Maru No.2 (formally the Oriental Bluebird), has been sold by its owner the Daito Trading Company to China to be scrapped. Although this happened in August, the Institute for Cetacean Research has been unable to charter a replacement. The reason is that they are finding it difficult to find a ship owner willing to be associated with their brutal and illegal whaling operation in the Southern Ocean—and willing to be targeted by the Sea Shepherd fleet.

“I think the Japanese P.R. strategy of labeling Sea Shepherd as a ‘violent eco-terrorist’ organization has backfired,” said Captain Paul Watson, “They have scared the companies they do business with and they are frightening their own crews. They are now paying higher insurance premiums and making less money. We have taken their profits from them for five years. Now we need to take this despicable enterprise away from them and make sure they stay out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.”

:):):)

[Curmudgeoness]

17. Good news. I love it. But I am not sure I trust it.

Something smells fishy about this. I have to wonder what they are up to.

[InvisibleTouch]

46. This is good to hear! n/t

[Larkspur]

3. I loved Godzilla!!

This boat looks bigger than Peter Bethune's . I wonder who owns it? I also wonder how often this boat needs to refill as opposed to Bethune's, which was waiting for fuel from a Sea Shepherd ship when it got rammed by the Japanese. The only problem with the speed boats is that they suck a lot of fuel and Bethune seemed to be running out when he was surrounded by Japanese whalers.

[flvegan]

8. 37 feet longer (115 ft long), 3500 mile range

It's the boat that the Earthrace (Ady Gil) vessel defeated for holding the record for circumnavigating the globe. The big thing that most folks aren't seeing is that Gojira sails under Aussie registration. Aussie boat, Aussie crewmembers, Aussie waters. She'll more than hold her own, I think.

[TK421]

10. And they do know their seamanship, for sure

Those fuckers are bare-bones and just plain tough

[slackmaster]

40. Based on what happened to the Ady Gil, they need to brush up on the COLREGS

http://www.boatingsafety.com/colregs.htm

[DainBramaged]

4. What an amazing craft!

Hope you are well!!!!


:fistbump:

[NightWatcher]

5. history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man

go go go Gojira

At least they are doing something and not circulating toothless petitions

[Subdivisions]

6. That's so fucking cool! And now for some appropriate theme music:

Oh no, they say, he's got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiHRm2DioMA

[aikoaiko]

7. I wonder if this one will meet the same fate as the Ady Gil.

[timo]

11. yes

but thats what they want, its good tv, and great press!!

[Cetacea]

15. Nope.

"Gojira, which can easily out-run the larger Japanese vessels, will be used to help locate the factory ship, which processes whales killed by crews aboard harpoon boats; to try to thwart harpooning, and to prevent delivery of harpooned whales to the factory ship.

"The factory ship is the one we're after and if we can find it, we can shut down whaling," Sea Shepherd spokesman Jeff Hansen told reporters in Australia. "We can save 10 to 12 whales a day by blocking the slipway on the factory ship, so really this vessel is going to play a huge part in shutting down the Japanese whaling fleet for the entire summer."


This is a huge move.

[timo]

21. ady gil

was a speedy little thing too, but the key word...WAS

[flvegan]

22. Attempted murder on the high seas often isn't expected by non-violent

activists. The Ady Gil was damn near dead in the water and a whaler steered right into them.

Doubtful that will happen to this boat, thanks for your concern.

[Chan790]

23. Yes, and...

I think we both know that no SSCS captain will ever make the mistake Pete Bethune did again in thinking the whalers would not resort to potentially-homicidal measures.

I dunno, but I'm starting to feel like we might actually be about to see the end of Japanese whaling.

[lildreamer316]

24. From your lips to..

whomever/whatever's ears...

[flvegan]

25. It's also a bigger boat, with Australian registration.

Bad idea to even think about hitting this one. Especially bad if the whalers show up with armed Japanese Coast Guard crew/escorts.

I'm feeling the end too. They haven't even left port yet. They're already way behind.

[timo]

30. not exactly

paul watson isnt exactly a saint, nor is he "non violent" I dont support whaling, but the guy is a total ass hat.

if you wanty me to list FACTUAL events of his violent behaivior and CRIMINAL activity I can.

[flvegan]

31. I sincerely doubt

you could tell me anything I don't already know.

Thanks for offering your opinion, though!

:hi:

[slackmaster]

41. The masters of both vessels were found to be at fault in that collision, and rightly so

You can't intentionally interfere with the navigation of another vessel.

http://www.boatingsafety.com/colregs.htm

[flvegan]

44. Of course, rightly so.

Considering the Japanese didn't participate in the conclusion.

But then I suppose one could make the same argument that the driver of a parked car didn't avoid the truck steering into said car even though he was in the Qwik-E-Mart buying a gallon of milk when it happened.

:eyes:

[slackmaster]

47. That's a terrible analogy. Not even close to what actually happened.

The equivalent of "parked car" in the boat world would be "docked" or "anchored". Not intentionally cutting in front of another vessel at close quarters so as to interfere with its operation.

[coti]

48. The Ady Gil was dead in the water. They were not moving.

They weren't OUT of fuel, but they were sitting, waiting for more fuel, with their crew laid out on the deck.

[slackmaster]

52. That's a bunch of bilge water

:argh:

[Xithras]

58. As much as I admire that the SS is trying to do, a lot of the "official"story is bunk.

You may not be aware of this, but Bethune and Watson had a bit of a falling out, and two months ago Pete Bethune posted an open letter formally disassociating himself with Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He flat out called Watson dishonest and morally bankrupt (his words), and accused Watson of deliberately and regularly lying for PR purposes.

He also revealed, for the first time, that Watson ordered the Ady Gil deliberately sunk for PR purposes.

What Bethune had done was leave the props engaged while idling the engines. This provided a small but consistent amount of forward thrust that kept the boat moving. It's similar to putting your car into Drive and not touching the gas pedal...even without throttle, your car will still idle up to 10-15MPH. If Bethune had wanted to actually drift, he simply needed to disengage the drive props. Now, I'm NOT saying that he collided deliberately, but he DID act negligently in leaving the ship unhelmed while under power in an area with other active ships. It's not unusual for a ships captain to leave a ship unattended briefly while under power in the open ocean, especially when you're sitting right outside the bridge, but it's very dangerous to do so in seas where other boats and ships are active in your immediate vicinity. The investigation split responsibility because they found that the Ady Gil could have easily avoided the collision if someone had been at the controls. The props could have been disengaged to slow it down, they could have reversed, the boat could have turned, etc. Any of these actions would have prevented the collision, but there was nobody at the helm to do so, and everyone on top of the ship was celebrating and relaxing, and nobody was paying much attention to the Japanese ship. By failing to attend to the navigation of his vessel, Berthune was negligent as a captain. While it's unprovable, the strong suspicion was that Berthune was trying to set up a close pass for the camera, and it went bad.

The Japanese could have avoided the collision by turning. The Ady Gil could have avoided the collision by turning. Neither did. They played chicken and nobody blinked. That's why the official investigation found both captains at fault.

Berthune admitted two months ago that the Ady Gil could have been repaired. It was built to be unsinkable (enough floating material to keep it floating, even if it were completely full of water), and Berthune wanted to take it home and fix it. Watson wanted the boat sunk, and ordered the boat stripped and deliberately scuttled for PR purposes.

[flvegan]

50. The boat was idling.

About as close to stopped as humanly possible. The whaler deliberately steered into them while the crew was on deck, blasting them with water cannons as they did.

I don't really give a shit about convincing whaler defenders, just giving you facts.

[slackmaster]

53. It should have been at least 500 yards away from the other vessel

It was being piloted in a grossly irresponsible manner.

Ady Gil had steerage. There is no excuse for it to have been where it was at the time of the collision. It takes some bizarre logic to blame the collision entirely on the Japanese vessel. Both violated the COLREGS, both were at fault. What happened amounted to the predictable outcome of a juvenile game of "chicken" on the high seas. In that situation, the Gross Tonnnage Rule usually prevails (the larger vessel "wins").

[flvegan]

54. Like I said, convincing a whaling defender isn't high on my to do list.

So...

[slackmaster]

57. I'm not defending whaling or the whalers. The whaler was at fault in the collision with Ady Gil.

So was the Ady Gil. Trying to spin me as a defender of whaling is a chickenshit, cop-out argument. A lame false dichotomy in which if you don't blindly support undocumented privateers you must support the poachers they are at war with.

I'm a sailor, and I understand the rules and know what it feels like to be at sea in a moving vessel. I'm also a photographer and I dare say better at interpreting photgraphic evidence than are most people.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. Yeah, rah rah we won! Go team!

:eyes:

[TK421]

12. God-zilla...I sure hope not!

[slackmaster]

42. Given that they intend to interfere with the navigation of other, larger vessels...

...It's probably just a matter of time until that happens.

[Initech]

13. Oh no there goes Tokyo go go Godzilla!

[toddwv]

14. Next they need a surveillance plane

call it Mothra.

THAT would be classic.

[Cetacea]

16. Or Rodan.

:hi:

[flvegan]

18. I understand the HMS Invincible is up for sale, too.

Heh heh...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/8165331/Aircraft-carrier-HMS-Invincible-is-put-up-for-sale.html

[Chan790]

26. Just £2M.

but it has no engines, gear boxes or pumps, so it probably needs another £2M in work.

£4M? I can chip in a few $$s. £3.999M to go.

(Something tells me that they wouldn't be ramming anything that's 2.1 times the size of the Nisshin Maru with a hull designed for withstanding bombardment and missile-strike. A most-wise decision. :D)

[flvegan]

29. Just imagine it...

painted black, Neptune's Navy logo on the side REALLY big. HUGE water cannons, a floating city of parts, petrol, oil...some kickass propulsion device that fires rotten butter in a rapid-fire, massive method.

How do you say "how the fuck will we deal with that?" in Japanese?

[chillspike]

19. I hope the Sea Sheperd Crew does well this year!

R & K'ed!

[Owl]

20. A hearty K&R.

[Lisa0825]

27. BADASS!!!

:woohoo:

Go go Godzilla!

[petronius]

34. Kind of an insensitive name, isn't it, considering how much damage the real Godzilla

did to Tokyo? :shrug:

Cool looking boat...

[Withywindle]

36. "the real Godzilla"?

Um...you do know that was just a movie, right?


I don't have a real big problem with being insensitive to whalers.

[petronius]

38. I know it was a movie (I'm not stupid!), but wasn't it a documentary?

:shrug:

(And yes, that was a joke...)

[Withywindle]

43. Sorry. I fell into the sarchasm.

[Xithras]

55. No, insensitive would have been naming it Fat Man

ファットマン

Same idea though. Watson chose the name because it represents the "crushing" of the Japanese. Godzilla, at least, has some humor to it.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

37. Reminds me

of what Jack Nicholson said as The Joker: "Where do they get these WONDERFUL toys?!"

Man, that is one bad mutha ("Shut yo' mouth!"). . . boat.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

51. since you mentioned both the Joker and 'these wonderful toys', enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/BodhiBloodWave?feature=mhum#p/f/10/QlAKDJzAkyg

[Swamp Rat]

45. Is it armed with torpedos?

It's useless unless it can blast the whalers to smithereens.

[The Straight Story]

49. It has fire breath and can stomp on big ships, Plus it has that cute little guy:

[Freddie Stubbs]

56. Didn't the Japanese kill Godzilla at the end of the movie?