If you go into the JAIC's accident report and go to Figure 7.1, page 102 you will notice that there is not a military boat in the area, should I believe in that, no. It is a military secret where the military boats are and it is something that ordinary people should not think about.
Clearly there were and are military boats in the Baltic Sea at the time of the area shown in the picture.
But why do they not appear?
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Question: 2009-11-24
Will all boats that are in the Baltic Sea show up on the radar screen on a Finlandship; fishing boats, military boats, cargo vessels, pleasure boats, barges?
How large must surface/boat be to be picked up by radar and caught on the screen at a Finlandsship?
Answer: Starvbid
All boats that have their transponders turned on will be visible on the radar.
Question;
If we play with the thought that the military has a naval exercise (playing war) or are just breathing and fanning their newly waxed boats in and around Finlandships.
1. Can MS Estonia captain with manning check the radar on his Finlandsboat were all military boats are, are they coming up on his radar screen?
2. Can MS Estonia captain follow throughout the military naval exercises on his radar screen?
Answers, Starvid
As long as they have their transponders on. I do not know if Estonia was equipped with surveillance radar, and without them you see nothing that does not have a powered transponder.
Answers, Lodenrock
At the time of the sinking of the MV Estonia the transponder system (AIS) was not developed. Small vessel radar echoes can disappear in a "seaclutter" (waves give radar echoes that interfere with the smaller echoes)
That means;
1. All normal traffic with their transponders turned on are visible on the radar screen on a Finlandsboat.
2. A military boat that had no tranponder turned on was invisible on the MV Estonia radar screen, and all other boats to.
3. All military boats can see all the normal traffic on their rader monitors.
4. That's the thing with a military boat, to be invisible on the sea.
Comment:
1. You can compare it with this;
If you are traveling on a highway in the middle of the night and suddenly something just passed by in the dark, then maybe it was a military vehicle that passed by in the dark. Something that no ordinary citizen would allow, but that is the way it is on the Baltic Sea and the military today.
2. It should be added that a captain on a Finlandsship have jewelry more experience (time on the water) than a military captain, the captain on the Finnish boat basically live on the sea. A military captain will not be in the vicinity of that time.
