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This is the story of the MS Estonia.

On Sept 27, 1994, NATO military assets assembled around Norway for a naval military exercise called Cooperative Venture 94, the first “Partnership for Peace.” The exercises involved 15+ ships and several maritime aircraft prepared to conduct search & rescue operations.

That same day, vehicles and passengers in the Estonian city of Tallinn loaded onto the MS Estonia. They departed at 19:15, bound for Stockholm with 989 people on board, 803 of them passengers. The overnight journey typically took approximately 15 hours.

The ferry was large, with a total length of 157 m and nine decks. The ship’s internal passageways were labyrinthine, with long corridors and stairwells leading to dead ends. The lowermost deck, below the vehicle decks, was occupied by sleeper cabins.

Cars loaded the ship’s vehicle decks via a ramp at the bow. A bow visor concealed the ramp during the voyage. The ramp rotated upwards during loading and lowered and locked into place during transit. The ramp provided the primary watertight seal.

Initially, sailing conditions were moderate but soon became rougher once the ship reached open seas. Although a storm generated high winds from the southwest (50–60 km/h) and large waves (3–4 meters), conditions were in no way unprecedented for the North Baltic Sea.

At 01:02, passengers were awoken by a loud metallic bang followed by an abrupt heel to starboard. The bang was reported by several survivors, particularly those who were in the sleeper cabins on Deck 1 at the time. One survivor even reported being thrown from their bunk.

All parts collected here:

> This is the story of the MS Estonia. > On Sept 27, 1994, NATO military assets assembled around Norway for a naval military exercise called Cooperative Venture 94, the first “Partnership for Peace.” The exercises involved 15+ ships and several maritime aircraft prepared to conduct search & rescue operations. > That same day, vehicles and passengers in the Estonian city of Tallinn loaded onto the MS Estonia. They departed at 19:15, bound for Stockholm with 989 people on board, 803 of them passengers. The overnight journey typically took approximately 15 hours. > The ferry was large, with a total length of 157 m and nine decks. The ship’s internal passageways were labyrinthine, with long corridors and stairwells leading to dead ends. The lowermost deck, below the vehicle decks, was occupied by sleeper cabins. > Cars loaded the ship’s vehicle decks via a ramp at the bow. A bow visor concealed the ramp during the voyage. The ramp rotated upwards during loading and lowered and locked into place during transit. The ramp provided the primary watertight seal. > Initially, sailing conditions were moderate but soon became rougher once the ship reached open seas. Although a storm generated high winds from the southwest (50–60 km/h) and large waves (3–4 meters), conditions were in no way unprecedented for the North Baltic Sea. > At 01:02, passengers were awoken by a loud metallic bang followed by an abrupt heel to starboard. The bang was reported by several survivors, particularly those who were in the sleeper cabins on Deck 1 at the time. One survivor even reported being thrown from their bunk. All parts collected here: - https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1593635146649186304.html - https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1593636168960442368.html - https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1593637779124387840.html - https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1593638834843324417.html

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[–] • 4 pts

Very interesting. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Last time I looked at the Estonia sinking was probably 10 years ago.