The 164 foot long fishing vessel Ryou-Un Maru was sunk in the Gulf of Alaska by the Coast Guard.  The fishing vessel went adrift from Hokkaido during the 2011 tsunami in Japan and floated across the Pacific Ocean.   The Coast Guard determined to sink the vessel rather than to attempt to tow it to port.   The Coast Guard fired shots into the vessel.   The Ryou  burst into flames then listed over and sank.  An unknown amount of diesel fuel was released when the fishing boat sank.

Interesting Note

Just before the Coast Guard could fire the first shot, a Canadian fishing vessel claimed salvage rights to the Ryou-Un Maru.  The 62 foot long fishing vessel Bernice C. attempted to tow the vessel, but failed and left the area.  The Ryou-Un Maru was to be scrapped before the tsunami struck.

Related articles

• Coast Guard fires on Japanese ghost ship (sfgate.com)
• ‘Flying Japanese’: US to sink tsunami ‘ghost ship’ (rt.com)
• Coast Guard plans to go ahead, sink Japanese ship (newsok.com)