Bellingcat Challenge #7 "Operation Fleet Finder" Writeup
Table of Contents
This article was automatically translated from Japanese by AI.
Challenge
Bellingcat Challenge #7 “Operation Fleet Finder”
Here are a handful of naval ships moored together, but grey is the only colour in sight.
They all look the same! Can you help identify them?
What is the MMSI number for the left-most ship?
Solution
Running the image through Google Image Search showed that the vessels are Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. The carrier in the center bears the number 69, identifying it as USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Comparing the left-most carrier with the ships in the Wikipedia list, the closest match for the island structure was USS George H. W. Bush. In particular, the small radar structure behind the main mast matches the challenge image.
The same Wikipedia article lists the ship’s MMSI as 369970663.
Flag
369970663