On This Day in History: July 10

Sinking the Rainbow Warrior

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France has “only” a few hundred nuclear weapons; roughly the same number as China. It’s only the U.S. and Russia who have several thousand. But despite testing bans, France just loved to keep blowing them up in the Pacific. And when the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior tried to prevent them from trying out their fusion-explode toys, France blew that ship up too. 

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: July 10, 1985--

Rainbow Warrior was a 131-foot-long former fishing boat acquired by the environmentalist group Greenpeace in 1977 and used to fight against whaling, seal hunts, dumping of toxic waste, and nuclear testing. When France was about to explode more nukes on the Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia, Rainbow Warrior was ready to lead a flotilla of yachts to protest the tests. France decided to be dicks about it. I mean, Greenpeace are dicks too (that’s another story), but France crossed the fucking line. 

Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure is like the French CIA. The DGSE sent their covert op spooks, naming it Operation Satanic. One agent infiltrated the Greenpeace offices in Auckland, New Zealand to gather intel. Other agents posed as Greenpeace supporters and toured the Rainbow Warrior. Once the DGSE completed its spyin’, limpet mines—mines that attach to ships via magnets—were smuggled into New Zealand by operatives. Two DGSE divers then attached the mines to the ship, moored at Marsden Wharf in Auckland. 

Shortly before midnight on July 10, 1985, the first mine exploded. It’s surmised the first mine was designed to cripple the ship and prompt the crew to nope the fuck out and abandon ship. But that’s not what happened. Some crew went to investigate the damage, and the ship photographer, Fernando Pereira, went below decks to save his equipment. Ten minutes later the second mine exploded. Some crew were thrown into the water by the explosion and survived. Captain Willcox told everyone else to GTFO. Pereira, however, drowned as the ship sank.

New Zealand said this is an act of terrorism, and France, an ally of New Zealand, said oh yeah that’s totally terrorism, we had nothing to do with it. New Zealand launched a massive police investigation and discovered France was lying her ass off. Most of the DGSE agents escaped, but two who had delivered the mines to the divers were arrested. 

The two agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Pereira and were sentenced to ten years each, but France said fuck that release them or we’re gonna embargo your exports to Europe, so the pair only served two. Nevertheless, it was a PR disaster for France; the Defense Minister resigned and the head of the DGSE was fired. France also apologized to New Zealand and paid reparations to Greenpeace and Pereira’s family. They also didn’t do the nuclear tests. 

Ten years later France began nuclear testing in the area again, to an international outcry. The Rainbow Warrior was raised and relocated to North New Zealand to serve as a dive wreck and artificial reef.

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