Greece’s Hellenic Navy Hydrographic Service has printed a numbered crossing-prohibition warning that opens on 9 November off Drapano Point on the north coast of Crete, not a reprint of Wednesday morning’s dedicated NAVWARN 1336/26 NG SURVEYOR line and not a second Central Mediterranean survey. The working primary retrieved this run is official NAVWARN 1342/2026, posted on the Hydrographic Service’s English navwarn board on 6 November 2026: CRETAN SEA. CRETE ISLAND. DRAPANO POINT. PROHIBITION OF CROSSING BOATS DUE TO FORACS CHECKS. FROM 09 UNTIL 13 NOV 26. FROM 0600Z UNTIL 1600Z OF EACH DAY IN THE SEA AREA BOUNDED BY: 35 28 18N – 024 14 06E, 35 27 04N – 024 15 33E, 35 26 01N – 024 16 52E, 35 23 30N – 024 17 00E, 35 24 12N – 024 26 00E, 35 31 00N – 024 26 00E, 35 31 00N – 024 15 00E, 35 29 12N – 024 14 05E. CROSSING ABOVE THIS AREA IS PROHIBITED. That is Saturday morning’s working Hellenic coastal instrument. It is an eight-point Cretan Sea box with a five-day daylight window, not a rewrite of dedicated 1336/26, not a Samos firing, and not a Hormuz Attack PDF.
The warning is a Hellenic coastal NAVWARN. It is not NAVAREA III 0169/26. It is not NAVAREA IX 432/26. It is not UKMTO 197-26. Friday afternoon’s dedicated IMO board remains 129 confirmed incidents as at 6 November, with 25 seafarer fatalities. Masters who brief Saturday morning as a Souda Bay port closure, as a completed live-firing order on a FORACS-checks sentence, as a 1336/26 survey reprinted as an eight-point box, or as a 8 November Fournoi firing promoted onto 1342/26 will have over-read a timed crossing prohibition. 1342/26 tells the bridge which cape, which eight points, which five days and which 0600Z–1600Z window to plot. It does not print a keep-clear radius outside the polygon, a VHF working channel, a hull, an IMO number, a RAM line, or a cancel DTG beyond the printed 9–13 November window. Hold the official wording, including “prohibition of crossing boats due to FORACS checks” and “crossing above this area is prohibited.”
What 1342/26 actually printed
The hydrographic text is short and is the working primary. CRETAN SEA. CRETE ISLAND. DRAPANO POINT. Prohibition of crossing boats due to FORACS checks. From 9 until 13 November 2026. From 0600Z until 1600Z of each day in the sea area bounded by the eight points listed above. Crossing above this area is prohibited. Stay with that wording. The Hydrographic Service printed neither a hull name, an IMO number, an MMSI, a flag, a call sign, a wreck buoy, a least depth, a fishing or anchoring prohibition outside the box, a restricted-in-ability-to-manoeuvre line, a VHF channel, a NOTAM number, a weapon class, nor a “CANCEL THIS MSG” DTG. Do not invent a five-cable or one-nautical-mile halo around the polygon. 1342/26 does not print one. Do not invent a 15 February end date. That end belongs to dedicated 0169/26, the Central Mediterranean Britoil Centurion track, not to this Cretan Sea box. Do not invent a 081600 UTC 8 November kill time. That cancel belongs to wrap 1343/26’s Fournoi firing, not to this FORACS window.
The geometry is the first briefing fact. The eight-point box sits off Drapano Point on the north coast of Crete, west of the Souda / Chania face. West wall about 024-14 E. East wall 024-26.00 E. South wall about 35-23.5 N. North wall 35-31.00 N. That is on the order of 10 nautical miles east–west by 8 nautical miles north–south, not a circular exclusion and not a TSS amendment. Souda Bay outbound, the Chania coastal, the north-Crete westbound lane toward Antikythera and the north-Crete eastbound lane toward Rethymno all see a corner. Do not brief a Souda shutdown from an eight-point box. Do not brief a Heraklion rewrite. Plot the eight points. Stay out of the polygon from 0600Z to 1600Z on each day from 9 to 13 November. Do not assume night work is prohibited because hours were printed; the prohibition is the printed window, not the other fourteen hours, unless a later NAVWARN says otherwise.
The date line is the second briefing fact. Work is printed as from 9 until 13 November 2026, from 0600Z until 1600Z of each day. No night window is printed as closed. No weather clause is printed. No 14 November extension is printed. Saturday morning is 7 November. The first prohibited morning is still 9 November. A passage plan that treats 7 and 8 November as already closed off Drapano has under-read a box that opens on 9 November. A passage plan that treats 9–13 November as closed around the clock has over-read a 0600Z–1600Z window. A passage plan that drops the watch after 1600Z on 9 November because “FORACS is a one-day check” has under-read a five-day series. 1342/26 is a numbered radio alert. It lives from 0600Z on 9 November through 1600Z on 13 November unless a later Hellenic NAVWARN cancels or amends it. 0600Z–1600Z in November is 0800–1800 Eastern European Time. Do not invent a 0700–1300 UTC Romanian firing window on this box.
The instruction line is the third briefing fact. Crossing above this area is prohibited. That is tighter than Wednesday morning’s dedicated 1336/26 “wide berth requested.” It is not a live-firing sentence. It is not 1343/26’s “avoid crossing” on a firing-exercise body. FORACS checks are the printed reason. The Hydrographic Service did not print “missile,” “gunnery,” “torpedo,” or “submarine.” Do not convert a FORACS box into wrap 1343/26’s Fournoi firing because both landed on the 6 November English board. Do not convert it into dedicated 166/26’s prohibited area to navigation because both print a prohibition. Give the eight points, the five days and the 0600Z–1600Z window. Stay out of the polygon in those hours. Do not occupy 35-28 N, 024-20 E at 1000 UTC on 10 November because “Souda is open.”
Industry-reprint colour, held separately: SeaLagom first carried 1342/26 with a received stamp of 6 November 00:00 UTC and an updated stamp of 6 November 20:43 UTC, matching the Hydrographic Service’s 6 November English board. The reprint restates the eight-point box, the 9–13 November window, the 0600Z–1600Z hours and the crossing prohibition. Hold that as colour of the official board, not as a second FORACS piece. Official 1343/2026, also on the 6 November English board, SAMOS SEA. FOURNOI ISLANDS. FIRING EXERCISES. FROM 080600Z TO 081500Z NOV 26, four corners around 37-32 N 026-30 E, avoid crossing — wrap this run, unused as dedicated. Irakleio Radio NAVWARN 1408/26 reprints that Fournoi firing with a cancel of 081600 UTC 8 November. That is a one-day Samos firing on 8 November. 1342/26 is a five-day Cretan Sea FORACS box from 9 November. Do not collapse the firing onto the FORACS box. Do not collapse the FORACS box onto the firing.
What this is not
This is not a rewrite of dedicated NAVWARN 1336/26. Wednesday morning’s dedicated piece remains: SOUTH AIGAIO SEA, geophysical survey by NG SURVEYOR from 5 November 2026, 21-point line from 37-45.30N 023-07.20E to 37-14.63N 025-40.78E, wide berth requested, no printed end date. That line sits in the Saronic and the South Aegean, north of 37 N. 1342/26 prints Drapano Point, an eight-point box around 35-27 N 024-20 E, a crossing prohibition, and a 9–13 November 0600Z–1600Z window. A DPA who briefs Saturday morning as “NG SURVEYOR has moved south onto Crete” has borrowed 1336/26’s hull and dropped the FORACS polygon. Keep those numbers on their own sheets. 1336/26 still has no printed kill time. 1342/26 kills its daily window at 1600Z and its series after 13 November.
This is not NAVWARN 1343/26, and it is not a 8 November Fournoi firing filed again. Official 1343/2026 remains wrap: Samos Sea, Fournoi Islands, firing exercises, 080600Z to 081500Z 8 November, 37 32 15N 026 30 03E / 37 32 09N 026 30 12E / 37 31 19N 026 29 52E / 37 31 47N 026 29 15E, avoid crossing. That box is about two degrees east and two degrees north of Drapano. 8 November is the day before 1342/26 opens. A one-day Samos firing is not a five-day Cretan Sea FORACS box. Do not brief Saturday morning as “1343/26 extended onto Crete.” Do not invent a 081500 UTC kill on 1342/26 because 1343/26’s window closes on 8 November. Do not invent a firing-exercise sentence on 1342/26 because 1343/26 printed one.
This is not NAVWARN 1314/26, and it is not RN GAIA BLU. Official 1314/26 remains wrap: a South Aegean geophysical survey from 2 November until further notice by RN GAIA BLU inside a four-corner box in Greek territorial sea. 1342/26 names neither GAIA BLU nor a survey hull. Two Cretan / South Aegean products are two products. Do not collapse them.
This is not a rewrite of dedicated NAVAREA III 0169/26. Monday 4 November’s dedicated piece remains oceanographic work on the Britoil Centurion, IMO 9619177, MMSI 566921000, days 5 November 2026 to 15 February 2027, dotted-line groups A and B in the Central Mediterranean, wide receipt requested. 0169/26 prints a different hull, a different sea, a different point-group and a 15 February end. 1342/26 prints no hull, Cretan Sea, an eight-point box, and a 13 November last day. Dedicated 0168/26 remains weekly group 44 through 092359 UTC 9 November and still does not print 1342. A Greek coastal NAVWARN does not belong on a Spanish weekly wrapper. The 0168/26 cancel at 092359 UTC sits on the first evening of 1342/26’s window; those are two clocks on two products, not a merged all-clear for the east Med.
This is not NAVWARN 1338/26 or 1339/26, and it is not a Thracian Sea unlit-light rewrite. Official 1338/2026 remains unused as dedicated: THRAKIKO SEA. MARONEIA PORT. NE MOLE HEAD. RED LIGHT IN POSITION 40 52 36N – 025 30 26E UNLIT. Official 1339/2026 remains unused as dedicated: THRAKIKO SEA. VISTONIKOS BAY IMEROS PORT. EAST MOLE HEAD RED LIGHT IN POSITION 40 56 00N – 025 21 40E UNLIT. Those are Thrace coast light defects, not a Cretan Sea FORACS box. Do not brief Saturday morning as “the unlit lights became a crossing prohibition.” Leave 1338/26 and 1339/26 unused as dedicated unless a later NAVWARN relights them or moves those plots.
This is not official 1345/2026, 1347/2026 or 1350/2026, and it is not a Tragonisi wreck or a Thermaikos unlit light. The 6 November English board also lists 1345/20026 SOUTH AEGEAN SEA. TRAGONISI ISLET. LOCATED SEMISUNK WRECK, 1347/2026 NORTH EVVOIKOS GULF. LIGHTBUOY CHALKIDA CUT OFF AND UNLIT, and 1350/2026 THERMAIKOS GULF. NEA MOUDANIA. LIGHT UNLIT — wrap this run, unused as dedicated. 1342/26 prints none of those plots. A Drapano FORACS box is not a Tragonisi wreck. Do not collapse them because they share a 6 November date line.
This is not last night’s dedicated NAVAREA IX 432/26, not Friday morning’s dedicated 431/26, and not last night’s dedicated UKMTO 197-26. 432/26 remains the partially submerged container at 25-09.71N 054-54.06E, cancel 082359 UTC 8 November. 431/26 remains the Fujairah jack-up on SKATE 3D, cancel 132359 UTC 13 November. 197-26 remains a Master Attack, tanker, explosion at the waterline port side, 16 NM east of Khasab, 2200 UTC 5 November, crew safe, still under own power. IMO remains 129 confirmed / 25 dead as at 6 November. A Cretan Sea FORACS box does not belong on that tape.
This is not Saturday morning’s dedicated ARN 168/26, and it is not a Romanian MOB. The other dedicated file on this 0330 UTC desk remains F/V SEA ANGEL 1, 13.12 UTC 6 November, 44-11.68 N 028-43.60 E, sharp lookout, report MRCC Constanta. 1342/26 prints neither a hull nor a Black Sea plot. Keep the Constanta lookout on its own sheet. Official NAVAREA II 386/2026, Pointe Noire, several containers and heavy floating debris adrift in vicinity 04-11S 010-39E on 02 November, cancel 072100 UTC 7 November, remains unused as dedicated.
Operational implications
For a master already shaping a Souda, Chania, Rethymno, north-Crete coastal, or Antikythera–west-Crete passage from 9 to 13 November, Saturday morning is a timed keep-out problem before it is a security rewrite. The Hydrographic Service printed an eight-point box off Drapano Point, named FORACS checks, named 9–13 November, named 0600Z–1600Z each day, and named a crossing prohibition. A crossing prohibition under a bounded sea-area sentence is a closed polygon for ships that are not in the check. It is not AIS-optional. It is not a Souda port closure. It is not 1336/26’s wide-berth survey line. A passage plan that only budgeted 1336/26’s South Aegean dotted line, or that treated north Crete as clean because 1343/26’s Fournoi firing kills itself at 1515–1600 UTC on 8 November, has not budgeted a five-day box that opens the next morning. Give the polygon. Stay out of it in the printed hours. Do not pass through 35-28 N, 024-20 E at 0900 UTC on 11 November because “Souda pilots are working.”
The 8–13 November Aegean tape is the operational content a DPA has to get right. Wrap 1343/26 still tells the bridge to avoid a Fournoi firing box from 0600Z to 1500Z on 8 November. 1342/26 tells the bridge not to cross the Drapano polygon from 0600Z to 1600Z on 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 November. Dedicated 1336/26 still tells the bridge to give NG SURVEYOR a wide berth on a 21-point South Aegean line with no printed end. Dedicated 0169/26 still tells the bridge that Britoil Centurion is on a Central Mediterranean dotted line through 15 February 2027. A passage plan that only plotted the Fournoi firing, or that treated 081600 UTC 8 November as an all-clear for Greek waters, has not budgeted Drapano from Monday morning. Charterers asking whether “the Aegean is closed for firing until 8 November” will not be answered by this file. What arrived is a Cretan Sea crossing prohibition that outlives Sunday’s Fournoi window, not a firing-box all-clear.
Souda and Chania remain open on this text. 1342/26 does not print a harbour-master closure, a pilot-boarding amendment, or a VHF working channel for the range. Hulls that would otherwise have cut the north-Crete face inside 35-31 N, 024-14 E to 024-26 E in daylight on 9–13 November need a northing outside 35-31 N, or a night / shoulder-hour transit outside 0600Z–1600Z, or a south-about. Do not invent a 24-hour closure. Do not invent a 2 NM halo north of 35-31 N. Plot the north wall. Stay out of the polygon in the printed hours. Report actual range activity, an unlit hull, or a close-quarters situation to JRCC Piraeus and to the company security officer. Logging 1342/26 is not a substitute for a sighting report.
Keep the dedicated files on their own lines. 1336/26 remains Wednesday morning’s dedicated NG SURVEYOR South Aegean geophysical line from 5 November with no printed end. 0169/26 remains Monday 4 November’s dedicated Britoil Centurion Central Mediterranean track through 15 February 2027. 0168/26 remains weekly group 44 through 092359 UTC 9 November. 1343/26 remains wrap: Fournoi firing, 8 November, 0600Z–1500Z. 1338/26 and 1339/26 remain unused unlit lights. 1345/26, 1347/26 and 1350/26 remain wrap. Last night’s dedicated 197-26 remains the Khasab tanker waterline explosion. Last night’s dedicated 432/26 remains the southern-Gulf container through 082359 UTC 8 November. Friday morning’s dedicated 431/26 remains the Fujairah jack-up through 132359 UTC 13 November. Friday afternoon’s dedicated 167/26 remains the 9 November 20 km training circle at 44-02.80 N. Saturday morning’s dedicated 168/26 remains SEA ANGEL 1 at 44-11.68 N. IMO remains 129 / 25 as at 6 November. UKMTO still ends at 197-26. NAVAREA IX still ends at 432/26. Do not recast 7 November morning as a Souda exclusion zone, as a 1336 rewrite, as a 1343 extension, as a 8 November all-clear, or as a completed 0168 weekly-list rewrite.
What Operators Should Note
- Log 1342/26 as a five-day Drapano crossing prohibition, not as a 1336/26 rewrite and not as a 1343/26 firing extension. Official Hellenic NAVWARN 1342/2026, English board 6 November 2026. Cretan Sea. Crete Island. Drapano Point. Prohibition of crossing boats due to FORACS checks. From 9 until 13 November 2026. From 0600Z until 1600Z of each day. Eight-point box: 35 28 18N 024 14 06E / 35 27 04N 024 15 33E / 35 26 01N 024 16 52E / 35 23 30N 024 17 00E / 35 24 12N 024 26 00E / 35 31 00N 024 26 00E / 35 31 00N 024 15 00E / 35 29 12N 024 14 05E. Crossing above this area is prohibited. The warning names neither hull, IMO, VHF, keep-clear radius outside the polygon, RAM status, fishing ban nor a CANCEL THIS MSG DTG. SeaLagom first carried the text at 00:00 UTC on 6 November, updated 20:43 UTC. Replace nothing in the 1336/26 folder; add this number on the Cretan Sea sheet.
- Plot the eight-point box, not a single circle and not a Souda closure. West wall about 024-14 E. East wall 024-26.00 E. South wall about 35-23.5 N. North wall 35-31.00 N. On the order of 10 by 8 nautical miles off Drapano Point, west of the Souda / Chania face. North-Crete coastal, Souda outbound, Chania, Rethymno westbound and the Antikythera lane all see a corner. Do not brief a port shutdown. Do not drop the north wall because the next port is Souda. Stay out of the polygon from 0600Z to 1600Z on 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 November.
- Hold the 9–13 November window and the 0600Z–1600Z hours. First prohibited morning is 9 November, not 7 November and not 8 November. Daily window 0600Z–1600Z, 0800–1800 local in November. Do not treat 7–8 November as already closed off Drapano. Do not treat the box as live at 0200 UTC. Do not treat 9 November as a one-day check. Do not apply 1343/26’s 081500 UTC Fournoi kill to this number. Do not apply 0169/26’s 15 February end to this number. Watch a later Hellenic NAVWARN that moves a point, adds a radius, prints a hull or a weapon class, or extends past 13 November.
- Do not promote 1343/26, 1336/26, 1338/26 or 0169/26 onto this box. 1343/26 remains wrap: Fournoi firing, 8 November, 0600Z–1500Z, four corners around 37-32 N 026-30 E, avoid crossing; Irakleio 1408/26 reprints that firing with cancel 081600 UTC 8 November. 1336/26 remains dedicated: NG SURVEYOR, 21-point South Aegean line from 5 November, wide berth requested, no printed end. 1338/26 and 1339/26 remain unused unlit lights at Maroneia and Imeros. 0169/26 remains dedicated Britoil Centurion through 15 February 2027. 0168/26 remains weekly group 44 through 092359 UTC 9 November and does not print 1342; that 2359 UTC cancel is on 1342’s first evening, not a merged all-clear. 1345/26 Tragonisi wreck, 1347/26 Chalkida lightbuoy and 1350/26 Nea Moudania unlit light remain wrap.
- Keep the Black Sea and Hormuz tape on their own sheets. Saturday morning’s dedicated 168/26 remains SEA ANGEL 1, 13.12 UTC 6 November, 44-11.68 N 028-43.60 E. Friday afternoon’s dedicated 167/26 remains the 9 November 20 km training circle at 44-02.80 N. Last night’s dedicated 197-26 remains the Khasab tanker waterline explosion. Last night’s dedicated 432/26 remains the southern-Gulf container through 082359 UTC 8 November. Friday morning’s dedicated 431/26 remains SKATE 3D inside Port of Fujairah through 132359 UTC 13 November. IMO remains 129 / 25 as at 6 November. UKMTO still ends at 197-26. NAVAREA IX still ends at 432/26. Official NAVAREA II 386/2026 Pointe Noire containers remain unused as dedicated, cancel 072100 UTC 7 November. Sightings of range activity, an unlit hull, or a close-quarters situation go to JRCC Piraeus and to the CSO.
- Do not invent a 24-hour Souda closure or a live-firing sentence. 1342/26 prints FORACS checks and a crossing prohibition inside the polygon in the printed hours. It does not print gunnery, a missile corridor, a harbour-master closure, or a night ban. Night and shoulder-hour transits outside 0600Z–1600Z are not a printed all-clear for other hazards; they are simply outside this prohibition. Give the eight points. Stay out of the box in the window. Do not occupy 35-28 N, 024-20 E at 1000 UTC on 10 November on the strength of a Souda pilot booking alone.
Regulas Shipping will keep lining NAVWARN 1342/26 against Wednesday morning’s dedicated 1336/26 and against wrap 1343/26 so operators can treat Saturday’s Cretan Sea tape as a 9–13 November Drapano crossing prohibition in a 0600Z–1600Z window, not as a South Aegean survey extension, a Fournoi firing reprint, or a Souda port closure.
