Fifteen oil tankers which departed Venezuela this past weekend without approval from authorities, most of them laden with oil, in what appears to have been a coordinated attempt to evade the blockade by the U.S. Coast and Navy, are now hundreds of miles from land and appear to be heading east, toward Africa and Europe. According to satellite imagery and a U.S. military official who spoke to the New York Times, four were spotted heading east in the Atlantic Ocean, at least 400 miles from the coast of South America, while a second group of five vessels was detected sailing northeast through the Caribbean on Monday. Also on Monday, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was pictured steaming toward the tankers heading across the Atlantic. One of the tankers, the Veronica, which is not carrying any oil, changed its name to Galileo and its flag to Russia this week in an apparent effort to evade boarding by the United States. Additionally, The Times identified three other tankers, all carrying Venezuelan oil, that as of this week are registered in Russia.