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Grand Theft Auto V

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OnlineGTA Online
All missions
The Merryweather Heist, Heists
Mission 28

The Merryweather Heist

Heists

Heist9 gold medals
Mission giver
Heists
Playable
Trevor Philips, Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton
Location
Floyd's Apartment, SS Bulker, Pier 400, Sandy Shores Airfield
Target
Not stated
Unlocked by
By the Book, Minisub, Cargobob
Unlocks
Blitz Play, Sonar Collections Dock

Player notes

Trevor Philips gathers Michael De Santa and Franklin Clinton at Floyd's Apartment to explain the Merryweather job. The heist then follows one of two plans. For the freighter approach, Trevor drives Franklin to the Miriam Turner Overpass, where Franklin takes a sniper position overlooking the SS Bulker. After night falls, the viewpoint switches to Michael, waiting beside the ship in a Dinghy. He swims aboard while Franklin clears Merryweather guards from the bridge.

Michael moves through the SS Bulker and plants sticky bombs while Franklin covers him from above. When guards discover Michael, control returns to Franklin, who eliminates the pursuers and brings down a Merryweather helicopter. Michael escapes into the water, Franklin detonates the explosives, and the freighter sinks. Control switches back to Michael as he searches the wreckage with dive gear, finds the device, and hands it to Trevor in the Submersible. Floyd uses a crane to bring the craft ashore at Pier 400.

For the offshore approach, Trevor, Michael and Franklin travel from Floyd's Apartment to Sandy Shores Airfield. Michael pilots a Cargobob carrying Trevor in the Submersible, then releases it near Merryweather's Pacific Ocean test site. Control switches to Trevor, who follows the Trackify signal underwater, recovers the device and returns to the surface. Michael lifts the Submersible from the sea, then Franklin takes the rear gun position to repel Merryweather helicopters and boats on the flight back to the airfield.

At Pier 400 or Sandy Shores Airfield, Lester Crest arrives in hospital clothes and identifies the stolen item as a dangerous superweapon. Trevor refuses to give it up until Michael promises him another score. Lester leaves with Floyd, or with Wade at the airfield, to return the device. Michael and Franklin depart together. Trevor remains behind, furious.

Objectives

2 approaches

In the order the game gives them. The unnumbered steps only appear if you go off script.

Freighter

  1. 1Get in a vehicle.
  2. 2Drive to the bridge.
  3. 3Go to the vantage point.
  4. 4Snipe the guards.
  5. 5Protect Michael as he plants the bombs.
  6. 6Plant the first bomb at the bow pillar.
  7. 7Plant the second bomb at the first mast.
  8. 8Plant the third bomb at the second mast.
  9. 9Go to the ship's stern entrance.
  10. 10Detonate the bombs.
  11. 11Locate the device amongst the wreckage.
  12. 12Go to the device.
  13. 13Return the device to the safe area.

Offshore

  1. 1Find a four-seater vehicle.
  2. 2Drive to the airstrip.
  3. 3Get in the Cargobob.
  4. 4Use the grappling hook to pick up the submersible.
  5. 5Fly to the test site.
  6. 6Release the submersible near to the test site.
  7. 7Use the Trackify app to locate the device.
  8. 8Go to the device.
  9. 9Ascend to the surface level.
  10. 10Pick up the submersible.
  11. 11Fly to the airstrip.
  12. 12Defend against the oncoming attack from Merryweather.
  13. 13Change your position to the rear of the Cargobob.
  14. 14Fly to the airstrip.
  15. 15Fly low over the airstrip and release the submersible.

Gold medal

9 requirements

Every one of these in a single run earns the medal. Replaying the mission later counts.

  • Headshots

    Kill 12 enemies with a headshot

  • Accuracy

    Finish with a shooting accuracy of at least 80%

  • Ninja

    Kill 12 enemies using stealth attacks

  • No Alarms

    Get to the ship interior without being detected

  • Container Hunter

    Find the container within 60 seconds

  • Salvager

    Find the container within 02:00

  • Time

    Complete within 14:30

  • Show no Mercenary

    Eliminate all pursuing Merryweather enemies

  • Weathering the Storm

    Escape the pursuing Merryweather enemies in less than 4 minutes

Rewards

Achievements
Subversive

Mission failed if

Any of these fails the mission and sends you back to the last checkpoint.

  • ร—Wasted
  • ร—Busted

Freighter

  • ร—The police were alerted during the heist.
  • ร—Franklin ran out of sniper ammo.
  • ร—Franklin was left behind.
  • ร—Merryweather alerted with Michael out of position.
  • ร—Franklin/Michael left the area.
  • ร—The bombs exploded too early.
  • ร—Michael ran out of sticky bombs.
  • ร—Michael/Trevor abandoned the heist.
  • ร—The submersible was grounded.

Offshore

  • ร—Floyd died.
  • ร—Wade died.
  • ร—Trevor/Franklin/Michael was left behind.
  • ร—The submersible was destroyed.
  • ร—The Cargobob was destroyed.
  • ร—The Cargobob was abandoned.
  • ร—Merryweather weren't dealt with quickly enough.

Trivia

  • โ—†The freighter approach to the heist has been implied to be the canon approach:
  • โ—†The heist was originally going to be called "The Port of LS Heist".
  • โ—†No matter which method is chosen, EyeFind will still report that the freighter was attacked; however, the Bleeter posts will be different. This could just be an oversight.
  • โ—†In the mission The Wrap Up, Dave Norton mentions Trevor robbing Merryweather's "planes, trains and boats".
  • โ—†In a hang out between the trio after The Third Way, Trevor mentions the heists all three of them did together, including this one. No matter what approach has been taken, he will mention "the operation Merryweather was running out the Port of LS".
  • โ—†Interestingly, the SS Bulker is still intact and active as a freighter as of 2019, as one of the Getaway Vehicles prep missions for The Diamond Casino Heist requires the player to steal the vehicles from the freighter. Assuming this approach was canon, with the state it was in after the heist, the freighter would have no longer been seaworthy and most likely would have been scrapped.
  • โ—†Alternatively, the Offshore approach may have been added to the game relatively late in development (the mentions of the Port being robbed and the aforementioned original name support this) rather than it not being canon.
  • โ—†If the offshore method is chosen, the dialogue between Trevor and Michael on the way to the airfield will change, depending if the player, as Michael, has completed the Flight School or not. The same thing happens in the freight method, with the dialogue between Trevor and Franklin on the way to the bridge, changing depending if the player, as Franklin, has completed the Shooting Range or not.
  • โ—†Trevor will be pleased if Michael and Franklin have done what he suggested. Otherwise, Trevor will blame them in the dialogue.
  • โ—†The Submersible used during this mission is much more durable than the one found at the Sonar Collections Dock. It is able to withstand the pressure at the farthest point (0.15 miles) that the player can descend to in the ocean, which normally the submersible will be destroyed in free roam.
  • โ—†The exact nature of the device that is the target of the heist is unknown, Trevor speculates that it may be a new type of generator or bomb. Lester simply refuses to take possession of it and orders Trevor to return it before Merryweather and the US Government hunt them all down, saying that it's an "experimental super weapon".
  • โ—†Scenes from both approaches of this mission appeared in the official trailer for the game.
  • โ—†Franklin will receive an e-mail from Brother Adrian after this mission, asking him to go to their website to join the Children of the Mountain brotherhood. However, this does not appear to be the case on PS4 version.
  • โ—†Although one would think the events of this mission would impact Merryweather's finances, they seem to have no impact on its stock price, or that of its competitor, Gruppe Sechs.
  • โ—†Although listed as the second heist, it is possible to engage in the third heist, Blitz Play, first, making this the third heist.
  • โ—†In the beta, Wade was wearing Fooligan makeup in the initial cutscene.
  • โ—†If Trevor drives Franklin to the sniper nest location in his truck, Franklin will randomly either get into the front seat alongside Trevor or hop into the back of the truck.
  • โ—†Additionally, if Trevor's truck or any other vehicle isn't around to drive Franklin to his vantage point, Franklin's car will immediately appear to do the task.
  • โ—†If the mission Hood Safari has been completed previously to this mission, Trevor and Franklin will mention the events of that mission on the way to the bridge.
  • โ—†Franklin makes a reference to the events of the mission Three's Company while the Buzzard is trying to kill him. He says, "This is the second time one of those evil helicopters comes after me, Trevor and the FIB are bad news!".
  • โ—†Moreover, the protagonists' tasks are similar to the ones they had in that mission, with Michael dressed in all-black attire locating the designated cargo, Franklin perched above an elevated area providing sniper support, and Trevor controlling the transportation used to extract their cargo.
  • โ—†During the ending scene, Lester can be seen arriving at the pier in a Taxi in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. In the enhanced version, however, the Taxi is nowhere to be seen.
  • โ—†This approach is similar to events depicted in Bomb Da Base: Act II in GTA III, as the protagonist (Franklin/Claude) uses a sniper rifle to give fire assistance and eliminate enemies in order for another character (Michael/8-Ball) to plant bomb(s) and sink a cargo ship.
  • โ—†After the mission ends, the Submersible will always spawn in a small courtyard by the side of the warehouse in the Sandy Shores Airfield permanently. The player will need a Cargobob to take the submarine back to the water so it can be used.
View on GTA Wiki โ†’

Mission data from GTA Wiki, CC BY-SA. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games.

Last verified September 14, 2026