China: Activity by confronted US ship was illegal (AP)

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AP - A U.S. Navy mapping ship confronted by Chinese vessels over the weekend was operating illegally in China's exclusive economic zone, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, in Beijing's first formal comment on the latest friction between the two militaries.




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03USMC said:
I'd call it testing resolve.....but thats just me.
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Back in the Cold Warm the US-USSR would play these naval and air cat and mouse games, but both sides knew that there was a line not to cross, China seems intend on testing this very line.
 
mmarsh said:
Back in the Cold Warm the US-USSR would play these naval and air cat and mouse games, but both sides knew that there was a line not to cross, China seems intend on testing this very line.
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Actually we didn't. It was only after collisions and a few deaths that the navies involved agreed to stop playing chicken.

The way it was played was by using the rules of the sea to out maneuver your opponent. You maneuver your ship to try and get the right of way over your opponent much the way yacht races are run. The contacts occurred when you misjudged the ability of the other ship to turn in time to avoid a collision.

Here is an example of what happened with my ship while escorting the USS Enterprise. Mind you we were on the same side.

We were given a new position to take up from the Enterprise. The officer of the deck wanted to get to the new position as quickly as possible. This required us to cross the Enterprise's bow. The Captain of our ship got his a** chewed out from the Enterprise for crossing to close in front. He in turn reamed the Officer of the Deck for the error. How close did we cross in front of the Enterprise? 5 nautical miles! It should have been ten.

It was funny to the crew, but it was a serious breech.

My ship the USS Bainbridge DLGN-25 had contact with Russian trawlers quite often. Some times we would steam tight circles around them causing them to roll and pitch in our wake. It was a lot of fun for us.

I suspect what the Chinese did was similar, and if they played the game right, did not do anything technically illegal. Although from the number of vessels involved it was over kill. Did they harass them? You betcha. Will US ships retaliate given the chance? You betcha. Hopefully it will get stopped before it goes to far.

The thing about throwing wood or logs in front of the USNS Impeccable was to force them to haul in their towed sonar equipment. Remember this is an oceanographic ship not a spy ship. Sorta like the Russian trawlers were fishing vessels.;)
 
Yeah China. Seems to me that at this point in time with a new administration everybody is gonna wanna see how far they can push the envelope.
 
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