"When the Chinese Navy plays "frigates"" Topic

"Since Sunday, there is much talk of the new naval incident between the Chinese and American navies in disputed waters of the South China Sea. I sum up, the USS Decatur missile frigate patrolled 12 nautical miles from the Gaven and Johnson Islands which Beijing claims sovereignty.

According to US officials, the USS Decatur (DDG 73, see photo below) was performing its maneuver as part of a "routine" operation to ensure "freedom of navigation" in the area against the will of China to control the sector…."
OT

That's SO close!…

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Amicalement
Armand

Looks like about 45 feet of space between them, as opposed to yards, if that.

I suspect a change in our ROEs are in order.

And – here's where an actual Battleship would have come in handy…

I can't imagine anyone in the PLAN being stupid enough to play chicken with an Iowa.

If new ROEs are instituted, and announced openly, I suspect they'll stop doing that too.

No need for another aircraft, or vessel collision, and should one occur there will be hell to pay.

Maybe we should try to implement that PT boat strategy in the Philippines that we weren't able to pull off before dub dub 2.

Chinese Captain is playing stupid, that's within the arc of the 5" gun on a Burke.

Wonder what the sonic boom of a 5" shell whipping past the bridge of that Chinese ship would do?

@PrivateSnafu: PT boats are a great way to get a dozen sailors killed at a time.

Not if you put surface-to-surface missiles on them, and make them stealthy.

A stealthy PT boat is called a submarine, Thresher.

Though stealthy ships defeat the purpose of Freedom of Navigation exercises like this. You *want* to be seen!

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand