Posted on 05/26/2023 8:14:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
A Chinese salvage ship has been caught looting British World War II shipwrecks near the Malaysian coast.
The vessel, a dredger named Chuan Hong 68, was seen lurking near the shipwrecks of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and cruiser HMS Repulse, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
Imperial Japanese forces destroyed both ships in December 1941, resulting in the loss of 842 British sailors — a significant setback for the Royal Navy in the Far East.
The sites of the shipwrecks are officially designated war graves, according to a statement from the Royal Navy National Museum.
Chuan Hong 68’s activities were first noticed by Malaysian media and “open-source intelligence analysts” last week, News.com.au reported.
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According to the U.S. Naval Institute, a private nonprofit military association, local reports indicated that Chuan Hong 68 was using a large dredging crane to lift metal scraps from the shipwrecks.
HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were built with high-quality steel, according to reports. As such, the wrecks are a lucrative source of scraps that can be smelted and reused.
According to News.com.au, police discovered live ammunition, British anti-aircraft cannons, an anchor and pieces of a ship’s hull at a jetty in Malaysia.
Chuan Hong 68’s crew has a reputation for being a group of “illegal scavengers,” the Mail reported.
Speaking to the Malaysian outlet the New Straits Times, a source said that the vessel has been looting shipwrecks for about 10 years.
“Ten years ago, it resembled a dilapidated barge. But it is now fitted with high-technology equipment,” the source said of the ship.
“They operate mechanically and entirely from the surface of the barge, which is equipped with cranes sporting huge metal claws,” the source said, adding that “the claws can plunge more than [200 meters] deep. It chops up the ship and pulls up [100] tonnes of metal in one go.”
The crew reportedly consists of well-paid Chinese, Nepalese, Malaysian and Bangladeshi nationals.
The Times reported that Chuan Hong 68 has engaged in illegal scavenging of World War II shipwrecks off the coasts of Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam and is wanted by authorities in Indonesia.
Adm. Lord Alan West, former head of the Royal Navy, called the scavenging operation an “absolute disgrace,” according to the Mail.
“These are burial sites with all the bodies still there. These Chinese wreckers or scrap metal men don’t give a damn about this,” he said.
“It’s a loathsome thing to do. It’s very distressing for the families and next of kin of those sailors killed on HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales.”
First, that disgusting. They are war graves.
Second, if the CCP is involved it’s an act of war.
Third, if that is a Chinese flagged ship, they are responsible for the despicable act.
You’d think these Chinese sons of bitches would be grateful for the Allied lives expended against the Japanese invaders. That’s what ya get from the God-less.
Ironic that the two main countries we fought for in WWII, China and Russia are now our enemies.
Be too bad if that Chinese ship were to hit a mine or something. Or if they happened to dredge up some live 14-inch shells.
Yeah, too bad.....................😉
Scumbags.
In the CCP re-written history, the USA watched the Chinese and Japanese fight during WWII, while doing nothing.
Mock up a WWII magnetic mine, release it from a sub leading the bearing of this outlaw ship while it is underway and boom. Plausible deniability. Problem solved.
If we knew then what we know now, we should have just let the Japs have it.
Strong letter to follow
The CCP and the Nationalists Chinese worked hard to fight each other, wanting the USA and allies to defeat the Chinese, while the Chinese worked to defeat each other.
There was considerable sympathy for the Chinese Communists in the USA, especially in the State Department.
After WWII, McCarthy was able to get rid of some of the Chinese Communist sympathizers in the State Department, but, ultimately, the US Media, dominated by Progressives, got rid of Senator McCarthy.
IIRC, the reason these old wrecks are valuable are because they are made of pre-atomic-age steel. It can be used in sensitive equipment that atomic-age metal isn’t suitable for.
The Japs big mistake was aligning with Germany. Had they not done that, we might have been more willing to look the other way at their shenanigans in Asia.
From my BRAVE Browser AI:
“Pre-atomic-age steel, also known as low-background steel or pre-war steel, is any steel produced prior to the detonation of the first nuclear bombs in the 1940s and 1950s. It is primarily sourced from shipwrecks and other steel artifacts of this era, and is often used for modern particle detectors because more modern steel is contaminated with traces of nuclear fallout. Since the cessation of atmospheric nuclear testing, background radiation has decreased to very near natural levels, making special low-background steel no longer necessary for most radiation-sensitive applications, as brand-new steel now has a low enough radioactive signature that it can generally be used in such applications. Steel made before 1945 is primarily sourced from the ocean, in sunken ships from WWII, and hasn’t been recycled and mixed with newer radioactive steel.”
“In the CCP re-written history, the USA watched the Chinese and Japanese fight during WWII, while doing nothing.”
CCP did very little in the way of fighting Japan. Nationalist army did nearly all of the fighting. Kind of ironic.
While Mao focused on fighting Chiang Kai-Shek.
Simple. Turn their ship into a watery grave.
They thought, with some justification: We have to jump in to get our share of the pie.
An excellent book on what the Japanese were thinking was translated after the war, to English, by the Marine Corp, and distributed.
“While Mao focused on fighting Chiang Kai-Shek.”
True. Chiang Kai-Shek almost had Mao defeated, but Stillwell (someone I admire on most things but not this) and others insisted he divert forces to fight Japan, thus a missed opportunity.
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