Unless: Stealth technology *cloaking now*
Posted on 06/18/2011 6:34:06 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Manila to send World War II warship into disputed area
04:47 AM Jun 18, 2011
MANILA - With tensions rising over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the Philippines said yesterday it will send its biggest warship, a World War II vessel, to the area after China deployed one of its largest civilian maritime patrol ships.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III also said his government will continue to seek dialogue but insisted his country will not be bullied by China.
"We will not be pushed around because we are a tiny state compared with theirs," Mr Aquino said. "We think we have very solid grounds to say 'do not intrude into our territory'."
The Philippine warship, BRP Rajah Humabon (picture), once used by the United States against German submarines, will patrol around Scarborough Shoal near the Spratly Islands, according to reports.
At 306 feet, it is smaller than the 367-foot Haixun-31 patrol vessel sent by China on Wednesday.
Philippine defence department spokesman Eduardo Batac, however, played down any connection with China's deployment - saying it was just "part of routine patrols that are being conducted by the Navy".
"The Navy conducts regular offshore patrols and we should not connect the deployment of Rajah Humabon to the deployment of this maritime vessel of China," he said.
The Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have competing claims in the South China Sea, which is believed to hold vast oil and gas reserves.
But China's claim is by far the largest, forming a large U-shape over most of the sea's 1.7 million sq km area, including the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.
Tensions have been rising in recent months over the overlapping territorial claims.
The Vietnam Navy conducted live-fire exercises on Monday after accusing Chinese boats of disrupting oil and gas exploration in its waters.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has also issued a decree about a potential military call-up if war broke out.
Meanwhile, apart from deploying a patrol vessel, China said it will boost its coastal forces.
The expansion of the China Maritime Surveillance (CMS) forces, a paramilitary law enforcement agency that patrols China's territorial waters, shows Beijing's resolve to protect its "maritime rights and sovereignty" which it says have been increasingly violated.
The personnel in the CMS will rise to 15,000 by 2020 from 9,000 now while the number of its surveillance vessels will increase from 260 to 350 by 2015, the China Daily reported.
China also said its maritime defence forces recently staged three days and nights of exercises in the South China Sea.
The drills involved a total of 14 patrol boats, landing craft and submarine hunting boats, along with two military aircraft, the People's Daily newspaper said.
It said the exercises were aimed at refining anti-submarine, replenishment and island defence capabilities in order to better respond to any future sudden crisis. Agencies
Unless: Stealth technology *cloaking now*
China has had its eyes on the oil rich Spratly Islands for years now even laying claim to some. As the U.S. weakens both economically and militarily, look for China to make a military move to secure the islands resources.
>>Gosh, must be some value to a US defensive umbrella after all. If we’re going to continue protecting other nation’s sovereignty, they should be paying into an “insurance” pool.
Other than that, ‘eff ‘em, they don’t like us much anyway.
On second thought, nevermind; let ‘em learn to speak Mandarin.<<
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I’m very familiar with Philippine politics as my brother is married to one and we have business going on in Cebu and Manila.
I had a “weird” conversation at the Manila Hotel years ago at the lobby and it was a gentleman who walked across Manila Blvd from the US Embassy to the Manila Hotel. We were discussing how then-President Arroyo who studied at Columbia was hilariously trying to put down political questions if American Spec Ops are operating in Southern Mindanao where Al qaeda is based in Asia. This guy then says the CIA owns the Philippine National Police. I said, really?’ He then interjects “but the DOD controls the Philippine Army...bastards”.
Probably last in ETO. Japanese boats were probably sunk later.
Is that actual footage of the Eldridge?
Mk52 GFCS with Mk41 Rangefinder for 3-inch (76 mm) guns, Mk51 GFCS for 40 mm guns, 3”/50 caliber guns, twin Bofors 40 mm/60 cal guns, Oerlikon 20 mm/70 cal cannons. I would love to go onboard this ship-as museum ship. Although I would note we still had 3”/50s on our amphibious ships up until the early-mid 90s.
Yes, they are probably now regretting giving us the boot in 1992, when they kicked us out of the Subic Bay Navy Base. Mount Pinatubo destroyed Clark AFB, about an hour drive NW of Subic Bay back in 1991. We wrote off Clark as a total loss, but wanted to keep Subic, but alas, the Philippine Senate refused to ratify a new base treaty and we pulled out in November, 1992.
Subic Bay Navy Base and Clark Air Force Base were our largest Navy and Air Force Bases outside the United States when we were there. Maybe with this Chinese saber rattling, they will allow us to move back into Subic Bay and possibly Clark. I'd be willing to bet that if we still had our bases in the Philippines, that the Chinese would not be near as belligerent as they are now.
The PI had better hurry, though. I read a few days ago that the Vietnamese may soon make an offer to the United States to allow our Navy use of Cam Rahn Bay and to make Cam Rahn Bay a U.S. Navy Base again. We had a major Navy base there during the Vietnam War. You know it is getting bad with the Chinese when our former enemies are seriously considering asking our Navy to return to Cam Rahn Bay and to stay there.
The Russians/Soviets pulled out of there ten years ago and with the Chinese also rattling sabers at the Vietnamese of late, they figure our making Cam Rahn Bay a major U.S. Navy base in the South China Sea a deterent from the Chinese attacking them.
“As the U.S. weakens both economically and militarily,”
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SEE ALSO: “free trade”.
It sank a U-Boat the day after VE day? Must be an interesting story there.
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