“The Chinese will not fire on a US Capital Ship.
They know the consequences. “
AS I recall, the Israelis fired on a USN ship and the North Koreans captured another one. I don’t recall anything done in either case except some whining by Jimmie Carter.
Do I have that right?
You do realize the response on attacking a carrier vs a destroyer would probably be different, that is an American moving island with 5000 sailors on board. It will get a heavy response.
Yes, but context matters.
The USS Liberty was immediately proclaimed by Israel as an error.
USS Pueblo was a captured spy boat who's crew were released after 11 months and some torture/abuse.
Both were small, auxillary vessels.
There's a big difference between those incidents and the sinking of a 10,000 Ton DDG. Or even firing on it.
Those reefs would go back to being reefs before the call even reached the Pentagon.