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USS Impeccable Harassed by Five Chinese Ships in South China Sea - Video Report 3/9/09
Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | March 9, 2009 | BrianinMO

Posted on 03/09/2009 1:15:19 PM PDT by Federalist Patriot

Here is a video report by Jim Miklazewski at the Pentagon on news that the USS Impeccable, an unarmed U.S. Navy ship, was harassed yesterday by 5 Chinese Ships in International Waters. The Impeccable is a minesweeper, and reportedly used water canon to force one of the Chinese ships away that was attempting to latch onto the Impeccable with a grappling hook. The incident took place in international waters in the South China Sea, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island. The United States has reportedly lodged a protest with the Chinese Government. . . . . . (Watch Video Report)

(Excerpt) Read more at freedomslighthouse.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: china; piracy; tm; ussimpeccable
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To: Former Proud Canadian

Oh, fine. My bad, sorry.


41 posted on 03/09/2009 2:45:31 PM PDT by Leisler
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To: Leisler

I dunno why US should feel outraged by it. If you’re going to spy on the Chinese naval movement, you would expect them to want to block it. This goes both ways


42 posted on 03/09/2009 3:01:19 PM PDT by 4rcane
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To: sten

As if your screen name wouldn’t.....


43 posted on 03/09/2009 3:06:13 PM PDT by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
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To: usmcobra

well, the name was after a para-military character in the self-named book series... not the british tommy gun


44 posted on 03/09/2009 3:48:11 PM PDT by sten
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To: Smokin' Joe

Yes they did. This is not the 1st or 2nd or 3rd time that the Chinese have harrassed this ship...and you would expect that by now we would have something more beefy escorting her to warn the ChiComms off. They are harassing her because they know full well that she is capable of tagging their new submarines.


45 posted on 03/09/2009 3:56:09 PM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: Travis T. OJustice

As usual.


46 posted on 03/09/2009 4:11:05 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: Jeff Head

If the vessel were armed, it would require naval personnel to man it. There is not enough berthing and crew space for this, besides, the captain of the vessel is a civilian, contracted by MSC.


47 posted on 03/09/2009 4:14:26 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: Star Traveler

The Russians used to harass these vessels a lot in the ‘80s, except it was always in international waters and they didn’t get this close.


48 posted on 03/09/2009 4:16:47 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: Star Traveler

It was originally designed for this purpose only. The older SURTASS ships were monohulls.


49 posted on 03/09/2009 4:18:29 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: stuartcr

You said — “The Russians used to harass these vessels a lot in the ‘80s, except it was always in international waters and they didn’t get this close.”

I think the Chinese are still amateurs..., kind of like the Somali pirates, but with a bit more hardware... :-)


50 posted on 03/09/2009 4:19:12 PM PDT by Star Traveler
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To: Jeff Head

One of the reasons they are not escorted, is because the escorts would introduce extra noise.


51 posted on 03/09/2009 4:20:35 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: Star Traveler

And the Chinese and our targets of interest are not out in the middle of the Pacific either.


52 posted on 03/09/2009 4:21:42 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: autumnraine

This is not quite the challenge it was when China bullied the new Bush administration around and embarrassed the entire country by sending our military plane home in pieces.


53 posted on 03/09/2009 4:23:27 PM PDT by Dr. Marten
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To: stuartcr

You said — “It was originally designed for this purpose only. The older SURTASS ships were monohulls.”

Quote from article — “The Impeccable is a minesweeper...”

Then why is it said to be a minesweeper.

They’re already reporting what it’s doing in using the sonar for detecting Chinese subs — so it makes no sense to report the ship as being a different kind of ship, saying a “minesweeper”... (in other words, I didn’t make up the designation... :-) ...)


54 posted on 03/09/2009 4:23:43 PM PDT by Star Traveler
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To: Federalist Patriot
"You're gunna have to do more than protest!"
55 posted on 03/09/2009 4:28:48 PM PDT by Mat_Helm
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To: Federalist Patriot
It is a sad state of affairs that the Chinese feel they need to harass an unarmed ship.

If they only knew what their future holds, they wouldn't be so insecure about the circumstances today.

56 posted on 03/09/2009 5:10:36 PM PDT by ponder life
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To: Star Traveler
Then why is it said to be a minesweeper.

Because the media knows jack about the military and sucks at research

In this case they typed USS Impeccable (It's a US navy ship, right?) unto google and came up with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Impeccable_(AM-320)

Whereas the correct query "USNS Impeccable" gives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Impeccable_(T-AGOS-23)

57 posted on 03/09/2009 5:31:42 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy ( As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities. - D)
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To: Star Traveler

That part of the article is incorrect. Just do a search on the ship or on US minesweepers..


58 posted on 03/09/2009 5:37:10 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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To: stuartcr
I understand that full well...but since it is doing a rather overt military intelligence job of tracking potential agressor submarines...I personally believe it warrants it. They could have a small security attachemnt for either 50s or the 25mm.
59 posted on 03/09/2009 5:41:55 PM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: Jeff Head

These guys spend months at sea, with no port visits, far longer than any navy vessel other than subs. These incidents are rare enough that a naval detachment would be a complete waste of time. They would have absolutely nothing to do for long periods of time, no work outs, lousy food, no communications with home, the navy won’t do that.


60 posted on 03/09/2009 5:48:28 PM PDT by stuartcr (If the end doesn't justify the means...why have different means?)
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