[autumnraine]

This is worse than what was earlier reported, I don’t recall them saying they tried to hook on to the Impeccable.

And I just love how the US is going to “protest”.

“You better stop it or I’m going to lodge a formal complaint!”

[Leisler]

What’s Urkel and Thunder Thighs going to do?

[combat_boots]

“one of the Chinese ships away that was attempting to latch onto the Impeccable with a grappling hook.”

In international waters?

And 0bama says what. “Stop it”?

5:1. Brave. Very brave.

[Smokin' Joe]

SOunds like another surveillance plane ploy to me. Good that the Impeccable managed to not hit any of the Chinese ships or they would have had to mess up whatever equipment they have on board the Clintons did not already sell to China.

[Smokin' Joe]

ping!

[sten]

i believe unleashing one of these would solve the problem

(and yes... i think googling for this put me on someone's list...)

[Non-Sequitur]

The Impeccable is a minesweeper....

Riiiight.

[MeganC]

Sounds like attempted piracy.

[MeganC]

It's not a "minesweeper"

http://www.msc.navy.mil/annualreport/2001/pm2.htm

Ocean Surveillance Seven government-owned ships and one chartered vessel supported the Navy's undersea surveillance needs in FY 2001. USNS Prevail, USNS Assertive, USNS Bold, USNS Loyal, USNS Victorious, USNS Able, USNS Effective and MV Cory Chouest worked directly with units from the Navy’s numbered fleets. MV Cory Chouest, a privately owned and MSC-chartered ship, also continued to test a new sonar system. This new system will be installed on a new MSC surveillance vessel, USNS Impeccable, to provide both active and passive sonar capabilities. Impeccable was under construction as of Sept. 30, 2001.

It's a spy ship, not a minesweeper, and that's according to the USN.

[IrishCatholic]

Somebody forgot to tell the Navy we were giving them the ship. Clinton and Obama had already made a deal.
I hope the captain won't get in trouble for forgetting our new appeasement and surrender policies.

[Jeff Head]

The Impeccable is not a combatant. she is operated by the Military Sealift Command and is crewed by civilains with Navy Officers. She is an Ocean Surveillance vessel with the specific mission of tracking submarines, and is the quietest ship the US Government operates, outside of our nuclear submarines themselves. She has a very unique, and very quiet hull.

Such ships serve as a stable platform to gather underwater acoustical data. Impeccable was specifically designed to deploy two underwater listening devices called surveillance towed-array sensor system (SURTASS) used to augment the Navy's antisubmarine warfare capability. The SURTASS mission is to gather ocean acoustical data and, through electronic equipment onboard, process and provide rapid transmission of antisubmarine warfare information via satellite to shore stations for evaluation and analysis.

The Chinese know this and this is why they are so touchy about it. Their new subs are likely being tagged by this vessel.

IMHO, they should have armed this vessel for self defense purposes at the very least. A 20mm CIWS or a RAM launcher, and at least a couple of .50 cal machine guns, or better yet the newer 25mm cannons,

Here she is:

[Jeff Head]

Here's another pic:

[Tupelo]

I am real sure this is a test probe to see what the new administration will do and how far they can be pushed.
I seem to remember a Navy observation plane that was forced to land on a Chinese island back in the first few weeks/months of the Bush administration.
Heck I am curious to see the Obama response.

[bushpilot1]

The video reported the chinese attempted to latch onto the sonar buoy line not the ship.

[Mat_Helm]

"You're gunna have to do more than protest!"

[ponder life]

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.