But in recent months and years even there have been numbers of reports of Chinese vessels encroaching on Japanese waters. At one point the Japanese even pursued them to some extent chasing them out of the water.
So, they come, and even the Japanese know that they are there...but the Chinese ALWAYS deny it. There is always accusation of Chinese spying... and this time they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
This leads me to believe that the Chinese vessel was lurking but ultimately got busted. Exactly how it went down we probably won't hear about.
Everyone knows there is not a chance in hell (at this point) that they will shoot at us....maybe at some point in the future...but not now...
So our guys just played the game along with them compelling them to surface.
I will admit to not being a military expert though.
The primary mission of the Seawolf was to destroy Soviet ballistic missile submariness before they could attack American targets. As such, stealth would undoubtedly be one of its endearing aspects. I'm quite comfortable with the carrier group screening capabilities of a SSN-21 & i688 operating in conjunction.
The Seawolf has the highest tactical speed of any US submarine. Much much of the design effort was focused on noise reduction, and it is expected that the fully coated boat will restore the level of acoustic advantage which the US Navy enjoyed for the last three decades. The Seawolf's propulsion system makes it 70 times more quiet than the first generation Los Angeles 688-class and ten times more quiet over its full range of operating speeds than the Los Angeles I-688 class. The Seawolf's quieter propulsion system will also enable it to have twice the tactical speed as the I-688. Overall, Seawolf represents a 75-percent improvement over 688i's -- the Seawolf can operate 75 percent faster before being detected. It is said that SEAWOLF is quieter at its tactical speed of 25 knots than a LOS ANGELES-class submarine at pierside.
What does one want to spend money on? Does want a boatload of B-2s? Or a flock of JSFs or F-22's? Or maybe one wants a herd of SSN-21's?
The total program cost for 12 SSN-21's was estimated in 1991 at $33.6 billion in current dollars with as many as 29 submarines planned. This would have entailed spending 25 percent of the Navy's shipbuilding budget on a ship that was designed for threats that vanished with the end of the Cold War. And so, in the 1992 State of the Union address, President Bush [and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney] proposed the rescission of $2,765,900,000 previously appropriated for the procurement of the second and third Seawolfs. However, in 1995 Congress in its infinite wisdom authorised the termination of the program at three boats. President Clinton endorsed the construction of SSN-23 as the most cost- effective method of retaining the vitality of the submarine industrial base while bridging the gap to the future New Attack Submarine. A FY1998 $153.4 million budget request was the final increment of funding required for completion of the third and final SEAWOLF. The program continues to be managed within the Congressionally mandated cost cap.