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As a military officer of over 20 years now there are a couple of things I have learned regarding the Chinese.

1. The average military members are not the bogey man that we make them out to be. While clearly they will do things we will not or at least we show restraint to do they are doing jobs too.

2. They make many a mistake...and so do we. We brought a sub up under a Japanese fishing boat. It was an accident that could have been avoided but we messed up.

The towed sonar array may not have been on, may not have been functioning properly and I am sure there are a few more possibilities. I guess what I am trying to say is that we don't have all the facts and immediately think its another Wang Wey pilot incident like what happened to our EP-3 over the South China Sea forcing it to land on Chinese owned Hainan island.

Things like this happen...its a bit of a dangerous game. Fortunately no one hurt or dead. Makes for some humorous headlines and yes, I am sure that a Chinese Sub Commander is getting his right now.

Do you suppose this Chicom sub was diesel-electric? Just how quiet are diesel electric subs these days? I know a bit about sub technology, but it is rather dated and I’ve heard that diesel-electrics are more of a challenge than they used to be, but I’m not terribly sure why this would be.

Just wondering.

The towed sonar array may not have been on, may not have been functioning properly and I am sure there are a few more possibilities.

I am sure it was some kind of accident but the statement that we did not know the sub was there is absurd. The whole purpose of a destroyer is to kill subs and they have their own active and passive sonar systems not even related to the towed array that would have been going ballistic with a sub that close.

“Things like this happen...its a bit of a dangerous game”

I doubt all that, but one thing’s for sure, the Chicomm sub knew it was sneaking up on a US boat.