Top Scholar Predicts “Slow Motion Humanitarian Tragedy” in China
| July 29, 1967 - The worst accident aboard a US Navy surface vessel since WWII. |
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Posted on 11/09/2007 4:55:08 PM PST by fanfan
When the U.S. Navy deploys a battle fleet on exercises, it takes the security of its aircraft carriers very seriously indeed.
At least a dozen warships provide a physical guard while the technical wizardry of the world's only military superpower offers an invisible shield to detect and deter any intruders.
That is the theory. Or, rather, was the theory.
American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk - a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.
By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.
According to senior Nato officials the incident caused consternation in the U.S. Navy.
The Americans had no idea China's fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication, or that it posed such a threat.
One Nato figure said the effect was "as big a shock as the Russians launching Sputnik" - a reference to the Soviet Union's first orbiting satellite in 1957 which marked the start of the space age.
The incident, which took place in the ocean between southern Japan and Taiwan, is a major embarrassment for the Pentagon.
The lone Chinese vessel slipped past at least a dozen other American warships which were supposed to protect the carrier from hostile aircraft or submarines.
And the rest of the costly defensive screen, which usually includes at least two U.S. submarines, was also apparently unable to detect it.
According to the Nato source, the encounter has forced a serious re-think of American and Nato naval strategy as commanders reconsider the level of threat from potentially hostile Chinese submarines.
It also led to tense diplomatic exchanges, with shaken American diplomats demanding to know why the submarine was "shadowing" the U.S. fleet while Beijing pleaded ignorance and dismissed the affair as coincidence.
Analysts believe Beijing was sending a message to America and the West demonstrating its rapidly-growing military capability to threaten foreign powers which try to interfere in its "backyard".
The People's Liberation Army Navy's submarine fleet includes at least two nuclear-missile launching vessels.
Its 13 Song Class submarines are extremely quiet and difficult to detect when running on electric motors.
Commodore Stephen Saunders, editor of Jane's Fighting Ships, and a former Royal Navy anti-submarine specialist, said the U.S. had paid relatively little attention to this form of warfare since the end of the Cold War.
He said: "It was certainly a wake-up call for the Americans.
"It would tie in with what we see the Chinese trying to do, which appears to be to deter the Americans from interfering or operating in their backyard, particularly in relation to Taiwan."
In January China carried a successful missile test, shooting down a satellite in orbit for the first time.
Pay no attention to real subs today, our main enemy is one who think about developing weapons sometime in the future to attack us. Or so it is written.
Is this the same navy that wants to give the oceans to the UN?
Well, considering that the USN dismantled most of its ASW capabilities back in the early 1990s during the New World Order nonsense, I guess the admirals shouldn’t be too surprised...
Yea, dunno if it’s a rehash or a new incident. I’m sure Gertz will cover it.
didnt Clinton give away our quiet prop technology?
If we detected their sub would we announce it?
Regards
What exactly did we give them that would apply in this case?
They just wanted to “play” too. It sent an interesting message but also tipped their hand, big time. Something fishy about that ... if we can believe any of this, I must add.
Not good.
Hi everyone
Apparently this may be last years story.
If the Chinese haven’t actually popped in on us for a year or so, we can relax.
There may be nothing to see here.
Move along.
;-D
| July 29, 1967 - The worst accident aboard a US Navy surface vessel since WWII. |
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Only if we wanted them to feel 'confident'.
That’s the problem in a nut shell.
What puzzles me in all this is why the submarine surfaced. Having snuck undetected into the middle of the task group one would think that the surfacing would be the last thing it would do. You do not advertise your capabilities to your opponent. It could be that the sub didn’t realize just how close it was to the carrier.
Ping.
Wasn’t it a rocket from John McCain’s jet that started the “Forest Fire??
No. It was a missile from another plane that hit his.
Toshiba
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