Well, I totally called it. A few days ago I predicted that the Chinese would be angry with us for borrowing a trillion dollars and then degrading them over human rights abuses. Well, low and behold, 5 Chinese ships were harassing a U.S. vessel in international waters the other day. Damn, I’m good.
This was the first result on a search for "i was right." God, I love the internet.
Here’s what happened, on Sunday, a U.S. ship, the Impeccable, was in international waters towing sonar cable that is designed for anti-submarine warfare. This is the first problem with the situation. Anti-submarine warfare? Is there any point to that now? Who has a submarine and is mad at us? We’re all touchy-feely with Russia now that Obama sent the Russian President a letter (sidenote: unofficial sources have informed me that the note said, “Do you want to be allies? Circle one: Yes No Maybe”), so we’re probably not looking to start a war with the Russian Navy. Unless, of course, a Russian sub commander is trying to defect to the U.S., Hunt For Red October-style.
But I digress. Anyway, so five Chinese ships start waving flags at the Impeccable and dropping pieces of wood into the water to mess up the sonar tows. These five ships are listed as, “a naval intelligence vessel, two smaller trawlers, a fisheries patrol boat and an official oceanographic ship.” Sailors on the Impeccable did the only thing they could: they sprayed the other boats with a fire hose. After that, everybody kind of just went home.
Pictured: Chinese Trawler. Not Pictured: Threat Of Any Kind.
A few things: how is a U.S. navy intelligence ship held up by those 5 boats? I know that the Chinese fisheries patrol ships are very imposing, but you’d think the Navy could handle it sans-water cannon. Also, wood? The boats dropped wood in the water? Last time I checked, wood floats, so the Impeccable could have just sat still for a couple of minutes, the wood would have floated away, and the way would have been clear.
Lastly, in the interest of fairness, it should be noted that China does have some submarines and would probably not want us tracking them. On the other hand, their submarines are diesel-powered. If we are spending billions of dollars to produce nuclear submarines equipped with all sorts of torpedoes, counter-measures, and ICBMs, and we can’t beat the underwater equivalent of a mid-70s VW Beetle, then we don’t deserve to be a superpower anymore.