Navy Confused About 'Intent' Of Chinese

From the Navy Times:

Navy confirms Chinese sub spotted near carrier
By Philip Creed
Staff writer

The Navy did spot a Chinese submarine near the Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group last month in the East China Sea, the Navy said Monday afternoon, verifying parts of a Monday morning article in The Washington Times that said a Chinese submarine had come within "firing range" of the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on Oct. 26.

"While conducting operations, a Chinese navy Song-class submarine was sighted near the strike group by a U.S. Navy aircraft," said Navy spokesman Lt. Sarah Self-Kyler, who would say only that the incident occurred in "late October" near Okinawa, Japan.

Both ships were operating in international waters at the time, Self-Kyler said, and "there was no communication" between the submarine and any U.S. Navy vessels after the sub was spotted. The Kitty Hawk group was conducting routine carrier training at the time of the incident, Self-Kyler said, adding that the strike group was not conducting anti-submarine warfare operations during the exercise.

Ding ding ding. Wait a second. Are you seriously going to tell me that we deploy trillions of dollars worth of military hardware in the form of a Carrier, two Cruisers, several Destroyers and Frigates and dozens and dozens of aircraft, not to mention thousands of US Sailors, even for training or other non-warfare missions, and WE DON'T BOTHER TAKING BASIC ASW PRECAUTIONS ??? Whoever has that policy as the standard operating procedure should be fired immediately. Does that sort of incompetence and laziness and overconfidence smack of 1941 to anyone but me?

When you read the new Bill Gertz article in today's Washington Times, the statement goes like this: "The carrier was not engaged in anti-submarine warfare exercises at the time and thus did not have active patrols for submarines. As a result, submarine defenses for the carrier and its accompanying warships will be reviewed." What the FUCK? We're saying that because they weren't actively patrolling for submarines that they don't take any other measures? They can't detect enemy subs within 5 miles unless they're actively patrolling for them? That without a concerted effort to look for enemy subs that they were sitting ducks? Shouldn't passive defense at the very least be standard at all times out of port? Well officer, I was reading the newspaper while I was driving, so I couldn't possibly have seen the other car...

The Washington Times report claimed that the submarine "shadowed" Kitty Hawk, surfacing within five miles of the carrier before it was finally spotted by an aircraft.

Self-Kyler would confirm only that the sub was "in close proximity" of the strike group and could not say how long the submarine remained on the surface after being spotted.

News of the submarine spotting comes as Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Gary Roughead is visiting China to meet with civilian and military leaders. Roughead arrived Sunday for the weeklong visit, which includes a visit to the amphibious transport dock Juneau during a joint search-and-rescue exercise with the People's Liberation Army Navy, according to a Navy release.

According to an Associated Press report, Roughead "really would like to know what the intent is in some of the developments" he's seen in the navy of the People's Liberation Army. A Pacific Fleet spokesman would not comment Monday afternoon whether the sub incident would be among the subjects discussed by Roughead.

Kitty Hawk and a number of 7th Fleet ships are currently taking part in the AnnualEx 18G, the largest annual bilateral exercise between the Navy and Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, according to the Navy.

The Kitty Hawk departed its home port of Yokosuka, Japan, on Oct. 17 for a fall deployment.

Hey Admiral Roughead! I think the intent of the Chinese is to gain enough intelligence and operational experience to eventually sink the 7th Fleet when the shit hits the fan! I'm not sure why you're confused about the 'intent' of this future enemy. The intent is to test and gauge and probe and assess. Our intent seems to be simply to let them! But hey, whatever. Keep on schmoozing with the warlords of the dictatorship. I'm sure they'll love visiting the USS Juneau and seeing how we conduct operations. Maybe you could just give them the keys to the Situation Room at the Pentagon? I mean why not. The Chinese already seem to have free roam of our top secret nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos. Just escort them into the war room and let them see everything. Let them see the big board! I mean my God, the big board!



The Washington Times' intrepid reporter Bill Gertz has a new column about the military's response to his piece yesterday. Read it here. I think the funniest part in this column is where Gertz reports:

The submarine encounter also took U.S. intelligence agencies by surprise because of years of analyses that continue to portray a benign China, said a defense official.

"Our China analysts appeared to be stunned that China would shadow a U.S. carrier as far away as Okinawa," the defense official said."

Well. Doesn't THAT make our collective selves look stupid. They were stunned?! Anyone following public news reports over the past ten years or reading official statements of the PLA and the Communist dictatorship would have recognized that the Chinese intend to challenge our control of the East Asian sphere. I wonder if these are the same intelligence officials responsible for WMD and Bin Laden? God help us all.

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