News here of the USS JOHN S. MCCAIN (DDG 56) getting a Chinese sub fouled in its towed array sonar. Very interesting. Very interesting indeed.
Surface based anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is a tough game....the sub's got a lot of advantages. Towing a sonar far behind the ship and depressed down into the water takes away a good bit of that advantage (you get the sensor in the same water column as the sub). The physics of how sound moves in water is a subject unto itself, but suffice it to say that it could have been very difficult for the sub to know there was a surface ship in the area--as difficult as it was for the ship to find the sub. Without any "inside" knowledge, I'd say MCCAIN had been tracking the CHICOM sub at a distance, then lost it acoustically (followed by finding it mechanically!).
The Chinese are improving as submariners, but we don't consider them to be first-teamers. Putting aside the whole international incident nature of this thing, I'm awful glad to know that we were out there trying to (and possibly succeeding in) track this guy.
Reaganite's Sunday Funnies
5 hours ago
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"However, the Navy does not believe this was a deliberate incident of Chinese harassment, as it would have been extremely dangerous had the array gotten caught in the submarine's propellers."
This presumes that the Chinese sub commander was aware that MCCAIN had streamed its tail. Not sure how he would know that although if he's worth his MSG as a tactician, he probably should assume that MCCAIN had done so. That said, while he may not have been "harrassing" in the playing chicken with rules of the road sense, one has to wonder what he was doing that close to MCCAIN. Hardly seems like a random encounter. Not as if it occurred in the international waters of the Taiwan strait which China claims in violation of international law. I can believe that there may be pressure from the White House residents not to say anything that might appear as if we are displeased by anything the peace loving people of PRC might have done, but I am equally surprised that the White House residents didn't jump on the opportunity to blame all of this on McCain. Can you imagine if BUSH were involved?
I wonder what kind of bait McCain was using, pork lo mein?
"...suffice it to say that it could have been very difficult for the sub to know there was a surface ship in the area..."
But don't subs have that huge picture window in the front like the one on "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"?
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