John McCain slaps Chinese Submarine!!

[Platapus]

Well, actually it was the USS John S. McCain.

Sub collides with sonar array towed by U.S. Navy ship

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/12/china.submarine/index.html

In what a U.S. military official calls an "inadvertent encounter," a Chinese submarine hit an underwater sonar array being towed by the destroyer USS John McCain on Thursday.

The array was damaged, but the sub and the ship did not collide, the official said. A sonar array is a device towed behind a ship that listens and locates underwater sounds.

The incident occurred near Subic Bay off the coast of the Philippines.

The official, who declined to be named because the incident had not been made public, would not say whether the U.S. ship knew the submarine was that close to it.

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.

The Navy has complained in the past that Chinese vessels, including fishing boats, have deliberately tried to disrupt U.S. naval activities in international waters near China. In one widely publicized incident in March, five Chinese vessels maneuvered close enough to the USNS Impeccable to warrant the use of a fire hose by the unarmed American vessel to avoid a collision. The Navy later released video of that incident.

Is it reasonable for a Chinese Submarine not to be able to detect a towed array to the point it will bump in to the array?

I can't imagine why the Chinese would deliberately bump the array -- too much risk for no "pay off".

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Is it reasonable for a Chinese Submarine not to be able to detect a towed array to the point it will bump in to the array?

Depends on the class of sub I guess.

[SteamWake]

Near the Phillipenes :hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

I doubt the sub knew there was a towed array in operation...but surely the surface vessel must have been aware of the subs close proximity :hmmm:

[SteamWake]

I doubt the sub knew there was a towed array in operation...but surely the surface vessel must have been aware of the subs close proximity :hmmm:

I can imagine the operator ripping off his headphones saying "Good God there right on top of it !" :salute:

[AVGWarhawk]

I doubt the sub knew there was a towed array in operation...but surely the surface vessel must have been aware of the subs close proximity :hmmm:

Jims first piont is assured. Hell, the towed array might as well be a fishing line. The sub should not detect it as far as I know. Point two, towed array is for tracking subs, no? If it was not detecting the Chinese submarine then it was just a fishing line after all.

[desertisland]

What are these people doing in Subic Bay? That at least explains the hush-hush instead of the usual finger-pointing. What losers... :down:

[Jimbuna]

What are these people doing in Subic Bay? That at least explains the hush-hush instead of the usual finger-pointing. What losers... :down:

I reckon the same question could be asked of every side....dependant on where your sympathies/loyalties lie.

Side A....What are the Chinese doing in the Philipines?

Side B....What are the US doing in Taiwanese waters?

[Wolfehunter]

I reckon the same question could be asked of every side....dependant on where your sympathies/loyalties lie.

Side A....What are the Chinese doing in the Philipines?

Side B....What are the US doing in Taiwanese waters?Spying? :D

[Jimbuna]

Spying? :D

Either that.....or fishing :DL

[AVGWarhawk]

I reckon the same question could be asked of every side....dependant on where your sympathies/loyalties lie.

Side A....What are the Chinese doing in the Philipines?

Side B....What are the US doing in Taiwanese waters?

USA has been buddy buddy with Philipines for very long time. Obviously before WW2. I think it is common place for one of USA's vessels to be in these waters. Besides, I think Taiwan is second only to China for imported goods to the USA. OR, they really could have been fishing.....for submarines. :D

[SteamWake]

Either that.....or fishing :DL

Looks like they caught something.. no?

[desertisland]

Taiwanese waters? I didn't know Taiwanese waters were involved.

Is it okay to pop open someone's locker as long as you're his buddy? Sounds like "spying on your buddy" to me.

Furthermore:

How did they know for sure it is a Chinese submarine?
How did they know it is a submarine at all?

"Eh, sir, I think we just lost our towed array."
"Damn the Chinese!"

Someones' been sleeping on his job again. :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpg/180px-USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_%28SSN-711%29#Collision_with_Seamount)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_%28SSN-711%29#Collision_with_Seamount)

[Spike88]

Taiwanese waters? I didn't know Taiwanese waters were involved.

Is it okay to pop open someone's locker as long as you're his buddy? Sounds like "spying on your buddy" to me.

Furthermore:

How did they know for sure it is a Chinese submarine?
How did they know it is a submarine at all?

"Eh, sir, I think we just lost our towed array."
"Damn the Chinese!"

Someones' been sleeping on his job again. :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpg/180px-USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_%28SSN-711%29#Collision_with_Seamount)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_San_Franciso_drydock_Sm.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_%28SSN-711%29#Collision_with_Seamount)


I'm thinking the submarine probably surfaced after hitting the towed array.

[Jimbuna]

The towed array probably knocked a tile or something similar off the hull.

We al know that everything these days has "Made in China" stamped on it :DL

[Frame57]

I reckon the same question could be asked of every side....dependant on where your sympathies/loyalties lie.

Side A....What are the Chinese doing in the Philipines?

Side B....What are the US doing in Taiwanese waters? The Chinese have finally found the location of Betty's B&B in Subic bay....:salute:

[Jimbuna]

The Chinese have finally found the location of Betty's B&B in Subic bay....:salute:

How embarrassing for them should the sub have come across difficulties and been unable to surface resulting in a call for international help.

[desertisland]

Allowing a sub to come into collision range isn't exactly something to brag about, especially when you have a TA sonar. :har:

[SteamWake]

USS John McCain is now 'shadowing' a NK 'freighter' believed to hold illegal cargo.

Cant find any news items on this yet but hit has to do with NK's sabre ratteling and could be a very tense situation. NK claims any attemp to board the freighter would be considered an act of war.

Press is finally catching up with this story

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/19/military-set-intercept-north-korean-ship-suspected-proliferatin-missiles-nukes/

[Jimbuna]

The apparent violation raises the question of how the United States and its allies will respond, particularly since the U.N. resolution does not have a lot of teeth to it.
The resolution would not allow the United States to board the ship forcibly. Rather, U.S. military would have to request permission to board -- a request North Korea is unlikely to grant.


You can never accuse the UN of lacking consistency anyway :nope:

[Max2147]

If a sub is that close to a towed array, the sonar operator ought to be able to determine the class of sub by the sound signature, no? If that's the case, we wouldn't have needed to see the sub surface to know its nationality.