November 14, 2006

• h4x
• Don't think of it as "stalking," think of it as "high seas slapstick."
• That's so awesome it hurts. Anyone seen Down Periscope?
• The Kitty Hawk battle group includes an attack submarine and anti-submarine helicopters that are charged with protecting the warships from submarine attack. we swam below our sonar worked but it's true I am not Captain Kirk we noticed nothing on patrol when we go ashore my head will roll
• The Washington Times is maybe not the best source for pretty much anything. I tried Googling for any confirming news stories, but nothing turned up within the limits of my patience.
• Could we get some Dreadnaught commentary, please?
• Oh jesus, I bet that hardly ever occurs. The getting caught bit.
• The submarine encounter with the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships also is an embarrassment to the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon, who is engaged in an ambitious military exchange program with China aimed at improving relations between the two nations' militaries. Well, I wonder how ardent anti-communist Reverend Sun Myung Moon, humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent and owner of the Washingon Times feels about improved relations between the United States and China. Apart from this Washington Times article, I haven't seen anyone else report that the US Navy did not detect the sub. While I have no experience or knowledge to go on, I would have thought that if the sub was not detected, that that would have been a classified right away. Damn you for making me link to Malkin!
• Oh, how the mighty have Fallon!
• This is a giggle: The surprise encounter highlights China's continuing efforts to prepare for a future conflict with the U.S. So, the presence of (Pacific nation) the US's battle group in waters off Okinawa is evidence of an ongoing global mission to spread hugs and rainbows, the submarine from (Pacific nation) China is meanwhile bent on evil conflict. Ooh these fading and emerging superpowers and their fun and games.
• On my more cynical days, I think authoritarian nations can only define themselves by singling out some enemy nation to oppose. And if that's allowed to go long enough, then they turn into the enemy.
• Is that some sort of insight? .
• And so the Navy will insist on less restrictions on sonar, and more whales will have their brains turned to jelly, all for the sake of freedom, of course.
• Damn you for making me link to Malkin! Hey, some people worship Malkin, ya know.
• This report has been confirmed by the U.S. Pacific Commander Admiral William Fallon & has been backed by multiple other sources. These are internationally travelled waters, & one imagines that not only military vessels are in the area. It is not possible to classify every such event, particularly if witnessed by civilians. It is perhaps possible that reporters are even on board U.S. vessels in support of the fleet. Apologies for linking to the Moonie Times, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Who knows, the story could very well be some kind of Psy-Ops, too. It does have that stench about it. A suspicion arises that the Office of Naval Intelligence itself may have deliberately leaked this report in order to rally public support against an attack against Iran, considering where the 5th Fleet is right now. The NeoCons are not exactly being supported by the Brass right now.
• I saw this somewhere yesterday too. Can't remember where. I think it's kind of aces. All that expensive kit rolling around playing tick. Face it, if you were given control of a massive submarine, what would you do?
• Turn it into a bong.
• My impression is that this is kind of interesting, but not surprising or alarming. This kind of exercise was standard practice during the Cold War, and is part of the standard repetoire of any serious submarine fleet. Indeed, the Americans are so fond of approaching foreign warships with their submarines that they refused to allow submarines to be part of the Incidents at Sea agreements that regulate the way warships deal with one another in peacetime. The Chinese have a strong strategic incentive to get good at getting close to US aircraft carriers. In the event of a war between the PRC and Taiwan, the commies would want to make the Americans feel that moving a high-value power projection unit like a carrier battle group into the Straight would be too dangerous to be worth it. In other words, the article's spin that the Chinese are being unusually agressive or that this is somehow a humiliation for the Americans is incorrect. What this may indicate is that the Chinese are becoming better at operating subs at long ranges, but that rather depends on whether this sort of thing has happened before, which we don't know. We also don't know when the sub was detected. There's a long history of pretending that aircraft just happened to stumble across ships that they had actually located relatively precicely ahead of time. It is interesting that this thing came to the surface so close to a US carrier. There are indications that training for Chinese submariners lags substantially behind that of other navies of a similar size. It could be that the sub 'broached', coming to the surface by accident. This would be a significant failure. One would normally expect the submarine to come and go without announcing its presence.
• "We will float off their largesht shitty, and lishten to their 'rock n roll', while we conduct missile drillsh"
• China Cracks; Fallon Gonged.
• NPR reported this this morning as well leaving me to wonder if we should be afraid, be very afraid, and then wondering what I should be afraid of, the Chi-Comms, the Psy-Ops, Nice Polite Republicans, or Archer Daniels Midlands, Supermarket to the World! And Malkin gets it wrong, as usual. And I linked to her!!! /flings poo straight up into the air
• Actually, given the spy plane incident of 2001, I'm surprised more of this hasn't come up sooner. China has been wanting more of a blue water navy presence for decades and subs are an economical way to start compared to the cost of an aircraft carrier.
• Be afraid of governments. All of them.
• This goes on all the time. And vice versa, with all countries with a navy. What do you think submarines do?
• "Actually, given the spy plane incident of 2001, I'm surprised more of this hasn't come up sooner." Yeah, but luckily the terrorists attacked on 9/11, and we had a ready-made enemy.
• What do you think submarines do? Our tend to catch fire
• Tee hee- I see those wretched little 'uns chugging past my office window from time to time - they're teh Pintos of the harbour. Never buy a used vehicle from a relative, I say!