On Sunday, five Chinese vessels shadowed and then maneuvered aggressively toward USNS Impeccable, a U.S. government oceanographic survey ship. Impeccable was operating in international waters 70 miles south of Hainan Island when the confrontation occurred. This article from AFPS finishes the story:
The Chinese vessels dropped pieces of wood in the water directly in the Impeccable’s path, and two of the ships stopped directly in the U.S. vessel’s path, forcing it to stop.
[Defense Department spokesman Bryan] Whitman said the Chinese used poles in an attempt to snag the Impeccable’s towed acoustic array sonars. Impeccable’s master used bridge-to-bridge radio circuits to inform the Chinese ships in a friendly manner that it was leaving the area and requested a safe path to navigate.
The confrontation with Impeccable was the culmination of a series of recent brush ups between the U.S. and China, as the article explains:
A Chinese patrol vessel shined a high-intensity spotlight March 4 on the USNS Victorious operating in the Yellow Sea 125 miles from China’s coast. Chinese maritime aircraft “buzzed” the ship 12 times March 5.
A Chinese frigate crossed the bow of the Impeccable at a range of about 100 yards March 5. Maritime aircraft buzzed the ship after that incident.
Another Chinese ship challenged Impeccable over bridge-to-bridge radio March 7, calling its operations illegal and directing the American ship to leave the area or "suffer the consequences,” officials said.
The Impeccable is one of six surveillance ships that gather underwater acoustical data, Whitman said. U.S. ships routinely operate in the area.
Commentary
What exactly Impeccable and Victorious were doing near China is likely highly classified. A very good bet is that these ships were collecting data about water characteristics and ocean bottom features that are crucial to potential U.S. submarine and anti-submarine operations in that area.
China’s rapidly expanding diesel submarine fleet may have the potential in the future to greatly increase the risk to U.S. Navy surface vessels operating in blue water near China. In order to counter this future threat, the U.S. Navy needs to understand the specific characteristics of the waters around China and how China’s submarines operate in these waters. In short, the U.S. seeks to take away China’s "home court" advantage in this area.
Conversely, China is very interested in denying this information to the U.S. Navy. China realizes that its diesel submarines, operating near home, will be its best weapon should a fleet action against the U.S. Navy ever occur. Impairing U.S. anti-submarine effectiveness would be a key to China’s success.
An interesting sidebar to this story is the “hybrid war” nature of this confrontation. The U.S. Navy employed a quasi-civilian ship, manned with a civilian crew, to collect the ocean data. When China finally chose to stop Impeccable it also chose quasi-civilian craft, or at least no obvious surface combatants.
Why no surface combatants in this standoff? The U.S. Navy wants its warships doing warship work, not survey work, a task suitable for a civilian ship. For their part, the Chinese must have hoped that using trawlers and a Bureau of Fisheries patrol boat rather than cruisers and frigates would appear less provocative. Giving the U.S. Congress a dramatic excuse to expand the U.S. Navy’s budget would not help China’s interests.
We can be sure that this will not be the last of these kinds of incidents. Access to the western Pacific and the sea lines of communications that run from the Indian Ocean to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Americas and elsewhere may be the U.S. Navy’s single most important mission. For the first time since 1945, a credible challenge to the U.S. Navy’s access to this area is now visible on the horizon. This challenge will play out below the surface of the water. Both sides are attempting to find an advantage.
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