US admiral takes stock of Sino-US tensions
As the 97,000t carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) steamed into Chinese-controlled Hong Kong on a port call on 21 November, RADM Karl Thomas talked about the 30 September episode when the destroyer USS Decatur was confronted by a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warship in the South China Sea.
Whilst conducting a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP), the Chinese Luyang-class destroyer approached USS Decatur in ‘an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre in the vicinity of Gaven [Reef]’, at one point approaching to within 45 yards. It performed ‘increasingly aggressive manoeuvres, and warned the Decatur to depart the area,’ according to the
Our news & analysis is now part of Defence Insight®
A Basic-level or higher Defence Insight subscription is now required to view this content.
More from Naval Warfare
-
HHI poised to start submarine production in Peru pending election outcome
South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries confirmed to Shephard that the company is awaiting the Peruvian government’s decision to allow it to move forward with the production of the HDS-1500 submarine.
-
US Navy to accelerate the replenishment of SM-6 stocks as demand continues to surge
The Naval Sea Systems Command exercised a US$335 million modification to a contract with RTX Raytheon to support increasing the production of Standard Missiles 6 by 2030. Shephard spoke with the company president about how the company has scaled to meet demand.
-
How the Hormuz mine threat exposes potential Baltic MCM shortfalls
Ageing Baltic vessels and an absence of active minehunting vessel programmes in the region have been put under the spotlight in the recent conflict.