Bumper cars at sea … again

Chinese naval vessel in near collision with US Navy cruiser

Ah, the games that nations play at sea. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt … a couple of times.

Back lo these many years ago, when I did my first tour of duty aboard a beat-up old World War II design destroyer, we used to play the same game that the Chinese seem to want to play in the South China Sea (and probably will start playing in the East China Sea), only we played it with the Russians.

It got to the point that in late 1972 or 1973, the Soviets and the Americans signed an agreement setting out the rules for our “games.” Not that they always followed the rules, but then I did my tour before the rules really went into effect. Life was interesting at those times when the two navies played in close proximity.

As I was explaining to my pretty wife, the old Meredith (DD-890) had a few encounters with the Soviets, both their spy ships and their warships.

The first encounter I remember came shortly after I had joined the ship’s company of the Merry-D and we had put to sea on our journey to the Mediterranean for seven months. We were part of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D Roosevelt’s escort screen that included a DLG guided missile destroyer (now would be a CG guided missile cruiser), a DDG guided missile destroyer, a guided missile frigate (FFG), a big destroyer (post WWII design, but all guns) and two small destroyers (WWII all gun designs) (Well, everybody had anti-submarine rocket launchers – ASROCs – but only the Gs had surface to surface and surface to air missiles).

Once we passed the 12-mile limit, the FDR picked up another escort: A Soviet trawler. At least that was its cover story … I don’t they ever put a net in the water or pulled any fish from the sea … but in reality it was a Soviet spy vessel that would follow the FDR everywhere it went in the Atlantic. All you had to do to locate it was to look 3,000 yards astern of the carrier and there she would be bobbing along at whatever speed it took for her to keep station.

Well, a couple of days out of our homeport, the Admiral on the FDR wanted to do a “line ahead” formation. I don’t remember how it happened exactly, but it ended up that our “station” in the formation was 3,000 yards astern of the carrier.

Now, you should see what is coming here, but we needed to be where the trawler was and as we came up to take our slot, the trawler – like the band that refused to yield the field in the song of the time – wasn’t budging, despite several efforts to tell it to please move. Well, we got within maybe a ship-length or two, side to side, when the little trawler looked up and blinked and slide away.

It was obvious from some of the actions of the crew on deck they were not particularly happy with us, but nobody swapped any paint and it was a no-harm-no-foul situation.

Another time, however, in the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Egypt, things got considerably more tense.

We had been following a Russian heavy missile cruiser for about 10 days to two weeks because Naval Intel had word it was to test fire one of its SSMs – which was going to be the first time they had ever fired a missile of the type outside their Black Sea training areas. It was the day before they did their test shot that things got really dicey.

It started off relatively quiet, with us tagging along with the little Russian task force of five or six ships, with the cruiser at its center. Among its escorts were a mine warfare vessel and a Kashin-class guided missile escort (the equivalent of one of our DLGs at the time) with two double-rail anti-aircraft missile launchers – one fore and one aft – and two twin 76mm gun mounts – one fore and one aft.

Just to set the table, Merry-D carried two twin 5-inch (127-mm) gun mounts, both on the front of the ship. My battle station was the pointer on the No. 2 (Mount 52) mount just in front of the bridge. It also was my work station where I was responsible for its care and feeding. It gave me a ring-side seat for much of what transpired in the next two hours or so.

First, it started with the little (about half our size) mine warfare vessel coming over to signal us by signal lamp that we were “in a missile test area and would we leave”.

Our response was: “We are in international waters and we intend to stay on our present course.”

The Russian then started playing the “rendering honors” game with us. By tradition, when two warships pass at sea, depending on which one is on which side (and I don’t remember which is which), one of them is supposed to have its crew stop and salute the passing ship. The game makes for some interesting maneuvering by ships as they try to force the other ship into rendering honors to them.

During that whole evolution, the Russian kept telling us to leave the area. After about an hour or so of playing this game, the Russian ship headed back to where its task group was milling around, about 10-12 miles away.

Then its big brother, the Kashin comes over to talk to us. As she passed down our port side at about 1500 yards (which is really close at sea) I saw the normal complement of people walking on her deck doing normal things. I watched as the Kashin slid around behind us to come up on our starboard side to parallel our course at about 1000 to 1500 yards off and began to pace our speed.

I immediately started getting suspicious that something wasn’t kosher when I noticed there weren’t any people wandering her weather decks any more. Then, I saw both of the 76mm gun mounts break centerline and begin to traverse in our direction.

Now, I am no rocket scientist, but I already was climbing up to the hatch of Mount 52, when the speaker on the front of the bridge blasted out:

“GENERAL QUARTERS! GENERAL QUARTERS! ALL HANDS, MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS. THIS IS A SILENT GQ. MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS VIA INTERNAL ROUTES. DO NOT RUN ON THE MAIN DECK.”

I hopped into Mount 52, closed the two access hatches to the outside deck, opened the hatch to the handling room below and started lighting off the power drives for the rammers, the shell and powder hoists and the traverse and elevation for the guns. Then I went and sat in my seat at the left side of the left gun and opened my sight box.

The mount quickly filled with the 14 people who manned it at general quarters and a very tense 45 minutes ensued. I could hear the hoist cycle as they brought up powder and shells.

The mount captain opened his top hatch in the armor plate, so we were able to hear much of what transpired from the wing of the bridge.

We couldn’t understand what the Russians were saying with their bull horn, but we heard our captain respond with good American seaman’s English what they could do with their suggestion (and then the intel people had provided us with a Russian translator and it was repeated in Russian).

This bandying back and forth went on for quite awhile and I can remember muttering to myself that I hoped the captain wouldn’t piss the Russians off too much. I wasn’t so much worried about the Kashin, because at that range I knew I wasn’t going to miss when I pulled the trigger if we started firing and our 5 inch shells were going to do a whole heck a lot more damage to him than his 3 inches shells were going to do to us.

I was, however, worried about the heavy cruiser 12-15 miles away that it might want to plop one of the SSMs in our lap and that we probably would not survive.

After about 45 minutes, the Kashin gave up and sailed away and we secured from GQ. The next morning, the cruiser fired its missile, the intel people got their pictures and electronic readings and … well that is a whole other story. There also are other stories of playing with the Russians, but it never got quite as tense as that day off Egypt.

The thing was that I learned that both we and the Russians had enough experience at sea by that time that we weren’t about to do anything really stupid. Unfortunately, from the initial reports, it doesn’t seem like the Chinese have got that experience yet and they face a steep learning curve.

Yes, folks, it does appear that we do live in interesting times … it just may be possible that our domestic travails may pale against what may happen in places far away.

Imperialist America

Military assets deploy to help the Philippines

I would really like people to take a long hard look at the list compiled in the above link.

For Americans, it is a lesson of what those tax dollars go for.

For non-Americans, it is a lesson of how the Americans lead from the front.

I know there are those who will piss and moan about American taxpayer money being diverted from needs at home, but what they don’t realize is that this effort is a better demonstration of what the US is about than anything else I can think of.

Note that those resources, designed for war, also can be used to fight the ravages of nature.

Those resources, designed for war, are an instrument to bring supplies to where they are needed because that is a task that is vital to succeeding in conflict.

Understand people that the ships on that list represent a significant proportion of the Pacific Fleet which is spread from the India Ocean to Antarctica to the Panama Canal to San Diego to Japan and Korea.

Journalist were asking: Where is the help for all those people stricken by the devastation of the typhoon?

Well, look no further. And you have to remember, those people helped by those Americans will remember. This is what power is all about.

There is hard power … and that is the ability to fight … and there is soft power … and that is the ability to bring help where it is needed.

For all those who complain about America’s role in the world, there are people in the Philippines (and other places around the world) who will be eternally grateful for the Americans’ presence.

I have seen this first hand. It is one of the reasons that I have been so proud of the men and women who wear the uniforms of the American military. It is part of the reason I was proud to share that honor with them. These people are really a beacon of hope for so many around the world.

Lastly: Yes, this is done in the interest of America. It is to advance the interests of the United States. If that makes the US imperialists, then I am proud that we are.  We may be different from the imperialists who have gone before, for we really are far less ruthless and we really do ask for far less they our predecessors.

Curious events. … Alice through the looking glass

Explosions rocks arms factory in Sudan, no casualties

Sudan claims Israeli airstrike

Satellite imagery of damaged area

U.S. admiral recalled from Arabia Sea for lack of judgment

Interesting, Arty Johnson on Laugh-In would have said. Very interesting.

Ok, conspiracy theorists, let’s crank up the speculation machine.

First, explosions rock a field at an arms factory in the Sudan. In this field supposedly were, at some time, transport containers. Now, some people who have been following the conflict say that they count six bomb craters in satellite imagery they bought. The plant, known to work with the Iranians making rockets for use by Hezbollah and other Palestinian factions in their on-going rocket war against Israel and run by the government of the Sudan, initially says it doesn’t know what caused the explosions but that there were no casualties.

Now, of course, witness say they saw four jets in the sky … at night … and presto, it is obvious the Israelis did it. Not that they probably don’t have cause, but bear with us here.

The rationale behind the attack is to demonstrate to the Iranians that the Israelis can mount a long range raid to attack a target about the same distance as it is from Iran to Israel (as the crow flies).

Then, the U.S. admiral in charge of the carrier strike group sitting out in the Arabian Sea between Iran and the Sudan gets recalled for exercising poor judgment.

Most wheels turn, thinking either the admiral mouthed off at the wrong time or it had something to do with the Libyan deal. Unfortunately for that tale, is that the ship only got on station three weeks ago.

Ok, fellow buffs, how about this scenario:

The Israelis do fly a strike. Of course, they have to skirt the radars in Eqypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, without raising anybody’s alarm. It is a long way, so whatever bombers they use will most likely have to refuel in the air.

Now, the U.S. carrier, the USS Stennis, is doing its thing out in the ocean. Let’s say it picks up these aircraft. If the admiral does nothing, then he is going to piss off one group back in the District. If he tries to warn the flight off, then well, that causes other problems with another group. Or did he send up his own refuelers to help the Israelis? Or maybe it wasn’t even the Israelis by the U.S. spec ops people in Djibouti who snuck in and called in the strike from the Stennis, ala Bill Clinton’s bombing the aspirin factory back in 1998.

Then again, a really smart bunch would have just infiltrated, ala James Bond, and set charges all over the field to make it look like an airstrike.

And considering that most airstrikes these days by both the Israelis and the U.S. don’t find aircraft flying all that low to the ground, since usually the bombs are either GPS guided or laser guided and can be dropped from a pretty high altitude (they even work better when you do that, because the guidance package has more time to refine its flight path to the target coordinates).

But then again, if it was a practice run for Iran, maybe they were practicing their nap of the earth skills.

Just think of all the different permutations of this you can come up with. It really is fascinating … and right before an election too!

WOOF! WOOF!

Not the CIA (nor the Marines)

Satellite photos reveal DOD installation where Navy SEALS trained.

This is one reason I get so really hacked off at today’s so-called journalists. They just can’t get their facts straight.

First, Navy SEALS are not the CIA. They don’t belong to the CIA. They operate independently of the CIA. They may coordinate with CIA paramilitaries but they still fall under military command.

Second, the assault on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan basically was a military operation: Military helicopters carrying military personnel to conduct a military assault on a military objective.

Now, to some people, confusing intelligence operations with military operations is merely a sematic exercise, but confusing the capabilities and responsibilities is always a bad idea.

No, the CIA is not the military. The compound in North Carolina was a military installation where military special operations forces trained. It was not CIA agents training there.

The question that always bugs me is why people can’t keep the two straight. Yes, SpecOps people operate in a very foggy environment, but they still are military warriors and not armed spies and intelligence agents.

I guess it is like the Marine Corps. You do know that there are no other riflemen defending our shores than Marine riflemen. Nobody else carries weapons but Marines and the Marines always do all the fighting. Just ask a Marine

Oh, PS: Like Michael Yon pointed out, this was one hell of an OPSEC violation, but then who the heck cares. SEAL Team 6 is just a bunch of wigged-out warmongers and who cares if they get killed or compromised.

Bumper cars at sea

USS DDG collides with civilian tanker in Hormuz Strait

The MV Otoswasan

The USS Porter

Burke-class DDGs

Oopsie! The latest news from the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea region is that an American guided-missile destroyer apparently bumped into a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in the middle of the night while in the Strait of Hormuz.

Not good.

Understand that the Porter is about half the length of the M/V (Motor Vessel) Otowasan and displaces about 1/16^th as much water. It also is faster and more maneuverable. Which leads to the question: Why were they playing bumper cars at 1 a.m. in the morning?

Having served on a warship, it makes me wonder who did what and why. I can remember my destroyer (roughly half the size of the Porter) getting really close to some ships, but usually not close enough to bump into them.

The closest we did probably was during routine refueling exercises when we would be about 50 to 100 yards apart. We did come pretty close to an old Soviet Union trawler one time, when it was occupying the part of the sea we wanted to occupy. We were bigger, so the Russian decided that discretion was the better part of valor and got out of our way.

Then there was the time we toyed with being a hood ornament on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D Roosevelt. It missed us, by about 400 yards, which was good because we would have been toast if we hadn’t scooted out of the way. Our captain had a little explaining to do to the admiral why the close-in plane-guard destroyer disappeared for a few seconds under the bow of the carrier moving at 30+ knots.

So, my mind has been busy trying to come up with a scenario that would put the tincan in such proximity to the lumbering oil tanker. We don’t know right now, but I have an idea that might be the answer. And it is nothing nefarious. Not necessarily smart, but nothing nefarious.

My speculation is that the Porter was training its junior officers on how to make an approach to a refueling tanker. This is a routine exercise for a warship, although they usually do it while escorting the real thing, rather than using a civilian ship as the target.

I remember, way back when, when my ship, the Merry-D, spent most of a day making passes at the oiler we were escorting across the Atlantic. Sometimes we would slide right into the right relative position (with a little bit more space than if we were actually coming alongside to refuel) and sometimes to officer conning the ship would have us just go romping by much faster than we needed to be going.

Now, I suspect, possibly, that the Porter was doing something similar, except at night (which is when destroyers usually seem to refuel. Don’t ask me why, but on my ship it seemed to be the unwritten rule that we had to refuel between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. so nobody could get a decent night’s sleep). Night approaches, obviously, are trickier than ones during daylight because it is harder to judge distances in the dark and anticipate sea state changes.

No matter what happened, the senior leadership of the Porter is in for a rough go ahead. The Navy does not take kindly to officers who play bumper cars at sea.