The Guardian Notes China's "Secret Tactics"

The Guardian is mocking China in this aptly named article Stand-off shows Chinese navy's secret tactics.

Maritime experts were given a rare glimpse of the underlying capabilities of the Chinese navy on Sunday, when crewmen involved in a stand-off with a US surveillance ship in the South China Sea revealed the fleet's previously hidden firepower.

The exposure came as the American vessel USNS Impeccable was attempting to defend itself against what the Pentagon claimed was co-ordinated harassment and aggression from five Chinese ships. Being unarmed, the Impeccable turned its fire water hoses against two of the Chinese vessels that had come within 50 feet in a threatening posture.

Then, the Pentagon records in the admirably restrained language of international diplomacy, "the Chinese crew members disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet."

In the annals of great naval battles, the contretemps may not rank alongside Trafalgar or Jutland. But it must be a contender for this year's award for naked aggression.

I'm going to hold off on any serious analysis on this topic for now. The three posts have good conversations going, and there are still missing details. Hopefully we see more photography, because I think it is very useful for analysis. Below is a brief summary of some things I've noted.

Anyone else notice the big yellow crane on front of the trawler? I suppose that is used for fishing....

Frank Hoffman's hybrid war shaping concept is evident all over this event. When I see trawlers deployed by China like this it sure doesn't fit the model of preparing to fight a peer competitor, and yet vessels like these trawlers are widespread across the South China Sea, and if you talk to the Southeast Asian oil industry folks, they have a history of harassing the oil industry off the Vietnam coast.

Anyone else concerned China appears to have produced this operation for the specific intent of stealing the sonar from our unarmed 'naval' vessel. That is a civilian mariner discussion waiting to happen. The way the Chinese are slow to innovate but excellent at copying technology, that sonar could propel the Chinese in ASW at a quicker pace. Did any reporters ask whether any technology was stolen? A definitive answer would be useful.

There is a national fleet discussion in this incident too. Based on news reports to date, over the last week US ships have been harassed by 2 trawlers, an intelligence gathering ship, a patrol vessel, a fisheries vessel, and a frigate all acting apparently in a coordinated way on behalf of someone able to issue orders to both the North Sea Fleet in the Yellow Sea and the South Sea Fleet in the South China Sea. That doesn't count the various aircraft involved in both locations.

While things unfold, I'll be here standing by my countrymen, the civilian mariners and Navy sailors, who get 15 minutes of fame they probably never wanted. I'll also join the Guardian in mocking China, because there is hypocrisy at work when a nation supports civilian trawlers acting as thieves against a US flagged unarmed ship off their coast while deploying destroyers to the coast of Africa to fight pirates.

There is a lot to examine closer in this discussion, but I think it best to let events unfold a bit more first.