Impeccable Escort and Global Observations

The Navy has dispatched a destroyer to escort the USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS 23). Washington Post:

The U.S. Navy has dispatched a guided-missile destroyer to the South China Sea after Chinese ships allegedly harassed an American ship operating there last weekend, a Pentagon official said yesterday.

The USS Chung-Hoon, armed with torpedoes and missiles, is stationed in protection of the USNS Impeccable, an ocean surveillance ship.

The USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) is part of the Boxer ESG, or was... which is interesting. Latest news puts the Boxer as the new command ship of CTF-151. This has to be driving the Obama administration crazy.

The Stennis has had to stay north, specifically near North Korea because of the upcoming missile/satellite launch. Japan and South Korea are both a bit nervous and the US Navy presence there keeps allies from making threatening gestures to their neighbors. It is a better than average bet most of our Pacific fleet assets currently at sea are that direction or in some position to track the launch. Remember, our ballistic missile defense ships are mostly in the Pacific.

But the Boxer ESG was also going to the Middle East to replace the Iwo Jima ESG currently in the Med. The Iwo Jima ESG has been out for 6 months, time to come home. The Roosevelt CSG is still in the Middle East, but is supporting Afghanistan and Iraq. The Eisenhower CSG has already deployed to relieve that group in a few weeks.

The Navy has had several very busy years in a row thanks to the Iraq surge, and is still hoping to get more done with fewer ships this year as to get back onto a supportable rotation. Bottom line, the Navy has ships, but is on a rapid tasking schedule and didn't need this off China. Ultimately, it was either the USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93), or the Navy was going to be forced to pull a major asset from the North Korea region to do it.

This is what bothers me though. Why aren't we sending our frigates to Somalia. Seems to me that we should be doing that job with the Perry's so that our AEGIS ships can be over helping our ships getting harassed by China. I guess my question is, why can't the Perry's do piracy, why do we need battleships to fight speedboats?

Just asking...