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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Chinese navy sees off Indian attack submarine |
| 2009-02-03 |
| Chinese warships sent to fight piracy in waters off Somalia were stalked by an Indian attack submarine and the two sides became locked in a tense standoff for at least half an hour, mainland media reported yesterday. After rounds of manoeuvring during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in the other's sonar system, the two Chinese warships managed to force the Indian submarine to surface. The Indian vessel left without further confrontation. The incident was reported by Qingdao Chenbao yesterday and was widely carried by major mainland websites such as Sina.com and QQ. Both Beijing and New Delhi were silent about the matter. This is the first reported military standoff between China and India since a bitter border war in 1962. The incident took place on January 15 in waters near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which separates Yemen and Djibouti, at the western end of the Gulf of Aden. The Chinese destroyers had picked up an unidentified submarine on their sonar, the report said. The Chinese navy soon identified it as a 70-metre-long vessel armed with 20 torpedoes. Although the report did not directly specify the model, it provided a file photo of a Kilo-class submarine belonging to the Indian navy, which fit the description. The submarine tried to evade the Chinese warships by diving deeper. But the warships continued the chase. The report said the Chinese ships sent an anti-submarine helicopter to help track the submarine, which had tried to jam the Chinese warships' sonar system. But the two destroyers eventually cornered the submarine and forced it to surface. The report said the submarine had been trailing the Chinese ships since they had entered the Indian Ocean on the way to Somalia. It said that at one point the Chinese commander even ordered the helicopter to have its anti-submarine torpedoes ready. The Indian submarine is believed to have been collecting electronic signals and sonar data from the Chinese warships. Such information would be crucial in naval conflicts. The two destroyers China sent to Somalia are among its most advanced warships. One of the destroyers, Haikou, was commissioned in 2005. It is rare for mainland media to report such a close encounter between the Chinese navy and foreign warships. Although deemed a provocative and unfriendly gesture, it was not unusual for one country to send submarines to collect other navies' information. In 2006, a Chinese submarine was detected stalking the US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk near the Japanese island of Okinawa. The Chinese submarine eventually surfaced close to the US battle group. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #9 Why it sounds like something right outa T Clancy... admiral of the ocean blue |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-02-03 23:46 |
| #8 Put one of our SSN's down there just to see how well it does. Actually, who is to say there wasn't one, its that quiet. Get good SIGINT on both the Chinese and that Indian Kilo. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-02-03 23:24 |
| #7 are you really surprised? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-02-03 23:19 |
| #6 Also if this account is true, it seems to me that the Chinese aren't shy about shadowing other navies, but get their dander up when they're being shadowed, instead. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-02-03 22:52 |
| #5 After rounds of manoeuvring during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in the other's sonar system, the two Chinese warships managed to force the Indian submarine to surface. Here's the question - if both are in international waters, why would there be any confrontation? It seems to me that both parties have a legitimate right to be exactly where they are. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-02-03 22:50 |
| #4 From experience, the diesel boat had no chance of evading if it had no intentions of firing. With a submerged speed of 5-7kts and maybe a top of 12kts max in short bursts, it had no chance of getting away from air assets. Hope we had something more capable nearby to pick up all the data. The only thing that sounds fishy (no pun intended) is the statement "which had tried to jam the Chinese warships' sonar system". That sounds like BS or an uninformed writer spicing it up. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2009-02-03 22:43 |
| #3 Give it back to the chinese in spades. |
| Posted by: DK70 the scantily clad 2009-02-03 21:20 |
| #2 Perhaps we should offer some helpful tips to the Indians, although already seem to be on a steep learning curve on their own |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-02-03 20:51 |
| #1 INDIA has rampaging Radical Islam to its front, CHINA in its rear + Tibet, + MAOISTS/NAXALITES within, and the US-NATO in-between. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-03 19:18 |