Now we 'rammin', rammin in de name or the (over)lord... with apologies to Bob Marley
Philippine and Chinese vessels collide in disputed South China Sea and 4 Filipino crew are injuredhttps://apnews.com/article/philippines-china-south-china-sea-collision-e69d9506e85d1d23685db4f220b50d71MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured Tuesday in high-seas confrontations as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for an Asian summit where alarm over Beijing’s aggression at sea was expected to be raised.
The Chinese coast guard ships and accompanying vessels blocked the Philippine coast guard and supply vessels off the disputed Second Thomas Shoal and executed dangerous maneuvers that caused two minor collisions between the Chinese ships and two of the Philippine vessels, Philippine officials said.
The BRP Sindangan of the Philippine coast guard had minor structural damage from the collision that happened shortly after dawn. Over an hour later, another Chinese coast guard ship first blocked then collided with a supply boat the Philippine coast guard was escorting, the Philippine officials said.
The supply boat, manned by Filipino navy personnel, was later hit by water cannon blasts from two Chinese coast guard ships. Its windshield shattered, injuring at least four Filipino crew members, according to a statement from the Philippine government task force dealing with territorial disputes.
https://www.sealight.live/posts/gray-zone-tactics-playbook-rammingRamming is the act of steering one vessel directly into another, damaging or even sinking it. China's paramilitary People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) operates scores of ships with reinforced steel hulls purpose-built for ramming.
Some instances of ramming may be accidents caused by the failed application of other tactics, such as reckless bow-crossing.
The 2019 ramming of a wooden Filipino fishing boat, the F/B Gem-Ver, by the probable PAFMM ship Yue Mao Bin Yu 42212 caused a major diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Manila.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/craighooper/2023/11/06/navies-unready-to-stop-chinese-ram-backed-blockade-of-south-china-sea/?sh=219e3e7a6c03For China, imposing maritime control via vessel jousting matches is a law enforcement matter and not an act of war.
Ramming is, on a tactical level, a standard Chinese operational procedure. The tactic aligns with regional practices; off the contested waters of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, in the Spratly Islands, and on the Yellow Sea, civilian and government ships regularly jostle, scrape paint and ram each other for a combination of fishing rights, economic opportunity and glory. ---
--- Modern navies are also unready for a concerted Chinese maritime jousting campaign. On even a limited scale, shoving-and-pushing territorial contests at sea are exhausting. In the first 1958 Cod War, coming after Iceland enforced a modest claim to 12 miles of territorial waters, Iceland’s tiny patrol fleet forced the UK to commit over forty warships and auxiliaries to protect the UK’s civilian fishing fleet. ---
--- Even if the U.S. and other navies came to aid the Philippines, they would be quickly beaten up and battered by China’s aggressive maritime militias.
Modern navies are simply designed for a different kind of fight. In the U.S., effete technologists at the Naval Sea Systems Command have forgotten that the simple, brutish work of ramming, shoving and shouldering is a serious business of inflicting real costs upon an aggressor. Between 1975 and 1976, when Iceland and the UK squared off in the third Cod War, Iceland’s small patrol boat fleet, in the space of seven months, forced the UK to deploy 21 frigates. During the dispute, Iceland’s tiny gunboat navy hit and damaged at least fifteen UK warships.
Topic: 南中国海 (Read 2472 times)