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| Houbei (Type 022) Fast Attack Craft |
By James R. Holmes
The last few weeks’ conversation about the makeup and disposition of fleets in North America and Asia has taken on a stream-of-consciousness feel. Most recently, Commander Bryan McGrath took the time to agree in print with my Flashpoints post from last week, which depicted the U.S. Navy’s decision to forward-deploy Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) to Singapore and perhaps the Philippine Islands as a throwback to the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, the standard-bearer for U.S. interests in China and the Western Pacific in the decades preceding World War II. Bryan (a classmate from way back, hence the first-name terms) accentuates the need for adequate numbers of ships, both to telegraph resolve to Asian allies and partners, and to deter a China that has a habit of overstepping its diplomatic and legal bounds in the near seas.
Read the full story at The Diplomat