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| USS Ronald Reagan |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
A Chinese sub stalked the USS Ronald Reagan in the Sea of Japan last month.
Over at The Washington Free Beacon Bill Gertz has the scoop that a Chinese submarine shadowed a U.S. nuclear super-carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, in what Pentagon officials called the closest encounter between a People’s Liberation Army Navy boat and an American aircraft carrier since 2006.
According to Gertz, the incident occurred on October 24 as the USS Ronald Reagan was on its way from Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture, sailing around the southern end of Japan to the Sea of Japan. The USS Ronald Reagan is currently the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier in the Asia-Pacific.
Other vessels present during the incident were the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville and the guided-missile destroyers USS Mustin, USS Fitzgerald, and USS Curtis Wilbur.
“Pacific Fleet and Pacific Command spokesmen declined to comment on the submarine encounter but did not deny that the incident occurred,” Gertz reports. The Pentagon also refused to reveal the exact nature of the encounter and what type of submarine was involved.
Read the full story at The Diplomat