South China Sea

Why do 12 marines guard this WWII shipwreck 24/7?
Thornton's History Club
Wikipedia page about USS Harnett County A. K. A. BRP Sierra Madre

Other posts about the South China Sea

WSP - West Philippine Sea

Atin Ito fishing boat finds itself between a Chinese Coast Guard ship and the Philippine Coast Guard. - Edwin Bacasmas

Remember how 10 years ago there was a big fuss about China claiming the entirety of the South China Sea? It's still an issue:

President Marcos Should Ride a Jet Ski and Plant the Philippine Flag in WPS - Kyle Dane Ballogan

 

A-4C Skyhawk

A-4C Skyhawk

Photographer Don Fitzgerald provides some context:

A VA-144 A-4C Skyhawk operating as War Paint 312 (BuNo 149532) armed with Mark 82 Snakeye bombs receives a catapult ready thumbs up for a strike mission launch into North Vietnam from USS Kitty Hawk CVA 63 operating from Yankee Station, Tonkin Gulf, South China Sea in January 1967. 50mm with 2X extender from the 06 observation deck(Vultures Row).

Yankee Station

Back in the day, there was all this noise about Vietnam, but nobody ever mentioned the giant Chinese island of Hainan right there, 70 miles away off the starboard bow. There were two locations for Yankee Station depending on the year. The one shown on the map is the later one and is correct for the photograph.

Previous mention of Skyhawk here.

Vulture's Row above the flight deck of USS Ronald Reagan 2007

USS Kitty Hawk hangar bay Persian Gulf 22 March 2003

Mark 82 Snakeye bomb

Soong Mei-Ling

1943 Soong May-ling in White House Oval Office gave a press conference.

The clue for today's Jumble is "Eric Gugler’s 1933 Oval Office redesign was underway and things were —". Seems the oval office was an FDR thing. Here I thought it had been there forever. I go looking for pictures and I am not finding much, and then I trip over this one. Since China seems to be feeling their oats, building all kinds of infrastructure all over the 3rd world, stomping on personal freedom in Hong Kong, and pushing everyone else out of the South China Sea, this photo makes me think it might be time to pause and reflect on how we got here. It wasn't pretty. 

Soong May-ling has appeared here before, though she spelled her last name Mei-ling then.

H-6K

China bombing US Guam base
Original caption: 解放军空军“模拟轰-6K轰炸美军基地”视频
[Google translation: Video of the PLA Air Force "Simulated Bombing -6K Bombing US Base][You need to watch this in full screen, the aspect ratio makes it tiny on anything smaller.]encryptedpictures
The Chinese are beating the war drum. Not sure what they expect to accomplish, probably hope to intimidate their neighbors into letting them have free reign over the South China Sea.

I hadn't heard of the H-6K before, not sure whether I've even heard of the Soviet Tu-16 which is what they started with.

Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force Xian H-6K 

Based on the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 Badger

This is the only picture of this airplane that I found that shows the upper surface. There are any number of photos of it that show the bottom or the side, but apparently none from above.

The Chinese started a program to develop their own jet engines a few years ago, but I haven't heard any more about it. As far as I know, they are still using engines they are buying from other countries.

Woody Island in the South China Sea
Back in 2018, The National Interest reported:

For the first time ever, the PLAAF has landed Xian H-6K bombers on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel archipelago.

Woody Island

Woody Island wasn't much of a place until the Chinese decided to make an airbase out of it.

Via ZeroHedge, that bastion of clear-headed, foaming at the mouth conspiracists.

Update July 2022 replaced missing video.

Girls with Guns

Female soldiers celebrate the International Women's Day by taking part in a drill on the Yongxing Island, the Xisha Islands on the South China Sea, March 8, 2015. (Xinhua/Zhao Xianghu)

Communists were always in favor of equal rights for women, hence women in the army. And they are celebrating International Women's Day, which I suppose is a good thing for women to do. But celebrating by 'taking part in a drill'? Not my idea of a celebration, but then I'm not part of the same demographic as these folks. You may not notice the canteens hanging from the pistols (it is kind of a busy picture), but filling those canteens with water could make it a bit of a challenge, especially if you were trying to shoot and hit something.
     But the best part about this picture is the location:

Right in the middle of the South China Sea.

Mischief Reef

Mischief Reef. You couldn't find a better name for this place.

How do you make a mountain out of a molehill? You put half a dozen sand sucking dredges to work sucking sand from the floor of the lagoon and piling it up on the bits that are already above water. I was thinking that China was just making noise about the South China Sea in order to distract us from their conquest of Africa. Looks like I might have been wrong about that. Seems they are mounting an attack on multiple fronts in their efforts to secure an adequate supply of oil. Besides their escapades in the South China Sea and Africa, they are also working on a pipeline across Pakistan.

I've been hearing a lot of noise about how China is overstepping their bounds in the South China Sea, but this the first time I have seen a map that shows just how far over the line they have gone. Mischief Reef is in the Spratlys, about half way between the Philippines and Vietnam.

Grants Pass Oregon Goes To Sea

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Oct. 25, 2013) An Airman loads ammunition onto an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the USS George Washington. Photo by  Ricardo R. Guzman.

Looking through today's photos and I see GRANTS PASS, OR stenciled on the landing gear door of this F-18. Shoot, that's just down the road a piece.

Malaysia Pushes Joint Development to Solve Asia Sea Disputes

There are several insignificant islands in Southeast Asia whose ownership is disputed. The islands themselves are of no particular use, but the territorial rights to undersea resources that accompany those islands are. This story showed up on Bloomberg today:

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called for claimants in the South China Sea to jointly develop resources to avoid conflict and prevent “extra-regional states” from becoming involved.
Najib cited a joint development zone in waters claimed by Thailand and Malaysia as a precedent that could be applied in the South China Sea. Vietnam and the Philippines reject China’s map as a basis for joint development in the waters, part of which are also claimed by Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
“Agreeing to share prosperity, rather than let it divide us, is infinitely preferable to the alternative,” Najib said in a speech yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.
Competition for oil, gas and fish threatens to disrupt the estimated two-thirds of global trade that passes through the waters. China favors joint development of resources, while the U.S., Japan and the Philippines advocate international arbitration.
Najib said a code of conduct for operating in the waters would be a “good start” to prevent tensions from escalating. He warned that involving unspecified “extra-regional states” may “add yet another layer of complexity to the dispute.”
“For Asian nations, this problem is ours to solve,” Najib said. “Should we stray from the path of dialogue and cooperation, we may pave the way for other parties to take remedial action to protect the freedom of navigation and safe passage.”

“Extra-regional states”? I wonder who he was thinking of. And then there was this: China favors joint development of resources, while the U.S., Japan and the Philippines advocate international arbitration.

Of course it's hard to tell what China really favors being as they are so inscrutable (other than total world domination, bwah hah hah hah hah). Naturally the U.S. would favor arbitration. I mean we are a half a world a way, how else could we justify stirring that pot? And you can bet stirring it is our intention, because sure as shooting we are hoping to get our fingers on some of that pie.
     Now that it looks like we are finally starting to pull out of Afghanistan, I'm sure our national security advisers are looking for someplace else we can pick a fight. Isn't it about Southeast Asia's turn again? Otherwise it's gonna be Africa. I'm not sure which one would be worse.

USNS John Ericsson

USNS John Ericsson

I thought this photo looked an awful lot like an oil painting. The picture was taken in stormy conditions in the South China Sea, part of the same exercise as yesterday's photo. John Ericsson designed the ironclad USS Monitor. Why is one ship designated USS and another USNS? USS ships are commisioned and crewed by the Navy. USNS are typically supply ships are crewed by civilians.