Tag Archives: freedom of navigation operation

Close enough to get a rash

Here we see a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type-052C destroyer, specifically CNS Lanzhou (170) giving static to the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73)  while underway in the South China Sea.

The U.S. Navy accused Lanzhou of acting “in an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef” while the DDG was engaged in a freedom of navigation operation — a “FONOP.”

More photos here.

On the bright side, while Lanzhou closed to within a second base pitch from home plate to Decatur, at least it is not the bad old days of the Cold War…yet.

Remember the Black Sea Bumping incident between two Soviet frigates and the cruiser Yorktown (CG 48) and the destroyer USS Caron (DD 970) in Feb 1988?

Soviet frigate Bezzavetny intentionally collides with USS Yorktown (CG-48) to push it into international waters 1988 in the Black Sea Bumping incident