USNS Impeccable and some Chinese dude with a boat hook

Unbelievably delinquent in writing lately thanks to the time-consuming tasks associated with settling into a new house, work, and the fact that I’ve been using most of my time on the computer to 1) plan a weekend trip to Russia next month and 2) post comments on Abu Muqawama. There’s plenty to write about lately (and I’ve been especially meaning to get back to Vengeance 7’s thoughts from Afghanistan — that thread isn’t finished), I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write it all.

In the meantime, enjoy this footage of some crazy Chinese assholes harrassing the USNS Impeccable in the South China Sea (via Galrahn at the excellent seapower-oriented blog Information Dissemination). Pay special attention to clip number 5, where one dude tries to toss a boat hook from the bow of his ship and hook the towed sonar array cable attached to the U.S. vessel.

This kind of close sail-by is the stuff that keeps professional ship-drivers like my brother up at night. Just think how excited he must’ve been when he found out they had to turn on the fire hoses! (And don’t even ask what he thinks about the USS Hartford, which knocked itself crooked on the underside of the USS New Orleans in the Strait of Hormuz last week.)

Back with more substantive content soon.