U.S. Cargo Ship Evades Somali Pirate Attack

Defiant Somali pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at another U.S. cargo ship on Tuesday but failed to hijack it, officials said, just days after Navy SEALs rescued an American hostage after an earlier unsuccessful hijacking.

The brazen midday attack on the MV Liberty Sun in international waters off the African coast is further evidence that Somali pirates are back to business as usual. Pirates have seized four other ships with 60 hostages since sharpshooters killed three gunmen holding American freighter captain Richard Phillips. “No one can deter us,” one bandit boasted.

The Liberty Sun’s American crew was not injured but the vessel sustained unspecified damage in the attack, owner Liberty Maritime Corp. said in a statement Tuesday night.

Source

Pentagon: Chinese Ships Harassed U.S. Naval Ship in International Waters

The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.

The Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of “increasingly aggressive” acts by Chinese ships in the region.

U.S. officials said a protest was to be delivered to Beijing’s military attache at a Pentagon meeting Monday.

[....]

A Chinese intelligence ship and four others surrounded the USNS Impeccable, an unarmed vessel with a civilian merchant marine crew, as the craft conducted ocean surveys in international waters in the South China Sea, the Defense Department said in a statement.

The Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Despite the force of the water, Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and continued closing within 25 feet, the Defense department said.

“We expect Chinese ships to act responsibly and refrain from provocative activities that could lead to miscalculation or a collision at sea, endangering vessels and the lives of U.S. and Chinese mariners,” Upton said.

via Fox News

Chinese Nuke Sub spotted By Japanese Tracking USS George Washington Near Korea

Japanese military forces detected two Chinese submarines in the East China Sea, including a suspected Han-class nuclear powered attack submarine, according to Japanese defense sources.

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces detected the submarines with the help of P-3 maritime surveillanceaircraft in early October around the time that the USS George Washington aircraft carrier was conducting operations near South Korea.

The second Chinese submarine, a non-nuclear attack craft, was not further identified.

The submarines were believed to be conducting underwater surveillance of the George Washington and its accompanying warships.

Source