Heh... I had to chuckle.
Seems a Chinese sub collided with a sonar array towed behind the destroyer USS John McCain on Thursday. Why the chuckle, you ask? Because I know something about the "rivalry" between those destroyers (Arleigh Burke class) and subs.
See, when the were originally designed, they were meant to kill subs. During a wargame back in the 90s,, the Burke herself pinged, locked, and "fired on" a fast attack sub... all before the sub in question could lock on the Burke.
Until the Arleigh Burke, subs considered surface ships "large, slow targets". When the Burke hit the waves, that assumption changed.
What does this have to do with the story? Well, there were a couple people who seemed a little worried that this might have been intentional: some form of the Chinese "testing" us. Not likely.
Had that sub actually wanted to "play", there would now be another big steel cylinder resting on the ocean floor near Subic.
As for my title: I just get a giggle out of the image of the "driver" being drunk, and the skipper yelling at him as he tries to stammer "but it was just one beer!"
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Best t-shirt ever: "There are two kinds of ships. Submarines, and targets." I snickered a good five minutes when I saw that.
I wonder if the Chinese stick nubs on the helms & planes like our Navy? And further, if the guy defected from the Greenville. Or the Hartford. Or the Oklahoma City...
The only thing subs have to fear is hitting stuff.
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