Friday, June 7, 2019

Russian And U.S. Warships Almost Collide In East China Sea


US, Russia blame each other as ships nearly collide in Asia

LOLITA C. BALDOR and MARI YAMAGUCHI



The U.S. and Russia accused each other of unsafe actions on Friday after an American guided-missile cruiser and a Russian destroyer came within 165 feet (50 meters) of each other in the Philippine Sea.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters that the U.S. will file a formal diplomatic complaint about the incident and will have military to military conversations with the Russians. He added that the encounter will not deter the U.S. from conducting naval operations.
The U.S. 7th Fleet said the Russian destroyer put the safety of the USS Chancellorsville and its crew at risk, forcing it to reverse all engines at full throttle to avoid a collision.
No one was injured, and the ships never came into contact, said Navy Cdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the Japan-based 7th Fleet.
An American helicopter was preparing to land on the Chancellorsville, which was traveling on a steady course, when the Russian destroyer, traveling behind the U.S. ship, started moving faster and approached as close as 50-100 feet (15-30 meters), the 7th Fleet said in a statement.
"We consider Russia's actions during this interaction as unsafe and unprofessional and not in accordance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), 'Rules of the Road,' and internationally recognized maritime customs," the statement said.

It was the first such incident involving warships in the region since September, when the Chinese warship Luoyang maneuvered close to the USS Decatur , a Navy destroyer, in the South China Sea, an incident the U.S. also labeled unprofessional and unsafe. The U.S. at the time said the Chinese ship came within 45 yards (41 meters) of the American ship, forcing it to maneuver out of the way. The Chinese said the Luoyang had been deployed to drive the U.S. vessel away from islands that China claims as its own.

The U.S. also has repeatedly complained in recent years that Russian planes have flown dangerously close to American aircraft, and the two nations routinely shadow each other in international airspace.

In this latest incident, in open ocean northeast of the Philippines, the Russian military accused the Chancellorsville of making a dangerous maneuver by crossing the path of the Russian destroyer Admiral Vinogradov. The U.S. said the incident happened in the Philippine Sea, while the Russians said it was in the East China Sea, which is further west and closer to China.

The Russian military said in a statement that the U.S. cruiser "suddenly changed direction and crossed the path of Admiral Vinogradov just 50 meters (165 feet) away," forcing the crew of the Russian ship to make a quick maneuver to avoid a collision. It said its navy sent a radio message in protest.

With U.S.-Russian relations at post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Russian and U.S. militaries have frequently exchanged accusations of what they describe as unsafe maneuvers by the other side's warplanes and navy ships.








The US Navy has released the first video showing the contested near-collision between American and Russian warships in the East China Sea. Both sides blame each other for the aggressive pass.
Reiterating their accusation that the Russian destroyer had made an “unsafe approach,” the US Navy tweeted a video showing an up close perspective of the Friday morning encounter.

The navy claims that the USS Chancellorsville was forced “to maneuver to avoid collision” with the other ship, which is almost exactly what the Russian side has been saying of themselves.

An overhead photo of the incident was also released by a CNN Pentagon correspondent, giving a good view of the two ships in dangerous proximity of one another.
The Russian Pacific Fleet earlier released a statement saying that the American ship had come within 50 meters of them, forcing them to implement emergency maneuvers and change course to avoid collision.

Friday’s close call in the Pacific follows another dangerous interaction this week when a US patrol plane was intercepted by a Russian Sukhoi Su-35. While Washington called the action “irresponsible,” Moscow claimed they were responding after the American aircraft approached a Russian military facility in Syria.


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