Lead and Line - naval officers' association of vancouver island

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lead and Line diesel-electric attack submarines, and has been launching two indigenously-built Song-class diesel-electric attack submarines per year for the past decade. It has also developed and launched the high tech Yuan-class dieselelectric attack boat, which may have the silent air-independent propulsion system. Analysts believe that China will in the coming years also launch the Shang-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, further strengthening its already robust submarine fleet. It has surely not escaped China‘s notice that US anti submarine warfare capability has atrophied significantly since the end of the Cold War. But China‘s maritime capabilities are set to extend beyond access denial, into power projection. The systems that have gained most international attention are China‘s planned aircraft carriers and its new fifth-generation fighter bomber. Anytime now, the PLA Navy will commence sea trials for its first carrier, the ex-Ukrainian Varyag, which has been renamed Shi Lang. The former Soviet ship is larger than European carriers, but one-third smaller than US Nimitz class carriers. Moreover, China has publicly confirmed it has a second, larger, conventionally powered carrier under domestic construction that will likely be launched in 2015. China has planned or is constructing a third conventionally-powered carrier and two nuclear-powered carriers are on the drawing board, with a planned completion date of 2020. Equally important as the warships, are the aircraft China plans to deploy on its flat tops. The main fighterbomber in the PLA Navy carrier air wing will be the J-15 Flying Shark, which under current configuration is comparable in size and capability to the US Navy‘s retired F-14 Tomcat. The jet will have limited range given its weight taking off from the ski deck-configured Shi Lang, however, it‘s believed that advances in Chinese aeronautics and avionics, as well as a catapult launch system on forthcoming carriers, could put the J-15 in the same performance class as the USN F-18 Super Hornet in the future. China may also have developed a carrierbased airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) aircraft, which would be a major development. An Internet-sourced photograph that appeared in mid-May, meanwhile, shows a corner of a model of what is clearly a small AWACS aircraft inspired by the E-2 Hawkeye and the unrealized Soviet Yak-44 designs. To put China‘s carrier programme in perspective, with the retirement of the USS Enterprise this summer, the United States will have only ten carriers to meet worldwide commitments; China will likely have five carriers devoted to the Asia-Pacific region alone. China‘s build-up is being noted even in the popular Western media, which has given significant coverage to China‘s prototype fifth generation twin-engine stealth fighter-bomber, the J-20 Black Silk. The jet is larger than the USAF F-22 Raptor and could prove to be comparable in capability (although some US observers claim it is more similar to the slightly less sophisticated US and allied F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will be the frontline US carrier fighter). The J-20 prototype took off on its ‗maiden‘ test flight in January from an airfield in the southwestern city of Chengdu, flying for about 15 minutes on the same day then-US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was in Beijing meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, sending a strong political message and earning the jet a spot on evening news programmes worldwide. China is believed to have received a major assist in developing the J-20 by obtaining materials from a downed US F-117 Night Hawk from Serbia, as well as from the believed cyber theft of JSF plans from US defence contractors. (With this in mind, US planners should also assume that Chinese engineers have had access to the rotor tail of the stealth helicopter that was ditched in the Osama bin Laden raid in Pakistan). These rapid and high-level technical achievements have apparently surprised many Western observers, and the consensus is that the West has consistently underestimated the strength of China‘s military industrial capability and its determination to expand and modernize its armed forces, especially the PLA Navy. But it should now be more than clear that the world is facing a significant challenge to a maritime system that has been dominated for the past 6
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lead and Line 200 years by Anglo-American navies. How the United States responds to China‘s challenge will define the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific for the rest of the century. Robert C. O'Brien is the Managing Partner of Arent Fox Los Angeles. He served as a US Representative to the United Nations. He can be followed on Twitter@robertcobrien. A/ED NOTE: Photos inserted into Robert O’Brien’s article are from Chinese Internet. A/ED NOTE: We thank Bob Darlington for the following article which we have been hoping to publish since last October. All members should enjoy it but if ―Supply‖ is in your background, you‘ll find Bob‘s article particularly interesting… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. NAVAL SUPPLY CORPS SCHOOL, BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY -EXPERIMENT OR EXPERIENCE ? by Bob Darlington THE APPOINTMENT Shortly after the end of WWII it was recognized that more formal training for naval Supply Officers was required. Ships now needed Supply Officers who could manage Pay, Stores, Victualling, Food Service and Non Public Funds. The Branch was more cohesive than wartime duties so the Supply Officer‘s Technical Course (SOTC) was established in the west coast dockyard. By 1946 the SOTC had moved to two buildings on Admirals Road outside the NADEN gates. In the spring of 1949 the current SOTC #5 consisted of ex RCNVR wartime personnel (Beveridge, Tassie and Stonehouse), and a number of non-commissioned tradesmen (Cove, Driega, Faire and Payne) who had been selected for commissioning subject to passing the exams. Also on that course were two Sub Lieutenant (S) graduates of Royal Roads (Davis & Lambie) and three Sub Lieutenants (S) who had come from the University Naval Training Division (UNTD) (Fricker, Margetts and Darlington). The SOTC was designed to be about three months in duration and by late June we still had at least a month to go. At that point the five sub lieutenants were pulled out of class and told that they would write all their final exams at the end of the week and that they would pass them all. They were 7 then to leave immediately to join the United States Naval Supply Corps School (NSCS) for a nine month course at Bayonne, New Jersey. This was exciting news but of course drew envious scowls from the other members of the course. The RCN was about to introduce summer khaki uniforms but they were not quite ready for distribution. A major benefit to us was a letter from the Naval Secretary authorizing us to wear USN style uniforms. They were much smarter than the bilious RCN summer kit that was soon introduced. We all took flack in later appointments when we wore our non-spec kit but attributed it to envy. We duly wrote our exams, then partied until it was time to join the overnight ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. Duty travel in those days was not by plane so we went by train to Montreal and then took the overnight to New York. Our orders were to report at first to the US Naval District HQ at 90 Church Street in Lower Manhattan. It was the July 4th weekend and our arrival was not expected. The Duty Officer was surprised at anyone arriving on a holiday but eventually accepted our brief one page signal and transport was arranged. There were three ways of getting from New York to New Jersey; the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel or the Holland Tunnel. The truck dived into the latter and we emerged in New Jersey to read the signs to places like Hackensack, Wehawken. Passaic and Hoboken. Passing through Journal Square (joinal sqayh to the natives) we headed south into Bayonne. That city is on a peninsula of land bordered on the west by Newark Bay and on the east by New York harbour. To the south is Staten Island joined to Bayonne by a bridge. The citizens of Bayonne were multiethnic. The only Canadian who was married was Jack Fricker. He and Joyce had modest accommodation ashore. Joyce told us that she heard one neighbour
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Lead and Line - naval officers' association of vancouver island

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