Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part XXXII

What is Chinese for "....shores of Tripoli.."

Three Chinese naval

"We have made special preparations to deal with pirates, even though these waters are not familiar to us," it quoted mission commander Rear-Admiral Du Jingcheng as saying.

The crack special forces are expected to give the fleet an edge in seeing off the pirates, with one of the soldiers able to "handle several enemies with (his) bare hands," Xinhua said.

"Our primary target is not striking them but dispelling them," Du said. "If the pirates make direct threats against the warships or the vessels we escort, the fleet will take counter measures."

The destroyers Haikou and Wuhan, which will leave from the southern resort island province of Hainan, were two of China's navy's most sophisticated warships, Xinhua said. The vessels are scheduled to leave for the waters off Somalia on Friday to help tackle rampant piracy in a sign of the country's rising global clout and diplomatic and military ambitions. The fleet -- two destroyers and a supply ship -- would have about 800 crew, including 70 special operations troops, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Chinese hyperbole is always fun to read. They will be traveling with the Supply Ship Weishanhu, at bottom.

I remember a young, small Navy that earned its street cred going after pirates that others tolerated .... remember, we may not study naval history all that much, but the Chinese still do.

This will be interesting to watch. I know what I would do if I were the Chinese ... and it involves very easily having the US Navy lose face at very little cost.