Admiral says sub risked a shootout

CINCPACFLT Admiral Fallon finally found his way out from behind his desk to try to talk over the shoddy performance of the USS Kitty Hawk’s anti-submarine screen that was highlighted by recently reported ChiCom sub incident.

His remarks, as reported, are an interesting and somewhat contradictory tap-dance around the subject.

For one thing he notes:

…that a Chinese submarine risked setting off a military confrontation by closely shadowing a U.S. aircraft carrier sailing near Japan.

Then he turns around and states

“It illustrates the primary reason why we are trying to push to have better military-to-military relationships” with China,

Ooookay! Lets play a bit of deconstruction here. The Chinese are sneaking in on a US carrier, so we need to try harder to be “nice”. Meanwhile, he sought to downpedal the problem:

Adm. Fallon sought to play down the incident. He said describing the covert underwater tracking of the carrier as “stalking” was “sensational.”

If it wasn’t stalking, then WTF was it? An accidental crossing of paths? This attitude is of the same ilk as those who have a battery of Pentagon lawyers decreeing the rules of engagement that can be used by forces out on the sharp end of things.

It’s essentially a bureaucratic and/or policy-wonk mentality, when the warriors need to be allowed to do thier job.