The sound you hear in the background is that of sabres being rattled. Iran, North Korea…they are all testing the resolve of the victor of the Obama Beach invasion.

Now China are stepping up their efforts too. On Thursday, in what Obama would probably call “the new spirit of diplomacy” there was what was described as an “inadvertent encounter” between an underwater sonar array being towed by a US destroyer and a Chinese submarine.

The destroyer in question is pictured here alongside in Incheon Harbour, South Korea in March 2004.

The array was damaged but the submarine and the ship did not collide an anonymous official said when asked…anonymous becuase neither side let on initially that it had happened. (A sonar array is a radar towed behind a ship that listens and locates underwater sounds for non-military readers). The incident occurred near Subic Bay off the coast of the Philippines in international waters.

The US Navy has complained in the past that Chinese vessels, including fishing boats, have deliberately tried to disrupt U.S. naval activities in international waters near China. In one widely publicized incident in March 2009, five Chinese vessels maneuvered close enough to the USNS Impeccable to require the use of a fire hose by the unarmed American vessel to avoid a collision. The US Navy later released video of that incident.

Two questions occur…did the destroyer know that a submarine was that close and if not why not?

…and isn’t it just a bit ironic that the destroyer was called the USS John McCain?