US Cutter encounters Chinese, Russian Navy vessels
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The Kimball crew is now operating under Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is used for situations when strategic competitors operate in and around US territorial waters.
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A crew member of the US Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (US Coast Guard District 17/AP)
The US Coast Guard revealed on Tuesday that its Cutter Kimball encountered Chinese and Russian naval vessels during a routine patrol in the Bering Sea.
"The Coast Guard Cutter Kimball crew on a routine patrol in the Bering Sea encountered a People’s Republic of China Guided Missile Cruiser, Renhai CG 101, sailing approximately 75 nautical miles north of Kiska Island, Alaska, September 19, 2022. The Kimball crew later identified two more Chinese naval vessels and four Russian naval vessels, including a Russian Federation Navy destroyer, all in a single formation with the Renhai as a combined surface action group operating in the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)," US Coast Guard said in a statement.
The Kimball crew is now operating under Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is used for situations when strategic competitors operate in and around US territorial waters, it added.
Kimball will continue to monitor activities in the area to ensure the safety of US vessels and international commerce, according to the US Coast Guard. "We will meet presence-with-presence to ensure there are no disruptions to US interests in the maritime environment around Alaska," Seventeenth Coast Guard District commander Rear Adm. Nathan Moore said.
On the other hand, earlier today, former US Navy captain and analyst Carl Schuster revealed that the US navy's most advanced surface warship, the USS Zumwalt, is conducting a mission in the western Pacific that might pave the way for the future stationing of US hypersonic missiles in the area.
According to Schuster, “The presence of a stealth warship will draw a great deal of (Chinese) interest,” particularly if the Zumwalt is armed with hypersonic missiles.
The USS Zumwalt is one of three multi-mission guided missile destroyers in a class that the Navy claims would “create a new level of battlespace complexity for potential adversaries.”
This USS Zumwalt docked in Japan on Monday after docking at the port of Guam the previous week, according to a US Navy 7th Fleet spokesperson. Additionally, the warship has been assigned to Destroyer Squadron 15, the biggest US Navy destroyer squadron located outside of the US, which is based at Yokosuka Naval Base not far from Tokyo.
