US Navy warship patrols near Spratly Islands with Chinese frigate sailing close

From Ang Malaya (May 13): US Navy warship patrols near Spratly Islands with Chinese frigate sailing close

United State Navy littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) conducts a routine patrolling in international waters near Spratly Islands in West Philippine Sea on Monday, May 11. While the said US warship is conducting its mission a Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy guided-missile frigate Yancheng (FFG 546) sails close behind.

It can be remembered that the said LCS made its first visit in Philippines for resupply and refueling last May 4. “This is the first stop in the Philippines for Fort Worth, which is currently on her maiden 16-month rotational deployment in support of the Indo-Asia-Pacific Rebalance,” the US Navy said.

Fort Worth employs the surface warfare (SUW) mission package for her entire deployment.

Today, May 13 the said warship is back at Subic Bay to resupply after a weeklong routine patrol in international waters and airspace near the Spratly Islands.

“Routine operations like the one Fort Worth just completed in the South China Sea will be the new normal as we welcome four LCSs to the region in the coming years.

Deployment of multiple LCSs to Southeast Asia underscores the importance of this ‘region on the rise’ and the value persistent presence brings,” US Navy Captain Fred Kacher, commodore, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7.

http://www.angmalaya.net/world/2015/05/13/10900-us-navy-warship-patrols-near-spratly-islands-with-chinese-frigate-sailing-close