Navigating the Black Ditch: Risks in the Taiwan Strait

摘要

The author's sole experience transiting the Taiwan Strait was not a pleasant one. Like many on his US Navy destroyer, he had earlier in the week gone to sleep expecting to awake anchored in Hong Kong harbour for a few days of liberty to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Instead, the Chinese government rescinded permission for the USS Kitty Hawk Strike Group to enter port, causing the aircraft carrier and its escorting vessels to chart a course back to Japan and leave behind many loved ones who had flown to town to rendezvous. Typhoon-spawned weather heightened the crew's enjoyment as they headed for the Taiwan Strait to undertake a 'freedom of navigation' transit.