Ren'ai Jiao can become a hot spot every month, and the broken landing ship that the Philippines illegally "beached" on it will not be dismantled, towed and sunk for the time being, whether for strategic reasons in the South China Sea or for other reasons. So what to do in the face of the Philippine ships that are frantically transporting supplies and building materials, the most effective way is to smash them with water cannons, and the Philippines forced their way into Ren'ai Jiao again on March 23. There was no successful boarding as expected, and the supply ship was seriously injured by the Chinese Coast Guard's water cannons, and even the mission failed to navigate autonomously.
It's about to be smashed
In fact, the Philippines is very confident in sending supplies this time, because two days ago, it took advantage of its geographical advantage to catch the Chinese coast guard off guard by surprise and sent 34 "scientific research personnel" to the Wire Reef. Then he leisurely completed the tasks of building the awning, shooting materials, and digging and sampling before evacuating, and even held a simple press conference on the ship to announce the successful completion of the mission. Although the Chinese Coast Guard then landed on the reef to verify and deal with it, after all, the two sides did not have contact, and the Philippines suddenly felt more confident and appeared at Ren'ai Jiao.
Sampling from the Philippine reef
China Coast Guard Reef Verification "Mine Clearance"
Based on some tacit plans from both sides, the Chinese side allowed the Philippines to send regular supplies to the landing ship, which could only be fresh water, food, medicine and other daily necessities, usually once a month, but this time the Philippines was a little anxious. On March 23, just 18 days after the last supply delivery, the Philippines reneged on its promise to dispatch two coast guard vessels and one supply vessel to forcibly intrude into the waters adjacent to China's Ren'ai Jiao. It may be that the last time the replenishment and completion of the personnel rotation were too smooth, this time the ship simply carried a large amount of construction materials, and tried to carry out abnormal transportation and replenishment to the illegal "beached" broken landing ship. The response of the Chinese Coast Guard was simple: the Philippine transport ship chose to forcibly break through and invade despite China's dissuasion warnings and route control, telling the Philippine side that "those who play with fire will bring humiliation upon themselves."
This is different from the previous special arrangements for Philippine supply ships to be made on board each time based on humanitarian principles, and it feels a bit of an ultimatum. Sure enough, the style of on-site interception has changed, and the Philippine escort coast guard ships were first surrounded by Chinese coast guard ships and fishing boats, and were driven away by close interception by cutting routes. As for the hired UM-4 supply ship (Yunaza May 4), it was "besieged" by Chinese coast guard ships and used water cannons to flank them, and this time the coast guard "opened fire" 360 degrees from the front and back and left and right without missing angles.
Be the first to intercept big ships
Water cannons chased and hit the supply ships
Continued fighting
It can only be navigated by the Cabra
From the live video released so far, it can be seen that the UM-4 supply ship has been under the suppression of the water cannons of many Chinese coast guard ships, enjoying the comfort brought by the high-pressure water cannons on the blue sea. According to the Philippine side, unlike the previous point-of-fire warnings, the UM-4 supply ship was subjected to continuous water cannon fire. A baptism of several hours was too stressful for this civilian supply ship, and even the hull of the ship went sideways and tilted under the attack of water cannons.
Under the continuous attack of water cannons, the UM-4 supply ship was seriously injured and was unable to navigate independently, so it could only escape in embarrassment with the support of the Philippine Coast Guard "Cabra". The Philippines was forced to abandon the building materials and instead release a rigid inflatable boat from a broken ship, which then carried six naval personnel and a small amount of food, and completed the resupply and personnel change with the permission of the Chinese side. Therefore, the Philippine side's statement has changed again, claiming that there were injuries, but it "successfully restocked" the broken ship that was illegally beached, which can be regarded as saving some face for itself.
The water cannon has no dead angle output
Small inflatable boats deliver small supplies
Small inflatable boats deliver small supplies
It should be noted that the Philippine side seems to be seriously understocked with ships and there are no supply ships available for rotation. The UM-4 supply ship was the last time the glass was smashed by a water cannon, and Lieutenant General Carlos, commander of the Western Philippine Military Region, who was hiding on the ship at the time, was injured and ran over again a few days after returning for repairs. Of course, this time is even worse, don't want to keep the windshield, maybe even the engine has been scrapped, and I don't know how long it will take to reactivate it when I go back to repair it this time.
This interception also shows us that the Philippines is trying to do everything possible to smuggle building materials into the landing ship. The UM-4 supply ship docked photos show that the small boat actually has multiple deck cabins, especially the bottom floor, as long as the load goes up and dives into the water, it can't be seen at all. Since the landing ship "Sierra Madre" cannot be dismantled, it is necessary to bomb the supply ship with a water cannon to see how many stock supply ships the Philippines still have to use.
The glass shattered
Special design can hide building materials