Chinese ships harass unarmed U.S. Navy ship

By GottaLaff

The weirdest part of this breaking story is that, per MSNBC, the Chinese crew mooned the Americans:

Five Chinese ships have maneuvered dangerously close to a US navy vessel in the South China Sea, the US government has said.

US officials said the incident came after days of "increasingly aggressive" acts by Chinese ships.

These violated international law on respecting other users of the seas, a Pentagon spokesman said.

A protest was expected to be delivered to the Chinese military attache at the Pentagon on Monday.

The incident happened on Sunday as the USNS Impeccable was on routine operations in international waters 75 miles (120km) south of Hainan island, a US statement said.

The ships had "aggressively manoeuvred" around the Impeccable "in an apparent co-ordinated effort to harass the US ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters", according to the Pentagon.

The US ship sprayed the Chinese vessel with water from fire hoses to try to force it away, it said.

But it said the Chinese crew stripped to their underwear and carried on approaching to within 25ft (8m).