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The United States sank a decommissioned ship in the Pacific using a cheap bomb from a B-2 stealth bomber.
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The USS Tarawa, a 39,000-ton amphibious assault ship, was sunk on July 19.
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China has criticized the exercise, calling it a show of power and questioning its effectiveness.
The United States conducted a successful operation in the Pacific, using a low-cost bomb to sink an 820-foot-long shipBut China was quick to undermine the operation.
As part of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024 exercise, the United States successfully sank the now-decommissioned USS Tarawa on July 19.
The ship, a 39,000-ton amphibious assault ship the size of an aircraft carrier, was in service from 1976 to 2009.
For the first time, the bomb was dropped from a U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber, one of the most sophisticated and deadly aircraft in the U.S. military’s arsenal.
As part of the live-fire sinking exercise, dubbed SINKEX, the USS Tarawa was sunk more than 50 nautical miles off the northern coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the U.S. Navy’s 3rd Fleet said in a July 23 news release.
“This capability is a response to an urgent need to rapidly neutralize maritime threats across vast expanses of ocean around the world, at minimal cost,” the press release said.
This year, forces from the United States, South Korea, the Netherlands, Australia and Malaysia participated in SINKEX.
China is trying to demonstrate that the US sinking exercise was insignificant.
Although the US Navy did not mention that the exercise was specifically targeting China, China was quick to take offense.
The Global Times, a state-run Chinese media outlet, said in a June 27 commentary that the RIMPAC exercise is “clearly aimed at China.”
He said China is “the only country considered an ‘enemy’ by the United States that operates a 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship in the Asia-Pacific region.”
The Global Times slammed the exercise in its article, saying it was a “grand spectacle” staged by the US to “prove its power.”
This also calls into question the effectiveness of the operation.
“The USS Tarawa is an amphibious assault ship that served the United States from 1976 to 2009,” the outlet said. “Such an obsolete ship cannot be compared to modern military equipment.”
Operation SINKEX comes as China’s naval fleet grows and poses a threat to the southern China region.
China has surpassed the US Navy in fleet size. According to the Pentagon 2023 Report on China’s military power, Its fleet consists of about 370 ships. On the other hand, the United States The fleet is reduced to just under 300 ships.
Representatives for the U.S. Navy did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment sent outside of normal business hours.
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