US Navy Sails Warships Through Taiwan Strait

choi

Ryan Browne, US Navy Sails Warships Through Taiwan Strait. CNN, Jan 24, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/p ... n-strait/index.html
("The guided missile destroyer USS McCampbell and the USNS Walter S Diehl 'conducted a routine Taiwan Strait Transit' that was 'in accordance with international law,' US Pacific Fleet spokesman Lt Cmdr Tim Gorman told CNN. * * *
The US Navy also sailed two ships through the Strait in October and November, operations that were shadowed by multiple Chinese warships.
The US had conducted a similar operation in July. Prior to that, the transits occurred only about once a year")

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest.
(b)
(i) Henry J Kaiser-class replenishment oiler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He ... replenishment_oiler
(replenishment oilers; Bo 7 of the 18 ships in this class is USNS Walter S Diehl)
(A) Henry John Kaiser "established the Kaiser Shipyards, which built Liberty ships during World War II.  
(B) Walter Stuart Diehl (a German surname pronounced the same as deal) was a pioneer of aircraft design for US Navy. Nowadays US military uses contractors to design and manufacture materiel
https://www.etymonline.com/word/materiel
, but it used to do the task itself. See, eg, Naval Aircraft Factory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Aircraft_Factory
(ii) oiler (ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oiler_(ship)
("An oiler is a naval auxiliary ship that carries fuels to refuel other warships. Some navies classify oilers as tankers. If dry goods are also supplied, it is called a replenishment oiler")
(c)
(i) "United States Naval Ship or USNS is the prefix designation given to non-commissioned ships that are property of the United States Navy."  en.wikipedia.org for "United States Naval Ship" (that is the entire text for this page)
(ii) ship commissioning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_commissioning
("The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. * * * Ship naming and launching endow a ship hull with her identity, but many milestones remain before she is completed and considered ready to be designated a commissioned ship [read text for details]")
(d) Pacific Fleet (based in Pearl Harbor) is part of United States Indo-Pacific Command (based in Camp HM Smith of US Marine Corps -- also in Oahu, Hawaii.