In November 2006, under the headline 'China sub stalked US fleet', the Washington Post revealed that a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 039 Song-class diesel-electric submarine (SSK) had shadowed a US carrier battle group undetected in the Pacific the previous month and managed to surface within firing range of the carrier USS Kitty Hawk. The encounter came as a shock to the US Navy on two counts: first, because the Song-class SSK had managed to evade the attentions of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) escorts accompanying the USS Kitty Hawk; second, because it occurred in waters off Okinawa, an area of ocean far removed from the more usual coastal habitats of PLAN submarines.
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