
As today’s U.S. fleet faces the challenges of a navally ascendant China, it’s interesting to look at the relationship through the lens of history and recall that the U.S. Navy and China, they go back a ways. Back before the days of the Yangtze Patrol—back, in fact, a full 200 years ago to the day, as of Saturday, 16 May 2020. For it was on this day in 1820 that the U.S. Navy had its first-ever contact with China. American merchant ships had ventured to those shores before an American warship ever came calling. The first such to do so,… Read the rest of this entry »