By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Chinese and U.S. sailors pass in formation
before touring each others' ships.
They're making ship visits and attending sporting events, receptions, band concerts and community relations projects.
Yesterday, 150 Chinese and 30 American sailors got a brief topside view of two destroyers, the USS Ingersoll and the Harbin, tied up alongside each other at Pearl Harbor.
Both contingents were only allowed to walk along the main decks of the two warships and kept away from the inner workings.
The U.S. contingent was led by Lt. Mark Semmler, Ingersoll's supply officer, while Lt. Cmdr. Shiu Feng, who spoke English, conducted the tour of the Harbin, trying the best he could to answer the few questions from the U.S. sailors.
"Their military bearing was very sharp," said Semmler after the walk through, which lasted less than 10 minutes. "Everything looked very clean."
Navy Chief Anthony Gauhier, Ingersoll's damage control chief, said he didn't know much about the equipment on the 475-foot Chinese destroyer, but it looked like the 6-year-old Chinese warship was "well kept."
Petty Officer John Smith, working with two Navy interpreters, told the Chinese visitors that the two large guns could launch a 70-pound projectile 20 miles at a rate of 17 rounds a minute.
One of the Chinese sailors asked Smith if the Ingersoll had ever sailed through the Straits of Taiwan. Smith, who has been on the Ingersoll for a little more than a year, said he didn't know, noting however that recently the 17-year-old vessel had been in the Persian Gulf and stopped off at Hong Kong and Singapore.
Speaking through a U.S. Navy interpreter, Yu Feng, 26, said he was enjoying his first visit to the United States, noting that the farthest he ever got from China was one trip to Russia.
Huigang Che, 24, described his short visit as "very nice" but declined to compare the Harbin and the Ingersoll, saying he liked "both the same."
The Chinese sailors planned to attend the Kodak Hula Show at Kapiolani Park tomorrow before departing for San Diego Thursday morning. Three Chinese warships - two destroyers and one oiler - arrived here Sunday carrying about 800 sailors for a four-day visit.
This is the second time a Chinese ship has visited the United States. The first time was in 1989 when the training ship Zheng He steamed into Pearl Harbor.
Before that, the cruiser USS Bunker Hill pulled into Qingdao in March 1995.