Did a US warship lose power while chasing a Chinese destroyer in the South China Sea?

The Chinese navy says it had a rare South China Sea encounter involving a foreign warship that lost power, propulsion and radar while following a People’s Liberation Army destroyer, an account that resembles incidents this year involving US Navy destroyers in the region.

The incident occurred when a foreign vessel conducted aggressive close shadowing of the PLA Navy Type 055 destroyer Zunyi during routine training by the Chinese vessel, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.

The CCTV report did not identify the foreign warship or specify the date or exact location of the encounter.

09:23

History, money and military: why the South China Sea is so important to Beijing

Zhang Jun, an officer aboard the Zunyi, told the broadcaster that his ship had accelerated in high-speed cruise to force the foreign follower to speed up and keep pace.

“During the stand-off, [suddenly its] power and electricity all went out. Its radar stopped transmitting and its navigation lights went dark. That lasted for nearly half an hour,” Zhang said, adding that the Zunyi continued operating normally.

The description bears some similarities to two US Navy destroyer accidents this year, although there is no evidence the foreign vessel involved with the Zunyi was American or that the US destroyer incidents were linked to Chinese naval activity.

The USS Higgins, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, had an electrical-system failure on April 28. The outage reportedly lasted “several hours”, although the US Navy did not say where the incident occurred or what mission the ship was conducting.

A statement from the US Seventh Fleet said the Higgins, which was commissioned in 1999, “experienced a loss of power throughout the ship” before it subsequently restored its power and propulsion systems.

“Initial reports indicate an electrical malfunction, which may have produced sparking or smoke that ceased once power was removed,” the US Navy said.

The 30-year-old ship was left stranded without normal electrical power for four days before being towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines for repairs.

Official US statements have not linked either vessel’s electrical failure to any mission or encounter involving Chinese military ships. There has been no statement from either the Pentagon or the US Navy stating that Chinese naval forces were present during those incidents.

The 13,000-tonne Zunyi is one of the PLA Navy’s 10 most advanced Type 055 destroyers in service. Since entering service in 2023, it has served as a major command, air-defence and information node and has been integrated within Chinese aircraft carrier groups, according to the CCTV report.

The broadcaster said the ship had engaged in “many close encounters” with foreign warships and aircraft.

Zhang expressed confidence in his ship’s readiness when facing such tense circumstances.

“Why would I be nervous ... As long as they are within my missile range, I am sure I can destroy them,” he told CCTV.