Rough Sea - Tay Ninh Online Newspaper

CSB 2012 ship approached the fishing boat with a fisherman in an accident and brought him ashore for emergency treatment on February 19, 2023.

Hoan was taking a nap on the ship when he suddenly heard an alarm, an order from the Emergency Command Center for CSB 2012 and CSB 4033 to prepare for their mission. The preparation time was 3 hours from receiving the order until G hour to depart.

The whole ship was rushing to prepare. Captain Khoa, who was on leave in Nghe An, had to return to his unit by any means possible. All equipment was checked one last time for a prolonged sea voyage.

The sky in Da Nang is hot and humid with only occasional breezes. Market residents, who are used to seeing the faces of the Coast Guard going to the market, suddenly noticed something strange when food was bought in large quantities with urgent faces and white uniforms drenched in sweat.

Even though the market people are honest and do their business, they still follow the daily news, sometimes just out of habit when there are no customers. Mrs. Loan selling roasted meat passed by Ms. Thuy's stall and whispered that she seemed to be preparing to go to some oil rig that the Chinese had dragged in.

Then the market's unique identity is to "spread the news" faster than any other media. The whole market was bustling. Mr. Tu Son said while waving his hands, cheering and supporting the CSB soldiers to do their duty by packing the fastest, freshest and most delicious food for the sacred sea and islands of the Fatherland, for the country, ladies, do it, because when the Chinese come here, there will be no place for you to sit and sell...

Soon all the food and necessities were complete according to the order of the CSB 2012 ship. Everything was loaded onto the unit's logistics department car and rushed to the starting point.

The whole ship was not sleeping, just kept their eyes open waiting for orders and waiting for Captain Khoa. On the bridge, Political Commissar Toan, Deputy Captain Hoan and two Deputy Captains of the same rank Ngo Anh and Chi Ha sat by a pot of tea, guessing the new mission that they did not know yet. Hoan with his handsome face like a scholar smiled and joked:

- I know where to go!

- Where are you going? Do you really know? Where did you get the news? Toan and Anh asked in unison.

Hoan smiled and said truthfully:

- Going to sea, the ship goes to sea, where else?

The other two guys were stunned, Toan got angry because he fell for the Deputy Captain's trick... he chased after Hoan and flicked his ears - a loving punishment of the marines. Just as he ran to the door and was about to rush down the ladder, he bumped into the cipher Khien with his crew cut who stopped him to give him the news. Mr. Khoa was back, in a meeting at the fleet.

* * *

On the morning of May 2, 2014, at exactly 6:35 a.m., the ship's bell rang, ordering the entire crew to gather on deck, take a roll call, and then check all machinery, oil, food, and supplies.

At exactly 7 o'clock, the CSB fleet of 2 ships of Squadron 201 received orders to leave the port at maximum speed towards coordinate X (lots 142, 143 of Vietnam's continental shelf). The sea was calm, the two ships at maximum speed cut through the waves, leaving Da Nang city behind, fading behind the smoke at the stern... No one knew what mission they were on, CSB 2012 contacted CSB 4033 via radio waves but was answered with a round answer like the number 0 (don't know...). The entire fleet only knew to go towards the sea area with coordinate X, that's all!

Finally, the marines answered the questions by contacting the Fisheries Surveillance ships that were coordinating. They answered more clearly to clear up the doubts: “Implementing the task of protecting the law in the sovereign waters and continental shelf where China illegally placed the drilling rig.” It is true that the civilian side has a clearer mission, unlike the Coast Guard, because our ancestors still calculated how to deploy this strong armed squadron into action. Now the whole ship is clearer and everyone feels more comfortable.

The sea was beautiful, the waves were calm, only level 3, 4. The May sky was clear, the farther from shore the wind got stronger, making the pure white shirts of the Coast Guard boys flutter, speeding at almost full capacity with the engines at 1,500, 1,800 rpm. After more than five hours of travel, the entire formation was near the coordinates they had received the order for. On the scanning radar screen, dense white dots suddenly appeared surrounding the huge dot "HD-981 drilling rig".

Direct orders were continuously coded by the two reporters Khien and Tam and quickly transmitted to the command room. Deputy captain Hoan, with a pen and a ruler in hand, busily determined the distance between our ship and the nearest Chinese ships when the formation entered the coordinates.

Khoa sat in the Captain's chair and gave strong, decisive commands, quickly directing the helmsman and engine to stick to the formation according to the assigned plan.

- Must be 10 degrees 2 machines 1,000.

- Left 8 degrees 3 engine 1,200...

…

The engine and pilot's response rang out loudly after carrying out the ship's command.

Hoan remained the same, attentively focused and calculating, the pencil lines quickly determined with the parallel ruler and square to report back to Khoa the exact position of the friendly ship as well as the Chinese ship when approaching the densely packed coast guard, coast guard and fisheries surveillance ships on the sea surface around his ship.

* * *

It has been the fourth day since China illegally anchored the HD-981 drilling rig. Coast Guard Ship 2012 and its comrades are still fighting day and night...

From the observation deck, Dung shouted loudly, the Coast Guard ship 44103 was leading the charge towards the starboard side of the ship, the ships with the zigzag letters painted in white with 2 large brown stripes were as massive as giant and ferocious sharks that wanted to devour the small CSB 2012 ship in the vast East Sea. On the left side of CSB 4033, two coast guard ships were also following with the intention of using water cannons to suppress the small Vietnamese ships.

Just like that, from left to right, the CSB 2012 ship of the Vietnam Coast Guard cleverly avoided letting the greedy and ferocious shark 44013 get close, the scene was like a child's game of tag... Angry and losing control, the Coast Guard ship 44013 and two other Chinese ships removed the tarp covering the black cannons and continuously turned towards Hoan's ship. Above, the two water cannons were powerless because they could not be used due to the ingenuity and bravery of the CSB soldiers on ship 2012.

“Attention foreign ships!

Attention foreign ships!

Vietnam Coast Guard announces!

This is a sea area within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf according to the Vietnam Law of the Sea and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. All of your activities in this sea area are illegal, seriously infringing upon Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction, violating international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and going against the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea.

We demand that you stop immediately and leave Vietnam's waters.

The loud loudspeakers resounded loudly on the sea, along with the red flag with yellow star flying proudly on the sea, giving the entire ship more strength against the large and ferocious ships of those who blatantly violated the law and morality.

All the officers and soldiers, with their courage in front of the large and ferocious ships, calmly performed their duties of law enforcement and sovereignty protection. Captain Dam Minh Khoa, Deputy Captains Ngo Van Anh, Nguyen Quoc Hoan and the sailors, each in their positions, observed and worked, the logistics team was still busy peeling squash to prepare for the meal in front of the black cannons of the Chinese ship, turning back and forth, pointing at the CSB 2012 ship. The white waves splashed foam on both sides of the ship and the rocking made the ship tilt every time it turned the wheel.

No one told anyone, but everyone had the same thought: They wouldn't dare to shoot, just try to approach the ship and spray water cannons like on the left side where ship KN 767 was being surrounded between two coast guard ships.

Looking at the brothers on the Fisheries Surveillance ship, everyone was filled with sadness and anger, waiting for orders from above. No! We were determined not to be afraid, not to back down even though they outnumbered us 3 or 4 times, but this sea and sky belonged to us, it was the blood and bones of our ancestors who sacrificed their lives to protect it.

Very close, 3 shots... 2 shots... less than 1 shot, the Coast Guard ship 44013 fiercely charged, the waves almost obscured the view, covering the cold and ferocious bow of the ship. After more than two hours of zigzagging, stretching the Chinese ship formation far away to make way for teammates to enter and carry out their mission, the Coast Guard ship 44013 madly decided to ram straight into the CSB 2012. Everyone put on their personal life jackets in the scorching sun on the deck, on the command post and in the positions still standing tall waiting...

Boom... boom... the sound of two metal blocks colliding on the sea at high speed along with the sudden strong shake made everything sway.

Hoan held tightly to the edge of the work table, his body swaying back and forth with everyone else. Everything on the ship fell and rolled around, rice and soup were scattered in the kitchen, Khoa quickly gave orders.

- All damage check locations, report immediately!

- Good nose.

- Good driving.

- You must be good.

- The port side of the ship is torn about 1m, the water level is 40 to 60cm.

- No loss of life.

- Time of collision is exactly 8:03 a.m. on May 4, 2014.

- Report all!

After ordering the Khien to report the collision situation and damage to the Command Center, Khoa, Hoan and Anh went to check the ship one last time and encouraged the officers and soldiers. Going down to the engine room, they saw Political Commissar Toan below with Cuong - the head of the engine department and Dung, Bon, Dinh and Lam working and talking. After the collision with the left side of the ship, the Coast Guard 44013 and the others had moved away about 3 nautical miles but still maintained their direction and distance.

It was not until late afternoon that the crew temporarily repaired the puncture on the left side of the ship and the railing that was twisted and broken due to the collision. The other side of the CSB 4033, Captain Le Trung Thanh's ship, also suffered similar damage. After finishing his bowl of rice, Tam ran to report the order from the Command Center for the squadron to withdraw to repair the ship, and that another squadron had come to replace him. Seeing the crew with tears in their eyes, refusing to withdraw and insisting on staying to continue their mission, I felt both pity and emotion.

- Order our ship to return to Song Thu for repairs, then I will tell everyone to return to their positions and prepare to depart. Don't ask for anything, this is an order! Khoa said, but deep down he was just like his brothers, wanting to stay, wanting to fight side by side with his comrades to protect the sacred sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

Dinh Van Hong

(Notes recorded according to the story of Deputy Captain Nguyen Quoc Hoan - CSB 2012 ship)

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