The CCTV report footage and a video clip posted on the social media account of the PLA Navy earlier this month show that the Hainan now has the Z-18J early warning helicopter and the Z-9 anti-submarine helicopter at its disposal besides the previously revealed Z-8C transport helicopter. Since the commissioning of the Hainan in April, it now operates more helicopters of more types, and the procedure has become more sophisticated, the report said. The first Type 075 amphibious assault ship of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy recently passed an assessment focusing on multidimensional landing combat that features the integration of sea, land and air units, with experts saying on Tuesday that the vessel is rapidly reaching operational capability shortly after its commissioning a few months earlier, at a time when deterrence is needed against "Taiwan independence" forces.Ī PLA Navy landing ship detachment recently organized a year-end assessment in an undisclosed area in the South China Sea, in which the Hainan, the PLA Navy's first Type 075 amphibious assault ship, focused on strengthening joint operations in addition to the training of the vessel, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday. Photo: Screenshot from China Central Television The hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to a military trial.ĭefense attorneys challenged several of the government’s witnesses about their accounts given to investigators a year ago, after several of them recalled details differently or not at all during the hearing.Ībout 160 sailors and officers were on board when the fire started on the 840-foot (256-meter) vessel, which had been docked at Naval Base San Diego while undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade.The Hainan, the first Type 075 amphibious assault ship of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, sails in the South China Sea in 2021. The hearing that started Monday is expected to wrap up Wednesday when the defense is expected to call its witnesses to the stand. Mays is charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel. The amphibious assault ship was damaged so badly that it had to be scuttled. It marked one of the worst noncombat warship disasters in recent memory. Mays has denied igniting the blaze that burned for nearly five days on the USS Bonhomme Richard in July 2020, injuring dozens of personnel aboard and sending acrid smoke wafting over San Diego. I did it.” Then she said he mumbled some more before she heard him say: “It had to be done.”ĭefense attorneys said he was joking and speaking sarcastically after being surprised that he was being locked up. 20, 2020, testified that she heard a stunned Mays mumble to himself: “I’m guilty, I guess. Mays, 20, was a seaman apprentice at the time and has since been promoted to seaman.Īnother sailor, Carissa Tubman, who was assigned to escorting Mays to the brig on Aug.
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Petty Officer 3rd Class Kenji Velasco blamed his nervousness for the changes to his story and said in military court during a preliminary hearing that he was now “100 percent” sure that he saw the suspect, Ryan Sawyer Mays, descend to the ship’s lower vehicle storage area on the day of the fire. warship last year testified Tuesday that he is certain that he saw the suspect in the area where the flames ignited, but acknowledged changing the account he initially told investigators. SAN DIEGO (AP) - A key witness in the Navy’s case against a junior sailor accused of setting the fire that destroyed a U.S.