Shady places to hide in the Sea

The USN destroyer commander was busily reviewing the dispositions of the Taiwanese fleet, his Allies. Two pairs of frigates/destroyers were now patrolling the length of the straight. They were pinging away with active sonar and their helicopters were circling  dropping sonar buoys in a text-book ASW pattern. Things had gotten rather hot under the collar in the last half hour. There were sufficient indications for three possible/plausible (but as yet "unknown" Chinese?) underwater contacts. Suddenly his ASW ruminations were brought to an abrupt close. "Captain, 'Sparks' indicates there's a supertanker in trouble!" From a frantic rush of adrenaline to an embarrassed pause, then a pink faced Signals operator looking rather apologetic. "Sorry sir, I could have sworn she darn well split in two."

The senior Signals officer looked on, sternly, passing a knowing look to the commander. Out of earshot he explained "It was just radar reflection. Just a rookie mistake from a Junior Op, at least we don't have to contend with a supertanker spilling it's load in the middle of our ASW game". They both smiled wryly and returned to their separate duties ...

Aboard the bridge of the lead Chinese destroyer the consternation eased. The pair of destroyers were now back in the lee of the massive supertanker. What strange fluid dynamic effect that had caused the trailing destroyer to yaw so violently out of formation would more than likely remain forever a mystery. Occurrences such as that were common in the folklore of the sea. More importantly the mission was not compromised, the element of surprise remained intact. The Chinese Marine Company aboard the supertanker were making their last minute preparations as the Chief Weapons Officer reported all weapon systems operational ...