Canada and U.S. warships join forces in South China Sea through contested waters

HMCS Ottawa and USS Higgins sail together in the South China Sea. (Phil Fraboni / CTV News)

CTV National News is on board HMCS Ottawa, with correspondent Adrian Ghobrial embedded with Canadian Navy personnel and documenting their work in the South China Sea – a region where China is increasingly flexing its maritime muscle. This is his sixth story in a series of dispatches from the ship.

The United States Navy’s USS Higgins joined HMCS Ottawa in the South China Sea, near the contested Scarborough Shoal, on Thursday. The two warships travelled south together towards the Spratly Islands – a number of which China has militarized.

The two allied warships weren’t alone, as soon as they connected in the South China Sea, two Peoples Liberation Army Navy vessels began to shadow the Canadian and American warships.

The appearance of the hulking Chinese Navy destroyer dubbed “Changsha” and a warship called the “Yuncheng” were seen hovering along the horizon shortly after appearing on radar.

The looming presence of China’s Navy in this region comes as no surprise. Over the last decade, Beijing has built airstrips on top of reefs in the South China Sea and militarized nearby islands with cruise missile and radar systems.

Chinese and Philippine coastguard vessels have also clashed a number of times in recent months in these contested waters.

The stakes are high. One-third of all global shipping passes through the South China Sea. Below the sea floor, at least 11-billion barrels of untapped oil is said to sit in reserve. Control of these waters could also give Beijing strategic military leverage across the Indo-Pacific.

China has claimed ownership of nearly the entire South China Sea, even though an international court in 2016 ruled that claim to be invalid.

The Royal Canadian Navy and U.S. Navy have joined forces to conduct bilateral operations multiple times in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait over the last year. They are, in-part, contributing to Operation Horizon, a multi-nation initiative to promote stability and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.

Canada, U.S. ‘working together’

U.S. Navy Commander, James Billings, the second in charge of USS Higgins, sat down with CTV News to discuss the value of collaborating with Canada.

“Working together, proving this interchangeability, is one step closer to being able to plug and play should conflict arise,” said Commander Billings.

It’s a sentiment shared by HMCS Ottawa Commanding Officer Adriano Lozer, who told CTV News that the two navy crews were able to “refine our abilities to work at the higher levels of what we would do in a conflict.”

“We worked on anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, communications across all spectrums in a way that is totally interchangeable,” he said.

HMCS Ottawa carries a highly-skilled specialized crew from the Royal Canadian Air Force, who operate a CH-148 Cyclone – a massive, twin-engine helicopter – that’s deployed multiple times a day as the ship travels through the Indo-Pacific.

CTV National News was given the opportunity to accompany the Cyclone crew on an operation to collect data and ensure safe passage ahead.

Our flight path took us towards Firey Cross. Once a reef, the Chinese have built an airbase there. While we were flying nearby Firey Cross, the Chinese warship tracking us from below began to sound off on Marine Radio. Saying “Canadian warship 341, this is Chinese navy warship 571, your ‘helo’ [helicopter] is proceeding to our island. To avoid misunderstanding, alter course and keep away from our island.”

The Canadian Air Force pilots followed international regulations staying a minimum of 22 kilometres away from the Chinese base at sea, though following airspace regulations didn’t prevent a dangerous event from taking place during a similar deployment in Oct. 20 to 23.

Captain Theodore Yan, a Canadian air combat systems officer was flying a mission in October of 2023 when a Chinese jet came dangerously close.

“We had to go lower and lower in the air as the Chinese jet came lower and lower above our aircraft” recounts Yan.

Shortly after the Chinese jet intercepted them, it was firing flares.

Yan remembers looking in out the cockpit windshield and seeing the flames adding, “the thought that if one of those flares had collided with us or gone into one of our engines; it could have been a really bad day.”

On that day, everyone made it back to HMCS Ottawa safely, though its a reminder of the risks involved in this contested region.