The United States has been engaged in anti-submarine exercises with South Korea to demonstrate resolve in the aftermath of the sinking of a South Korean vessel, the Cheonan, by the North Koreans. The USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered super-carrier, was set to take part in the second phase of the exercises next month. The 97,000 ton vessel can carry approximately 80 aircraft. It’s not merely a symbol of deterrence; rather, it’s deterrence itself.

That is, it was deterrence itself until China rattled its tail. Among other things Beijing announced that it will soon test-fire a Dong Feng 21D, the world’s only ballistic anti-ship missile. The Chinese dispatch came complete with an artist’s rendering of such missile striking an American carrier: