the bowditch. it is named after the man who invented modern maritime navigation in the 1800s in massachusetts. in march 2001, a couple weeks before the hainan island incident, right after george w. bush was sworn into office, this little ship, the bowditch was in china, in the yellow sea, like the impeccable, the bowditch is an unarmed. yes, a u.s. navy ship. a research vessel. a civilian crew. right after george bush was sworn in in 2001, the bowditch was doing its research in the yellow sea when it was -- say it with me now -- intercepted by a chinese frigate, this chinese naval ship zoomed over to the bowditch, came within a hundred yards, told it had to leave the area. now in that incident nobody ended up taking their clothes off or shooting anybody with a fire hose, but the bowditch did turn around and leave and just like new president obama decided in 2009 when it happened to the bowditch, yeah, it left but came back several days later with a massively well armed friend, with a u.s. naval war

the chinese ship, whiad shadowing the "bowditch," swooped in, pate small boat in the water, snatched of the drones and disappeared over the horizon, ignoring radio calls to return it. u.s. navy research vessels are routinely shadowed and harassed by chinese ships as part of the shoving match for dominance in the south china sea. this incident, in which a pair of chinese trawlers harassed and almost collided with another navy research ship, occurred in wow 9. but usually, those incidents occur much closer to the chinese mainland than this one. only the chinese know if this was intended as a signal to the incoming trump administration. pentagon officials say it look likes will the chinese ship simply saw a chance to disrupt american operations and went for it. scott. >> pelley: david martin at the pentagon tonight. david, thank you. a moment ago woe heard from president obama on syria. in the ruined city of aleppo, these green buses came to evacuate civilians bombarded by syrian and russian planes. but the been interrupted by fighting, and elizabeth palmer picks up our story. >> report

bowditch was conducting research with these two drones. when they went to pick them out of the water a chinese naval ship dismatched a smaller boat and picked one of the two drones out of the water before the u.s. ship could get it back. while this might seem like not that big of a deal, the fact of the matter is these close encounters between the u.s. and chinese navies are rare. the fact that china seized u.s. property is rarer still. it might seem like they're only doing this because of navigational safety issues, most experts will say when china picked that drone out of the water they knew they were going to be sending a message to the united states. >> one of many messages, thank you so much. gordon, as i said, this is only the latest point of friction between the u.s. and china. we've clearly seen an escalation first of a discovery of anti-aircraft weapons on the man made weapons in the south china sea. that's something president ping promised he wouldn't do. we saw nuclear armed planes flying over the areas. now the seizure of the d

it was set to bring them back on board when officials say a chinese naval ship trailing the bowditch launched a small boat which stole one of the ocean gliders. the defense department said it immediately made contact to ask for it back but the chinese ship failed away. friday they asked again. spokesman captain jeff davis told reporters it is ours and we would like it back and like this not to happen again. the chinese defense ministry spochbded late saturday saying that the ship initially didn't know what the drone was and seized it for navigational safety reasons. they went on to say, "upon confirming that the device was a u.s. underwater drone, the chinese side decided to transfer it to the u.s. side in an appropriate manner." china and the united states have been communicating about this process. it is incompetent inappropriate and unhelpful that the u.s. yun lat -- hyped the issue. it comes at a time with tensions. an action the u.s. calls illegal. president-elect trump has made beijing angry twice in the last two weeks first taking a call from taiwan's president and questioning

the "usns bowditch," an unarmed u.s. military research ship was just off the coast sunday where the navy says it was conducting research using underwater drones called ocean gliders. they say it was legal under international law. it was set to bring them back on board when officials say a chinese naval ship trailing the "bowditch" launched a small boat which swooped in and stole one of the ocean gliders. the defense department says they immediately made contact to ask for it back, but the chinese ship sailed away. friday, pentagon officials asked again. spokesman captain jeff davis told reporters "it is ours and we would like it back and we would like this not to happen again." china's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement saturday that "china and the united states are using military channels to appropriately handle this issue." the paper went on to say the source told them, "this issue will be smoothly resolved." the seizure comes at a time of heightened u.s./chinese military tensions in the south china sea. c

the defense department says the bowditch made contact asking for it back but the chinese ship sailedway. officials said it is ours and we would like it back and would like this not to happen again. the chinese responded saying the ship initially didn't know what the drone was and seized it for navigational safety reasons. they went on to say quote, upon confirming the device was a u.s. underwater drone, the chinese side decided to transfer it to the u.s. side in an appropriate manner. china and the united states have been communicating about this process. it is inappropriate and unhelpful for a resolution but the u.s. has unilaterally hyped the issue. we express our regret over that. the seizure comes at a time of heightened u.s./chinese military tensions in the south china sea. china has built and militarized artificial islands in disputed territory, action the u.s. calls illegal. president-elect trump has made beijing angry twice in the last two weeks. first taking a call from taiwan's president and then questioning the legitimacy of the one china policy, a decades-old diplomatic s

but what happened here was on thursday, according to the navy, the "usns bowditch," an unarmed militaryhip, was using two underwater drones 50 miles off the coast of the philippines. what happened is as they were going to retrieve those drones, a chinese ship, according to u.s. officials, launched a smaller boat that actually went and picked up one of those drones. and despite many attempts from the u.s. ship to say, hey, give us that drone back, the chinese ship apparently just sailed away. and so, the u.s. government very upset with that, saying it was illegal under international law. what they were doing was legal under -- that research they were doing was, in fact, legal. and so, we are getting those stronger responses from others in the u.s. government. i can show you a statement that we received from arizona senator john mccain in which he said "china had no right to seize this vehicle and the united states must not stand for such outrageous conduct. this brazen provocation continues a pattern of outrageous chinese behavior, including bullying its neighbors and militarizing the so

a chinese naval ship that had the bowditch put a small boat into the water, came up beside the crew andook one of the drones. we have jason on our republican line. what do you think about the president's legacy? caller: i have a few things to say. the majority of people are not going to be happy with what i have to say. he has been a coward as far as i am concerned. in his policies, as far as making statements and making deals. bringing three of the world's five most heinous criminals from guantanamo bay in exchange for a -- for bowe bergdahl. withing up the white house a rainbow in favor of gay , in a country founded on the principles of .hristianity the presidentlike has left a good taste in the mouth of america. he hass there anything done that you approve of? any policies that help make america better? his best intentions with the stabilization of obama care and for everyone to have health care. the best intentions were there. , but thatrun smoothly is one major thing. he has not done much. has fallen under him has been done by congress. a majority of his decisions he is done by him