On June 15, 2016, Rear Adm. Marcus Hitchcock, commander of the US Navy's Stennis strike group, said Chinese warships closely followed the powerful USS John C. Stennis carrier strike group from nearly the minute it entered the disputed South China Sea on a regular patrol in early March. He said “We did see PLAN ships quite routinely throughout the South China Sea. In fact, we were in constant visual contact with at least one PLAN ship at any one time, 24/7.” He described it as a major departure from recent years.