Norman Friedman's column (U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, July 2006.) on Chinese efforts to develop antiship ballistic missiles was timely, but it left out several important points. Ballistic missiles can be used against ships in port. For example, the Chinese DF-15 could pose a threat to ships anchored in South Korean and Taiwanese ports, and the DF-21 poses a threat to vessels in ports as far away as Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines. Anyone using any of these ports would have to be cognizant of the possibility of an "out of the blue" strike with only minutes warning - not enough time to move a vessel from pierside.