USNS Bowditch

China will return an underwater U.S. drone seized by a naval vessel this week in the South China Sea, both countries said yesterday, but Beijing complained that Washington had been "hyping up" the incident. 

A Chinese naval vessel stole an American underwater drone while it was in international waters, the Pentagon said on Dec.16. 

The U.S. Navy ocean glider was collecting oceanographic data when it was seized by a Dalang Class Chinese ship 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters.