ONE of China’s most sophisticated nuclear-powered submarines has sunk with the Communist Party covering up the major blunder for months.
Chinese authorities were reportedly left scrambling to try and conceal the worrying setback to one of their newest priority weapons programs from foreign officials.
Planet LabsSatellite imagery from June of what appears to be floating cranes at a shipyard near Wuhan where the Chinese Zhou-class submarine sank earlier this year[/caption]
Planet LabsThe same site a month earlier[/caption]
The sinking corpse of the sub was reportedly first uncovered by US officials through satellite imagery which showed it being sneakily salvaged from a shipyard near Wuhan in early June.
It comes as China continues to expand their navy fleet – especially the nuclear submarines, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The country claims to be building a world-class military in order to deter away aggression and safeguard its own overseas interests.
Officials are still unsure if the submarine was carrying nuclear fuel on board at the time it sank.
Several experts outside of the Pentagon have speculated that it more than likely was, say the WSJ.
The Chinese are not yet believed to have sampled the water for raised radiation levels, according to US officials.
They are also yet to rule out the possibility that military personnel or those working on the sub were killed or injured when it sank.
The Zhou-class vessel was part of Beijing’s big arsenal of attack ships.
They had 48 diesel-powered attack subs and six nuclear-powered attack submarines by the end of 2022, according to a Pentagon report last year.
The Zhou-class model that sank is the latest in a fresh set of Chinese nuclear-powered submarines.
It features a distinctive X-shaped stern which makes the sub more manoeuvrable in the water.
It was built by state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corp and was first seen on the Yangtze River in May.
Officials say it was undergoing a final equipping test before heading off to the sea.
Details around why it sank to the river bed are yet to be disclosed.
Large floating cranes were seen on satellite images arriving in Wuhan back at the start of June.
This sparked people to start wondering why the unusual cranes were patrolling the pier where naval activity is known to take place.
Brent Sadler, a retired US Navy nuclear submarine officer, said the major error in letting it sink has slowed down Chinese military efforts in the months since.
Sadler, now a a senior research fellow at Washington think tank Heritage Foundation, called it a “significant” moment.
This is in part to how hard the Chinese military and the People’s Liberation Army have tried to cover up its mystery disappearance.
The incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry, which has long been plagued by corruption
Senior US defence official
A senior US defence official explained: “It’s not surprising that the PLA Navy would try to conceal the fact that their new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank pierside.
“In addition to the obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality, the incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry, which has long been plagued by corruption.”
Thomas Shugart, a former US submarine officer, was one of the first to speak about the sub disaster after analysing the satellite images.
He said that despite the Zhou-class vessel being rescued from the depths it will be out of action for some months to come.
Shugart said: “The whole boat would be full of water.
“You’d have to clean out all the electronics. The electric motors may need to be replaced. It would be a lot of work.”
It comes less than a year after a similar sub blunder took place in China.
Tragedy struck in October 2023 when 55 Chinese sailors were feared to have died after their nuclear submarine reportedly got stuck in its own trap and they ran out of oxygen.
The sub was snared by it’s own chain and anchor device meant to catch Western vessels lurking off China’s coast, according to UK intelligence.
The crew are said to have suffocated to death onboard after the 351ft Shang class type-093 sub’s oxygen systems failed.
Despite the rumours Beijing said that news of the sub’s destruction was “completely false”.
Getty – ContributorA type 094 Jin-class nuclear submarine used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy as they look to bolster up their fleet[/caption]
AFPChina now reportedly has 48 diesel-powered attack subs and six nuclear-powered attack submarines[/caption]
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