China’s efforts to achieve maritime military parity with the US have suffered a significant setback after its newest state-of-the-art nuclear submarine sank in a dock, according to American officials.
The incident reportedly took place last May or June at the Wuchang shipyard near Wuhan – the same city associated with the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic – and was uncovered through satellite imagery, despite attempts by the country’s communist authorities to conceal it.
A US defence official informed Reuters that the Zhou-class vessel, the first of a new class of Chinese submarines characterised by its X-shaped stern that improves manoeuvrability, was believed to have been moored next to a pier when it sank.
There is uncertainty regarding whether there were any casualties or if the submarine contained nuclear fuel at the time. However, experts have suggested that this was likely, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, which initially broke the story. The submarine was eventually recovered, but it is anticipated that it will be several months before it is seaworthy again.
American officials have indicated there is no evidence that Chinese authorities have examined the water or surrounding environment for radiation.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the official name for China’s armed forces, has not acknowledged the incident.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the first indication of an unusual event emerged in the summer when Thomas Shugart, a senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security and a former US submarine officer, noticed irregular activity involving floating cranes in satellite images, which he posted on social media.
Shugart speculated that there might have been an accident involving a submarine but was unaware that it was nuclear-powered.
The US defence official later expressed to Reuters that the incident, along with the lack of transparency surrounding it, raised serious concerns about the Chinese military’s competence and accountability.
He pointed out that, aside from the apparent questions regarding training standards and equipment quality, the incident raised broader concerns about the PLA’s internal accountability and the oversight of China’s defence industry, which has long struggled with corruption issues. It was not surprising, he added, that the PLA Navy would attempt to conceal the incident.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington stated that they were not familiar with the incident and had no information to provide.
According to a Pentagon report on China’s military, China had six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 48 diesel-powered attack submarines as of 2022. This submarine fleet is expected to grow to 65 by 2025 and 80 by 2035, as projected by the US Department of Defence.
The Pentagon report also indicated that the development of the new submarines, along with surface ships and naval aircraft, aims to counter US efforts to assist Taiwan in the event of a conflict and to establish “maritime superiority” across a chain of islands extending from the Japanese archipelago to the South China Sea.
Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank, observed that the sinking of the new nuclear submarine produced at a new yard would hinder China’s plans to expand its nuclear submarine fleet, deeming the event to be of considerable significance.