The Pentagon has confirmed that a submarine which sank pierside at a Wuhan shipyard is part of a “new class” of nuclear vessels currently being developed by the Chinese navy.
A military official stated, “It is unclear if this shipyard is certified to handle nuclear materials. As such, we do not know if the submarine reactor was fueled at the time of the incident, or if it is going to be relocated to a known nuclear-certified facility for its initial fueling, such as Huludao Shipyard, which has built all previous PLA Navy nuclear submarine classes.”
The sinking incident was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday, which credited Tom Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submariner and current associate at the Center for a New American Security, for identifying unusual activity at the shipyard through satellite imagery.
Shugart emphasized on Twitter that “everyone involved in reporting this clearly understands that nuclear submarines had not — yet — been built in Wuhan, and that this was a new development: a significant expansion of nuclear submarine production outside of Huludao.”
China’s current submarine fleet is predominantly non-nuclear powered, yet it is known to operate at least six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines and six nuclear-powered attack submarines, as noted by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The CRS report cites Department of Defense assessments predicting that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) submarine force is expected to expand to 65 units by 2025 and 80 units by 2035, despite the ongoing retirement of older vessels due to increased submarine construction capacity.
In response to the incident, a defense official expressed concerns about various aspects of the Chinese military’s operational standards, stating, “This raises obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality [as well as] deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry, which has long been plagued by corruption.”
The defense official further remarked, “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.”
