Chinese submarines continue to prove they can sink a Navy aircraft carrier

What you need to know: In 2006, a Chinese Song-class submarine surfaced undetected five miles from a US warship. Kitty Hawk during a U.S. Navy exercise near Okinawa, demonstrating a level of stealth that took U.S. forces by surprise.

— The Chinese submarine’s close approach underscored the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLA) navy’s growing prowess in undersea warfare, highlighting the serious vulnerability of U.S. carrier defenses. This surprise appearance was repeated again in 2015 when a Chinese Kilo-class submarine shadowed a US warship. Ronald Reagan.

– Both incidents are stark reminders of the PLAN’s growing undersea capabilities, highlighting the need to enhance U.S. anti-submarine warfare (ASW) readiness.

This time, a Chinese submarine surprised a US carrier strike group

Given the heightened tensions that exist between Beijing and Washington, it would be unlikely for a Chinese submarine to make a surprise or otherwise unannounced appearance at the center of a U.S. Navy carrier strike group (CSG) during exercises near the Japanese island of Okinawa. An incident like this is something neither side would like to see.

However, on October 26, 2006, the situation was completely different.

While the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and her escorts took part in the exercise, a Chinese Song-class submarine followed the CSG and then surfaced just five miles from the carrier. By all accounts, the conventionally powered US Navy supercarrier was under cover of as many as a dozen ships, but the Chinese boat somehow slipped through.

David vs. Goliath at Sea – David Vaughn!

Apparently the US Navy is serious underestimated his capabilities The Chinese Navy, especially its submarine fleet.

Brandon J. WeichertWriting for The National Interest, he explained: “While the U.S. Navy battle group went about its business, the crews of its expensive and complex warships took comfort in the knowledge that they had the best onboard protection that U.S. dollars could buy, and no one Asia would have been crazy enough to dare approach them when, at sea, a Chinese Song-class submarine surfaced within visual (and therefore torpedo) range of the battle group’s flagship.”

Weichert added that the 160-foot diesel-electric submarine, equipped with an air-independent propulsion system (AIP), “could easily fire a couple of torpedoes” directly at the US aircraft carrier. Kitty Hawkpossibly sending the aircraft carrier and nearly 4,500 people on board to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Instead, the ship’s captain simply decided to ridicule the crew of one of the most formidable installations in the US Navy.

It also allowed Beijing to send a message to Washington—and the world—that its naval capabilities should not be underestimated. How The Daily Mail reports this. Back in 2007, the Song-class submarines of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) were “extremely quiet and difficult to detect when operating on electric propulsion.”

“This was definitely a wake-up call for Americans,” said Commodore Stephen Saunders, the magazine’s editor. Jane’s warshipsand a former Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) specialist, told the British tabloid. “It would be linked to what we see the Chinese trying to do, which is presumably to deter the Americans from interfering or acting in their backyard, particularly with regard to Taiwan.”

THE PLAN HAS A PLAN

PLAN’s capabilities have only gotten better. Earlier this year Maya Carlin also writing for The National Interest, noted that just a decade later, in 2015, China’s Kilo-class submarine eclipsed the nuclear-powered Nimitz-class supercarrier USS. Ronald Reagan (TsVN-76) more than a dozen hours.

The US Navy should be very concerned that China might be surreptitiously tracking its aircraft carriers and other vessels. Beijing does not have to strike Pearl Harbor or other US military installations. Instead, it could harm the US Navy by using its stealth submarines to sink American ships.

The incidents of 2006 and then 2015 should be a wake-up call, and Washington needs to stop ignoring them.

Experience and knowledge of the author: Peter Suchu

Peter Suchiu is a writer from Michigan. He has contributed in more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites, which have published more than 3,200 articles over a twenty-year career as a journalist. He writes regularly about military technology, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics and international affairs. Peter is also Co-author for Forbes and Registration of works. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can write to the author by email: (email protected).

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