Warzone: there was an unusual hybrid installation on the submarine sunk in China
Details have been revealed about a Chinese nuclear submarine that is believed to have sunk in May or June at a shipyard near the city of Wuhan.
It is claimed that she had a hybrid powerplant and was the first submarine of this class in China. The data also signals that China is working on new solutions for its fast-growing submarine fleet.
The boat may be the first of its kind in China
Initially, the sunken boat was identified as one of the submarines of the 039A series. She is the first Chinese submarine with an air-independent propulsion system (AIP), which significantly increases the time during which she can remain underwater and makes it difficult to detect her compared to traditional boats with a conventional engine.
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| The shipyard is near the city of Wuhan. |
| Source: Frame: WION / YouTube |
However, she was later identified as a Type 041 Zhou class boat. It can have both a conventional propulsion system and a small nuclear installation, using both. She was described as a nuclear attack submarine, or SSN (according to the American classification) — a type of boat that was not previously known.
It is assumed that it was built at the Wuchang Shipyard, which is located on the relatively shallow Yangtze River near Wuhan. The shipyard is part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
The power plant could have been copied from a Soviet project
As a confirmation of the version about the new type of boat, previous data from China are provided. Back in 2017, Rear Admiral of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Zhao Denping announced plans to develop a low-power and low-pressure nuclear reactor - small enough to be used as an auxiliary engine for conventional submarines.
Rick Fisher, an analyst on military issues in China, pointed out that such a power plant is similar to the Soviet project 651E, made in the 1980s by the Lazurit Design Bureau and tested on a submarine with conventional cruise missiles of the project 651 Juliet class. The boat was also the only one of its kind — combining a standard diesel-electric installation with a nuclear one.
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| The submarine of project 651. |
| Source: navy employee |
The Chinese boat was supposed to receive advanced weapons and electronics. And the nuclear reactor in it could be used to recharge lithium-ion batteries or when a higher level of performance or a larger power reserve is required.
At the same time, it is not known whether this boat was already intended for mass production or whether it was created to test new systems. "Whatever the plans for the Type 041 project, the fact that the first of these boats sank, according to representatives of the US Department of Defense, casts doubt on the status of the program and the possibility of its rescue," concluded the author of The War Zone.
The submarine could have nuclear fuel
It became known at the end of September that the newest nuclear submarine sank in China back in May-June. It is currently unknown whether she was transporting nuclear fuel at the time of the sinking, but The Wall Street Journal journalists who wrote about the situation do not deny this. At the same time, it is noted that, most likely, no one took water samples after the emergency, since there are no signs indicating this. In addition, there is no data on possible casualties and consequences.
The submarine was located at a pier on the Yangtze River — there it was equipped before going to sea. Satellite images indicate that the submarine was lifted from the bottom in early June — then large floating cranes were noticed at the scene of the emergency.
The Chinese authorities tried to hide this fact, which the American Ministry of Defense called unsurprising. "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 suffered from corruption," a Pentagon source told the newspaper.
