Chinese sub pops up next to the Kitty Hawk
Yesterday, it was the unexplained missile launch on the coast of California. Today, Tankerbabe sends us a link from the Daily Mail that tells the story of a Chinese sub that surfaced within shouting distance near the USS Kitty Hawk;
American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk – a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.
By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.
According to senior Nato officials the incident caused consternation in the U.S. Navy.
The Americans had no idea China’s fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication, or that it posed such a threat.
Yeah, well, Bill Gertz has been warning us for more than a decade that the Chinese considered us their main enemy. I wonder why I’m less surprised this happened than the US Navy seems to be.
Category: Military issues
The Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in Jan 2009.
This ‘news’ story is from 2007.
but yes, the missile launch near LA is a concern.
There’s a time for stealth and a time for show. The Chinese could have kept this under wraps longer, but they obviously wanted to make a point.
This does not bode well for regional (or world) stability.
Just remember, there’s a certain benefit in allowing your enemies to think they are stronger than they really are…….
Jacobite; you are correct and I think that’s what the Chicoms are doing; letting us think they aren’t that strong.
They own a whole lot of our debt. They are forging new alliances with our old enemies to gain energy reserves. They are teaming up with Cuba to drill for oil in areas we are not allowed to go, due to our self-imposed drilling moratoriums. They are actively training with so-called NATO allies in Turkey in joint air missions (they stopped in Pakistan and Iran on their way to Turkey). They have just performed an outer space satellite meeting between 2 satellites, so their space based knowledge is catching up quickly. Need I go on?
We have a dunderhead running the show with an inept, at best, foreign policy team, and the new national security dude is a lifelong lobbyist lawyer that never stepped foot inside the national security realm, before. He’s a political insider and this was a payback position for all his good work as a dem lobbyist.
Yeah, we have a couple more years of fuck-ups and stepping on his weiner to look forward to.
I’m not surprised about the stealthiness of Chinese subs. IIRC, in the 90’s, a company (don’t remember who) was found guilty of violating technology export laws because they had sold China 5-axis CNC Milling machines … just what are needed to machine the subtly flowing shape of extremely quiet (minimal cavitation) screws for submarines.
I’ve read several references to ADM Mullen, Chairman of the JCS, being soft on the Chinese. He was accused of being a real go along and get along kind of guy.
This was before he became Chairman. And why was the Navy put in charge while we are engaged in a land war, anyway?
Old Trooper:
Near Earth space is critical to our survival. I can only hope that when we send Obama back to Chicago in 2012, the next POTUS understands that and acts accordingly.
I find it a little tiny bit difficult to believe the attack sub that is with every carrier group, failed to hear the Chicom sub in the area.
Besides, Marvin is correct. This is an old story with that had no real consequence at the time.
Yeah, 2007. I didn’t check the date. My bad.
SSG Med, yep, that’s my point, I don’t for a second believe we didn’t hear their sub comming. But it is useful to let the ChiComs think they’re that stealthy…..
I saw the date. So either our escort sub(s), or something else, forced the Chicom sub to surface or it really did sneak in.
I don’t know much about Navy stuff, but IIRC, diesel-electric boats are supposed to be inherently quieter than nukes and coupled with the previously mentioned, illegally acquired, machining capability, it seems possible that it did sneak in.
For the sake of our Nation, I hope I’m wrong.
Someone has seen the movie Up Periscope.
Yeah, old old story, but, if the Navy had detected the Chinese sub first, would they want to let them know that?
justplainjason,
That sounds like a visit to the urologist.
For perspective:
Diesel boats on batteries are extremely quiet. When snorkeling, not so much. However, if it ever came down to the shit hitting the fan, it would be hard for their boats to threaten our carriers if they never got a chance to leave their homeports…(hint, hint).
I read an article elsewhere that talked about this incident. IIRC, it was a case of the media making a mess of the story. Apparently the USN was actively tracking the sub. Not only were they tracking it, the escorted were hammering it with active sonar. If I can remember to later, I will try and find the link to the story.