China Unveils Nuke Submarine Fleet
(Qingdao, China)
China unveiled this week a fleet of nuclear submarines that has been shrouded in mystery and hidden for 40-plus years — a move seen by security experts as a show of force and confidence from a nation that’s aggressively pursuing the top spot on the world stage.Interesting.
The submarines are older-generation models, part of the country’s secretive military program, The Daily Mail reported. The vessels are equipped with rocket launchers that can fire beneath the water.
China brought forth the fleet in a public ceremony that included demonstration missions from seamen off the coast of Qingdao, on the eastern coast.
3 comments:
I have to wonder how many have sunk and are now polluting the bottom of oceans. I have great doubts about 40 year old, let alone this year's, Chinese tech. For inspiration, just remember how many subs of the former USSR had problems. While it wasn't every other month, there for a while it sure seemed like they were losing them at an alarming rate.
Thankfully, they probably didn't sink far from China. Further, I doubt if they were half so secret as China thinks they were. They just weren't considered a threat. I have serious doubts if China can launch a missile accurately from land, whether they will even take off or not explode quickly mid-air, let alone underwater launching. Personal opinion, but yeah.
Story is a bit old.
I think this is the one that they bought 3rd hand.
Russia had it, sold it off to who I can't remember, and China got it from them.
Dec 10, 2001 Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704679204575646472655698844
• 1950s — Soviet Union allows China to copy various low-tech weapons
• 1956 — Ideological dispute leads to cutoff of Soviet military assistance
• 1992 — China becomes first country outside former Soviet Union to buy Su-27 fighter jet
• 1994 — China buys four Kilo class diesel submarines from Russia
• 1996 — China buys license to assemble Su-27
• 1997 — China buys two Sovremenny-class destroyers from Russia
• 2002 — China buys eight more submarines and two more destroyers from Russia
• 2007 — China unveils J-11B, which Russians say is a copy of Su-27
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