Chinese Sub Pops Up Amid US Navy Exercise

One NATO figure said the effect was "as big a shock as the Russians launching Sputnik." 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 USS Kitty Hawk. By the time it surfaced, the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine had sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier. The incident caused consternation in the US Navy, which had no idea China's fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication.

Comments

Simple solution:

[calebt3]

Time to spend a few billion $ on R&D for new submarines!

Re:Simple solution:

[Anonymous Coward]

Bah! I'm tired of all the naysayers! We had plenty of good--dare I say great--reasons to invade Iraq. The problem with our strategy was that no good reason was also true.

Re:Simple solution:

[Maxmin]

launching Tomahawks or Harpoons into the Yellow Sea/Taiwan Strait (take your pick) is verboten in the standing Rules of Engagement UNLESS clear, unequivocal PROOF of China's involvement can be found.

Okay, let's play through this leg of the game:

• OPERATOR: Sir? I have President Clinton on line one.
• PREMIER WEN: Wha? Hrm, uh, okay. You, off my lap. Leave. Now.
• PRESIDENT CLINTON: Premier Wen? It's Hillary.
• WEN: Oh, hi. Did you get the acupuncture balls I sent?
• HILLARY: Oh yes, thank you very much. By the by, we have footage of one of your attack subs firing missiles at several of my Navy ships...
• WEN: Oh, yeah? I had nothing to do with that.
• HILLARY: (rustles some papers, opens a folder marked "From: CINCPACFLT") Says here, "Type 039A Wuhan, hull number 294." Got some neat pictures of it. Did about $250 million in damage. Killed thirty-seven of my sailors.
• WEN: (sweating now) Oh, well, we sold one of our submarines to somebody awhile back. It was probably them.
• HILLARY: "Them?" Who's "them?" Surely you don't Thailand?
• WEN: Nope. Don't know, wouldn't tell us his name. Paid well, in advance. Middle-eastern accent.
• HILLARY: You're telling me you sold a military submarine to someone, and you don't know who signed the check?
• WEN: Listen, I have to go now.
• HILLARY: Wen, to return the favor, and just so you know it was me, I'm sending you a thank-you present for the acupuncture balls. No return address.

There is no plausible deniability when it comes to something like this. Meesh.

Re:Simple solution:

[feepness]

For all those reading this where were/are on a submarine: can you find all the EAB manifolds between shaft alley and the watertight door blindfolded? Did you every try? Nah, but I can find all the EPS conduits in the jeffries tubes between engineering and the holodeck.

Re:Simple solution:

[jibjibjib]

The goggles do nothing!

Quite an achievement

[edwardpickman]

Given the amount of lead they use I'm amazed it could float.

Re:Quite an achievement

[RuBLed]

Good thing it did not dissolve into a date-rape drug...

Re:Carriers, so big, so beautiful, so dead

[badboy_tw2002]

Well, we have the airport, but the security lines are a bitch :)

Re:What better way than this...

[nick79au]

and if the Chinese invade London they won't have to pay the congestion charge since they're running a hybrid...

Re:The Clinton Legacy

[PPH]

What do you mean by 'the Clinton Legacy'? Getting caught with one's pants down?

don't worry though

[commodoresloat]

There's a trojan pre-installed on the submarine's main data drive.

Re:Why do the Chinese give away this capability?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is this account of a Russian attack sub tailing a U.S. super carrier, and the captain of the carrier ordering increasing amounts of speed to see if the sub could keep up. There was a certain sobering factor that the sub was able to match whatever speed the carrier could reach. Above a certain speed, the sub was going so fast and making so much noise that there was no longer any sub stealth involved, but there was a command decision about whether to go even faster to see if the sub could keep up. On one hand, the sub is giving up intel about how fast it can go, but the carrier is giving up intel on its speed, and the account was that the captain of the carrier gave up on attempting to outrun the sub to not reveal what the carrier could do.

An alternative theory on commander's decision to give it up:

Non-encrypted depeche received aboard carrier on SLF channel:
PLEASE STOP YOUR ENGINES STOP WE ARE HOOKED ON YOUR ANCHOR STOP THANKS MATE STOP YOURS TRULY YURI END

Re:What's that aphorism?

[Instine]

If you owe the bank a billion dollars and can't pay, you're both in trouble.