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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.

2 of 916 comments (clear)

  1. Simple solution: by calebt3 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  2. Re:Why do the Chinese give away this capability? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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