Chinese Submarines Can Be Armed With Anti-Ship Missiles Deadly To Carriers

In two separate incidents, Chinese submarines recently crept up near the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier George Washington, according to news reports.

A Chinese Han Class nuclear powered submarine and, separately, a Song Class diesel attack submarine slipped along as the George Washington was headed to Pusan, South Korea, for a port visit, according to the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.

While the Chinese submarines didn’t enter Japanese territorial waters, their presence raised questions as to why Chinese military vessels increasingly are being spotted far from the Sino coastline, and why they may shadow U.S. naval vessels.

The incidents raised memories of an occurrence in 2006, when a submerged super-quiet Chinese Song Class sub slipped unnoticed passed beneath U.S. Navy carrier group ships and eased along undetected to within missile and torpedo range, less than five miles, of the American aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk.

The Chinese boat wasn’t spotted until it surfaced.

Those far-ranging submarine patrols are but part of a massive and aggressive Chinese military buildup. While China states that it is buying new arms to patrol its coastline, or in case China acts on a threat to invade Taiwan (an island 100 miles from the mainland), or to defend shipping lanes already defended by the U.S. Navy, Western military analysts say this does not comport with the hardware China is procuring and deploying:

• A new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile with a range able to strike targets in North America.
• Jin Class submarines with nuclear propulsion (infinite range) and nuclear-tipped missiles able to fly almost 5,000 miles.
• Advanced Russian Sovremenny destroyers.
• Long range bombers.
• Cutting edge fighter aircraft.
• 1,400 missiles aimed at the Strait of Taiwan, with many of the missiles having ranges going far beyond the island nation.
• Anti-satellite capabilities, including ground-based interceptor missiles and lasers, able to take out or disable both military and civilian U.S. and allied satellites.
• Battalions of cyber warriors, hackers able to take down U.S. and allied communications and intel networks.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the Japanese navy, detected the Han Class and also the Song Class Chinese submarines in the waters where the George Washington, based in Japan, was headed toward the port visit.

While the Chinese boats may have aimed to gain intelligence about the U.S. carrier, the American response was to use data from U.S. reconnaissance satellites, as Japan deployed P-3C Orion anti-submarine warfare planes.

In another example of China assertively pushing out far from its shores, four Chinese naval ships were spotted in the Tsugaru Strait, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported in Japan.

It was the first time attack-capable Chinese vessels were seen in the strait. Again, the Chinese ships didn’t invade Japanese territorial waters. They were spotted by a Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft.