Chinese Submarine Beats Navy's Best SONAR Operators

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States Navy has considered itself to be the world's premier anti-submarine warfare force. But a recent, generally overlooked by the "mainstream" media, news item has cast doubt on the Navy's self-bestowed smugness.

In a story posted on the GlobalSecurity.org web site, a submerged Chinese Song-class submarine was able to follow the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) on 26 October 2006 without being detected by the carrier's crew. The presence of the Chinese sub was revealed only after it had surfaced approximately 5 miles from Kitty Hawk and was spotted by one of the carrier's aircraft on a routine patrol flight.

According to Jane's Fighting Ships, the Song class is the first diesel-electric powered submarine to be completely designed and built by 's Peoples Liberation Army and represents a significant step forward in design and construction. This class of submarine utilizes a German-built diesel power plant that is encased in insulation designed to minimize the sub's acoustic "signature" while submerged. Song-class boats utilize hull-mounted passive (listening) SONAR as well as a bow-mounted active/passive SONAR unit, both reportedly purchased from . Western military authorities also note that, in addition to being difficult to detect and follow, the Song diesel-electric submarine has the capability of launching both cruise and ballistic missiles while submerged. It is the cruise missile capability that has raised eyebrows in the west. As one commentator remarked, "I don't know the range of a Chinese antiship missile but I would think that it is more than 5 miles."

This incident should also call into question the validity of American estimates as to the capability and operational parameters of China's substantial sales of antiship warfare technology (such as Silkworm cruise missiles) to Iran and other states that the US sees as a potential threat in the Indian Ocean / Persian Gulf area.

China has publicly maintained the position that its naval forces are "of a defensive nature" (sometimes described as'green water navy') and not created or designed for offensive operations such as sea lane interdiction or quarantine of another nation's port facilities. However, the incident involving the Kitty Hawk and the Song diesel-electric submarine demonstrates that such assurances should not be considered inviolate.

The fact that a "primitive," non-nuclear powered, submarine was able to slip within 5 miles of one of the American Navy's most sophisticated offensive platforms should have sounded alarms at every naval facility from Pearl Harbor to the Washington Naval Yard. However, as noted above, there has been scant attention devoted to the issue. There are probably several reasons for this ranging from "indifference" on behalf of the Navy's "top brass" to "selective leaking" of the circumstances behind the Kitty Hawk incident with the latter possibility being used to "fool" the Chinese Navy into believing that its submarine forces are more capable than even in the most optimistic of warfare planning scenarios.

If the purpose of a military project or policy is deterrence, then the use of subterfuge regarding the offensive capabilities of a potential opponent is self-defeating from the outset because such a policy will only make an adversary more likely to resort to force. We can only hope that such is not the intention of American naval warfare planners.