Shocking appearance of Chinese submarine among US fleet

The Chinese submarine that bypassed the escort fleet and surfaced near a US aircraft carrier in 2006 shocked many.

A Type-039 submarine of the same type as the one that surfaced in the middle of the US aircraft carrier formation. Photo: Wikipedia.

In November 2006, Admiral Gary Roughead, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, made a historic visit to China to improve relations and plan joint naval exercises between the two countries at the end of the month.

However, Mr. Roughead's visit was overshadowed by a shocking incident that took place two weeks earlier, when a Chinese-built submarine slipped through the heavy defenses and then surfaced in the middle of a US aircraft carrier strike group without being detected, according to War History.

On October 26, while the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier strike group was conducting exercises near Okinawa Island, Japan, a Chinese Type-039 (Song-class) submarine suddenly surfaced in the middle of their formation, just 8 km from the US aircraft carrier.

A series of warships escorted the ship.USS Kitty Hawk at that time, including submarines and destroyers carrying anti-submarine helicopters, failed to detect the approaching Chinese submarine. In a combat situation, this Type-039 submarine could easily take down the US aircraft carrier with torpedoes or anti-ship missiles.

The Type-039 is China's first diesel-electric submarine entirely developed by itself, powered by German MTU 396 SE84 diesel engines. It is also Beijing's first submarine to adopt the modern teardrop hull design.

Song class submarines are equipped withequipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) andRussian-made anti-ship cruise missiles and guided torpedoes are enough to pose a real threat to any warship.

No one knows exactly how long the Chinese submarines were tailing the US aircraft carriers, but the incident shows that the US Navy had become less vigilant, especially without the threat of Soviet submarines. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US Navy no longer focused on anti-submarine warfare capabilities, believing that it would take decades for China to be able to threaten its aircraft carriers.

Chinese military officials have denied that their submarines tailed the US aircraft carrier. However, the incident does not appear to have been accidental. The failure to detect the Type 039 suggests that the US Navy has underestimated the development of China’s submarine fleet and underestimated its level of sophistication.

USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier strike group. Photo: NavSource.

A NATO official called the incident a shock comparable to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 into orbit in 1957, beating the United States and starting the space race.

Admiral William Fallon, former commander of US forces in the Pacific, said it was fortunate that the USS Kitty Hawk carrier strike group was not conducting anti-submarine operations when the incident occurred. Otherwise, the Type-039 surfacing in the middle of the formation could have escalated tensions to an unpredictable level.

Despite the incident, the search and rescue exercise between the two navies went ahead as scheduled on November 19 of that year. The USS Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in 2009, three years after the shocking incident with the Type-039.

According to VNE