More details of the collision of the USS Connecticut nuclear submarine have been exposed, which is the location map of the submarine on October 3, that is, a day after the incident, when it is located only 42.8 nautical miles from the islands and reefs of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. It should be noted that after the submarine accident, the US military did not choose not to move, but sailed away from the incident area in a floating state and headed for Guam.
▲ From the images captured by satellites, it can be seen that Connecticut is only the closest to the islands and reefs of the Paracel Islands
That is to say, at the time of the accident, they were probably closer to our Paracel Islands than they were on October 3, and even if they were rubbing the side ball with the 12-nautical-mile line, even if they carried out some repair and inspection work after the accident, they did not move from October 2 to 3, and the 42.8 nautical miles was still a very close distance. The international regulation on territorial waters is 12 nautical miles, but the exclusive economic zone has 200 nautical miles, and this distance must be completely controlled by our armed forces.
▲ Satellite captured Connecticut sailed in the South China Sea in a floating state
Knowing that going so far is a provocation, why should the United States do this? Because they felt that the strength of the Seawolf level was enough to support them to show this wave of operations, and in the end they could "dash away". A brief introduction to the performance of the Seawolf class, which was tailored during the Cold War to hunt down Soviet ballistic missile strategic nuclear submarines, employed almost all the black technology that could be used at that time. From the perspective of attack capability equipment alone, the Seawolf class can carry up to 50 torpedo missiles in total, while its successor Virginia can only carry up to 28 in order to save costs, which is a far cry, it can be said that the Seawolf class is the embodiment of the pursuit of extreme performance at any cost. The accumulation of a large number of advanced technologies has controlled its noise level at about 95 decibels, which is far lower than the level of 105 decibels of marine background sound. If the Seawolf class lurks in the deep sea for cruising, without turning on the active sonar, theoretically no submarine can find it first, and it is this performance that makes the US military blindly confident that it will not be detected even if it breaks into the offshore of islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
Relative to the submarine itself, the geographical environment of the South China Sea is also very suitable for the activities of such large-tonnage high-quiet nuclear submarines. As we all know, the South China Sea is the deepest sea in China, its area is as high as more than 3 million square kilometers, the average sea depth is 1212 meters, and the Seawolf class nuclear submarine to which connecticut belongs, although it is known as the world's strongest attack nuclear submarine, its limit diving depth is only about 600 meters, and the usual working depth is between 50 and 300 meters. In addition, the US military has dispatched all kinds of spy ships and unmanned reconnaissance equipment to the South China Sea almost uninterruptedly for decades, and the hydrological characteristics and geographical environment of the South China Sea should also be familiar with the situation.
▲ Most areas of the South China Sea have a water depth of more than 500 meters, which is very suitable for submarine activities
At present, the Connecticut has returned to Guam, and judging from the photos released, the damaged part is more peculiar, not the porthole, but the fairing at the root of the shell, the degree of injury is not serious, just slightly sunken in, which shows that the submarine was not fast at that time, otherwise it would not have been only slightly injured. From the analysis of injuries, the possibility of hitting a man-made object can almost be ruled out, why is it so? To know that the Displacement of connecticut is more than 10,000 tons, the whole body is welded with high yield special steel, if it is a small gadget such as an unmanned underwater vehicle, it cannot cause any damage except for a sound that is ejected, and if it is a civilian ship or military submarine of thousands of tons, the scar cannot be so small. So the biggest possibility is to hit an object such as coral reef sea rock, and this coral reef is particularly prominent, like a height limit pole across the water, the submarine passed, just on the shell.
Then, in the case of a highly developed navigation and reconnaissance equipment and familiarity with sea conditions, why did such a low-level error occur? There could only be one reason why, due to some irresistible internal and external force, the Connecticut accelerated without fully sensing its surroundings. According to common sense, if the Connecticut is only engaged in the so-called free navigation in the far seas of the South China Sea for military deterrence, with the guidance of the submarine's own active and passive sonar, photoelectric periscope, and detailed charts, it is basically impossible to bump into any unknown object, so they most likely did not sail normally, but did more unseemly activities, and as a result, they escaped after being discovered, and accidentally collided, so what did they do?
▲ The portside spherical array sonar of the Seawolf-class submarine
Judging from the location of the Connecticut, the limit is close to the reefs of our Paracel Islands, and this intention is already obvious. It is nothing more than wanting to spy on our port military facilities, by the way to see if we can touch the location of the 094 strategic nuclear submarine, and even do not rule out wanting to provoke our anti-submarine capabilities, in short, all kinds of self-confidence, thinking that they will not have an accident, but can make us out of trouble, but they really planted this time. On the one hand, they overestimated their own strength, and on the other hand, they underestimated our strength and the complex local hydrological environment.
This kind of place close to the island and reef, you don't say the sea, even if it is a big river, its hydrological conditions are very complicated, there are many kinds of reef vortexes, and a seabed earthquake or typhoon past, the terrain environment will change, the need for uninterrupted measurement and control to ensure a complete grasp of the situation. Connecticut itself is a behemoth with an underwater displacement of more than 10,000 tons, and sailing in shallow water on neighboring islands is inherently dangerous, as long as it is found by the opponent and escapes, it may be stranded if it is not careful, and they just hit an unknown object this time should be said to be lucky.
The ocean sometimes looks calm and calm, but it is indeed full of dangers, and the terrain is more complex than land
After analyzing so much, we can now basically restore the whole process of the accident at that time. At the behest of certain high-ranking members of the US military, the Connecticut nuclear submarine sneaked into the vicinity of our Dongsha Islands to carry out spying missions. But in such a close place to the island and reef, to do this kind of stealing chicken and dog thing, the Americans actually have scruples in their hearts, they are afraid of being found locked, so they turn off the active sonar that is easy to detect, and only rely on the guidance of passive sonar and nautical charts to hide in Tibet, as the submarine gets closer and closer to the island and reef, the probability of accidents is increasing sharply. At a distance of tens of nautical miles, with our existing anti-submarine means, it is not difficult to grasp the whereabouts of US submarines. It is more important to note that mine arrays and sonar buoys are generally laid near military ports, anti-submarine aircraft and anti-submarine ships may also pass over from time to time, and American submarines that are alone will be educated at any time. However, from the perspective of military discipline in the US military, in this case, it is not excluded that some sailors will still nap or do things that are not related to work in their posts, and these factors are superimposed, which often leads to tragedy in the end.
Just as the U.S. troops continued to penetrate, if there was a little wind and grass (what kind of wind and grass movement could be made up by itself, maybe a few warnings came from the sonar, or maybe a few torpedoes or depth charges exploded not far away), then their already highly tense nerves were about to collapse, and some sailors were awakened in a moment of drowsiness, and then the natural nerve reflexes began to flee at full speed. Just when there was no way out, the newly accelerated submarine encountered a coral reef body, and it crashed into it without dodging. So the analysis comes, the analysis goes, and this accident is all the fault of the United States. But how can Americans themselves be willing to make such a mess public? Therefore, this incident was not exposed by the media until a week after it occurred, and until now the US military is still fragmented about this incident and refuses to say more, all of which is enough to explain the problem.