Source: Yangguang Military and People's Liberation Army News and Communication Center Rong Media
Author: Zhou Yuting
The investigation into the collision accident of the US nuclear submarine "Connecticut" in the South China Sea, which has attracted much attention, has finally "lifted the veil" a month after the accident. According to the U.S. Naval Association website reported on November 1, investigators have determined that the U.S. Navy's "Seawolf" class nuclear submarine "Connecticut" collided with an unknown submarine mountain while diving in the South China Sea, causing the nuclear submarine to run aground underwater. So, how credible is the so-called survey results newly released by the US military? Why did the U.S. military keep the details of this accident hidden, and how many secrets were trying to hide behind it? Please pay attention to the "National Defense Time and Space" - South Military Forum.
Data chart: US military "Connecticut" nuclear submarine (Global Network)
Zhou Yuting: We saw that Hayley Sims, a spokeswoman for the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, said in a statement: "The investigation determined that the USS Connecticut collided with an unknown submarine during its operations in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region, causing the nuclear submarine to run aground underwater." "Other than that, this statement does not provide any more valid information. Although the US Navy has released the results of the accident investigation, it has never made a clear explanation of a series of serious concerns and doubts to the outside world, such as the navigation intention of the "Connecticut" nuclear submarine, whether the specific location of the accident occurred in the exclusive economic zone or even territorial waters of other countries, and whether the accident caused nuclear leakage and damage to the marine environment. Professor Yinan, what do you think of the results of this survey?
Kim Yinan: Nearly a month after the accident occurred, the United States finally released the results of the accident investigation. And it has had to be published around the world, especially at the repeated and strong demands of China. However, the findings it published were not detailed. It simply says that the nuclear submarine hit an unknown mountain range while operating underwater. So, what are the US nuclear submarines doing underwater? Where is the location? Did there have been any nuclear leaks after the collision of nuclear submarines? The United States did not release this critical information.
Some time ago, people saw through the international public satellite that the "Seawolf" class nuclear submarine that was destroyed was parked in a port on Guam, and the bow part of the boat was hit very badly. This means that U.S. nuclear submarines are unlikely to hit objects such as the "fish cage" or "oil rig" that people speculate about. If it did hit such an object, the nuclear submarine's command tower would have been hit, but now it is seen hitting the bow part of the ship. Since the impact, the US nuclear submarines have been driving for seven or eight days before returning to Guam, and they are all driving on the water. It can be seen that this submarine has lost its submarine function, and the degree of damage is relatively serious. We can imagine that this nuclear submarine has a displacement of more than 9,000 tons, nearly 10,000 tons, and the "Seawolf" class nuclear submarine can dive 600 meters, and the bow built of special steel should belong to the hardest part of the submarine structure. The bow of the boat was crashed into such a way that it could imagine that when it collided, the speed of traveling on the seabed was not low, and it must have hit a behemoth similar to the undersea mountain range.
WC-135W reconnaissance aircraft equipped by the U.S. Air Force (Global Wide Web)
Zhou Yuting: After the collision of the US nuclear submarine, under the strong appeal and demand of the international community, the US military spent a month and came up with this few words and vague statements like toothpaste. After the statement was released, it triggered heated discussion among netizens, who all felt that the US military's accident investigation statement lacked sincerity, was opaque, unprofessional, and did not respond to the concerns and doubts of the international community, and looked more like a kind of prevarication. Not only that, after the nuclear submarine collision accident, the US military also sent wc-135w nuclear material reconnaissance aircraft to the South China Sea for detection. The reconnaissance aircraft, which is capable of collecting radioactive particles from the atmosphere, is rare in the South China Sea, where it was last last in January 2020. Therefore, this move of the US military does make people more suspicious, and the COLLISION accident of the US nuclear submarine is likely to cause a nuclear leak.
Jin Yinan: That's right. Including the specific location of the impact of the nuclear submarine, the United States has not yet disclosed. In addition, the United States has not disclosed whether the nuclear reactors of nuclear submarines have been damaged and whether they have polluted the marine environment. The fact that the nuclear submarine was able to sail back to Guam shows that the nuclear reactor can continue to operate, but continuing to operate does not mean that it has not been damaged, and it does not mean that it has not caused a certain nuclear leak in the sea, which is a very serious problem. If the submarine's nuclear reactor is not damaged, the United States can publicly declare that the reactor is not damaged at all; if no nuclear leakage has occurred, the United States can also publicly declare where the unknown mountain on the seabed hit by the nuclear submarine is located, and no nuclear leakage has occurred near it. However, the United States has not issued such a statement so far.
It is conceivable that the United States must be deliberately hiding something. The greater possibility is that the United States itself is not sure whether there has been a nuclear leak. Therefore, some people speculate that the collision accident occurred with some nuclear leakage. This is an issue of great concern to the international community, including the Southeast Asian region, including China, and all countries in the South China Sea region. Did a nuclear leak occur? Is the water polluted? This is the most important issue, but there is no explanation for this issue, and the United States is still avoiding it. It is a right that we must reserve to pursue whether a nuclear leak occurred and whether to bring a claim to the United States in the event of a nuclear leak. The United States cannot just make a statement that its nuclear submarine hit an unknown mountain mass, and then such a major event will pass. We must continue to ask, where exactly did the impact of the US nuclear submarines occur? Did a nuclear leak occur? Can the United States guarantee that no nuclear leaks occurred? Such an accounting must be pursued.
Satellite photo of the USS Connecticut submarine taken on October 20 (Xinhuanet)
Zhou Yuting: Satellite images show that the US nuclear submarine "Connecticut" is still parked in the port of Guam. According to the website of the U.S. Naval Association, due to the lack of dry docks in the Indo-Pacific region, the US military is facing the problem of "difficult maintenance" of nuclear submarines. So, since Guam does not have the corresponding maintenance support facilities, why does the Connecticut insist on going to Guam? What ulterior secrets of the US military are hidden behind this operation?
Jin Yinan: I think from this nuclear submarine collision incident, we can see that there are some problems with the capabilities of the US military. Including its naval capabilities, including submarine capabilities, the U.S. military may not be as omnipotent as some people think. How many times has the South China Sea been explored by the United States? In recent years, the United States has sent a number of scientific research vessels and submarine survey ships to the South China Sea frequently to investigate, and a large number of underwater acoustic sensors have been arranged. Many people think, even the U.S. military itself, that it already knows all about the seabed in the South China Sea. Unexpectedly, its most advanced "Seawolf" class nuclear submarine actually crashed into an unknown undersea mountain range, and its so-called "unknown" shows that it has not detected it. How many times has the US equipment been explored in the South China Sea, it should have mastered the ocean currents, water temperature, whether there is a seabed black hole, etc., and the South China Sea should be a very certain area for the US military. However, such a large accident has occurred in this area, and it is conceivable that the United States does not necessarily have a 100 percent grasp of the situation on the seabed in the South China Sea.
In addition, from the satellite map, people can see that the submarine is currently parked in Guam, and the bow has undergone serious deformation and damage. The reason why the submarine has been awkwardly moored on the dock is because the submarine cannot be effectively repaired in Guam. As the largest military base of the United States itself in the Pacific after Hawaii, Guam does not even have a dry dock for submarines, which shows how rudimentary its equipment is. The damaged part of this nuclear submarine under the water cannot be effectively repaired, and only the exposed part can be repaired simply.
In addition, we can see other problems with the US military. When the submarine was hit and ready to be repaired, the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Headquarters knew that Guam did not have a dry dock for submarines, so why did it still order the submarine to go to Guam? There must be a reason for this. Why doesn't it dock in Japan? The largest naval base of the United States in the western Pacific is Japan's Yokosuka, Japan's Yokosuka should have a submarine dry dock, why doesn't it dock in Japan to repair, but must let the submarine return to Guam? There may be some nuclear secrets that the United States does not even want To Tell Japan. Because once the submarine reaches the dry dock and holds up the entire submarine, many of the submarine's secrets have been exposed, including the submarine's most secretive oars, thrusters, how to achieve silence, including the silenced tiles on the surface of the submarine, why it can dive 600 meters, these are very confidential. So it knew that there was no dry dock in Guam, and the submarine could not be repaired in Guam, and still ordered the submarine to return to Guam.
U.S. Navy destroyer USS John Finn crosses the Taiwan Strait on March 10, 2021 (Global Times Viewpoint)
Zhou Yuting:
For a long time, the US side has been making waves in the South China Sea under the banner of so-called "freedom of navigation," posing a serious threat and major risk to regional peace and stability. Long-term tracking data from the "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Plan" shows that since the beginning of this year, the intensity and frequency of US military operations in the South China Sea have reached a new high in the past year. As of November 1, the intensity of the US military's large surface ships has further increased, and the frequency of activities has almost doubled compared with the same period last year. Four aircraft carrier strike groups, "Roosevelt", "Nimitz", "Reagan", and "Carl Vinson", as well as two amphibious guard groups of "Makin Island" and "Essex", have successively traveled to the South China Sea and entered and exited the South China Sea 11 times. Several U.S. Navy destroyers, including the USS McCain, have crossed the Taiwan Strait 10 times. As the saying goes, "if you often walk at night, you will bump into a ghost.", the United States frequently carries out military operations in the South China Sea for geopolitical self-interest, and it is not surprising that a collision accident occurs. However, as a party concerned, the United States has the responsibility and obligation to elaborate on the circumstances related to the accident and respond to the concerns and doubts of regional countries and the international community.
Jin Yinan: That's right. The United States is now frequent Navy accidents, not only nuclear submarine collisions, from 2016 to 2019, the impact of US destroyers, collisions with merchant ships, collisions between ships, it can be said that the problem is continuous. From a larger background, this also fully reflects how tight the military strength of the United States is behind its global domination. The commander of the US Pacific Fleet said that because the ships were used too frequently, they sailed continuously, there was no proper rest time, and there was no maintenance time, so that the crew was tired of sailing at sea for a long time, and many operational errors occurred. Although it is difficult to say whether the problems of the "Seawolf" class nuclear submarines are directly related to this reason, the United States has only a limited number of "Seawolf" class nuclear submarines, but it has been frequently used around the world. In order to fulfill the dream of empire and dominate the world, American ships cruise around the world, aircraft carrier formations cruise around the world, and nuclear submarines cruise in various oceans. Under such circumstances, the US submarine has been on a mission for too long and the personnel are too tired, not necessarily without mastering the chart of the seabed of the South China Sea, not necessarily not knowing where there are mountains, or it may be a personnel operation error. In the case of clear sea conditions and sea conditions, serious problems have arisen due to various human reasons, operation errors, fatigue driving, etc.
So, the United States now presents a series of problems, each of which seems to be separate, such as the collision of a destroyer and a merchant ship is separate, and the nuclear submarine hitting a mountain under the water is separate, but if it is linked to its individual things, what can we see? That is, the contradiction between the United States' ambition to dominate the world and its insufficient ability to dominate the world is being presented to the world.
(Produced by the Central Broadcasting Military and People's Liberation Army News and Communication Center)