The USS Connecticut, the most advanced U.S. Seawolf-class nuclear submarine, hit an “unidentified object” in the South China Sea on Oct. 2, injuring 15 crew members and sparking global concern.
On Oct. 11, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference that the U.S. side has the responsibility to clarify the details of the accident and explain the following issues clearly:
First, where exactly did the U.S. nuclear submarine accident occur?
Second, did the accident cause a nuclear leak that damaged the marine environment?
Third, will the accident affect the safety of navigation and fishing operations in the incident area?
When the news of the Seawolf-class USS Connecticut submarine accident was first announced, the global media and military experts carefully analyzed it and ruled out the common causes such as underwater nuclear submarine impact and fish impact, and thought it might be caused by hitting the coral reefs in the South China Sea.
According to the satellite map of “South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness”, on October 3, Planet satellite spotted a submarine sailing in a floating state about 48.7 nautical miles southeast of China’s Xisha Islands, which is suspected to be a U.S. Seawolf-class nuclear submarine according to its characteristics. It is presumed that the location of the accident of the USS Connecticut is most likely in the waters near Xisha.
The Xisha waters are highly monitored and guarded by China, although U.S. ships often intrude into the Xisha waters to reconnoiter and map the underwater terrain in an attempt to grasp detailed marine information about the Xisha. However, due to strong Chinese countermeasures, the U.S. military’s grasp of the Xisha waters is certainly incomplete, which causes nuclear submarines to be prone to collisions while secretly diving in the Xisha waters.
Vladimir Valuyev, a retired Russian admiral and former Baltic Fleet commander, believes that the USS Connecticut is the most modern nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy and is therefore unlikely to hit an underwater reef or rock due to a malfunction in its navigation equipment.
“It is likely that it hit an oil drilling facility that was recently built or is still under construction, and the U.S. Navy’s charts have not yet been updated with this information,” said Valuyev.
Some Chinese expert pointed out that nuclear-powered submarines are largely active underwater during their missions and may collide with submarines, cetaceans, underwater mountains and reefs, in addition to underwater objects such as sunken ships and sunken containers, and possibly underwater industrial facilities that have been recently erected or are still under construction. This statement is close to Valuyev’s analysis.
An offshore oil rig is a behemoth with many underwater appurtenances, such as anchor chains, steel cages, stabilization equipment, etc., all of which could be hit by a submarine. And there are many oil rigs in China near the Xisha sea.
However, recently some Chinese military enthusiasts reported that a breeding box of 50,000 catties of yellow croaker owned by China South China Sea Aquaculture Fisheries Co., Ltd. was hit by an unknown object and the marine aquaculture products escaped, causing the company to lose more than 400 million yuan.
According to the report, in 2018, Hainan Province, Lingao Haifeng Aquaculture Development Co., Ltd, ordered three deep-sea fishing intelligent aquaculture fishery equipment with a working depth of 55 meters and resistance to 17-level typhoons. Each fishery net box equipment is 75 meters high and 120 meters in diameter, and the whole breeding water body is 250,000 cubic meters, which is equivalent to 200 standard swimming pools.
The “Haixia 1” built by Mawei Shipyard is the first single-column semi-submersible deep-sea fishery in China, which is also suitable for deep-sea farming in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
Therefore, it is possible for the USS Connecticut submarine to collide with an artificial fishing ground in the South China Sea, where there are conditions for the construction of large artificial fishing grounds.
The analysis suggests that the submarine was probably on a secret mission and did not turn on the active sonar, while the artificial fishing ground did not make extra noise, so a collision occurred.
These artificial fishing grounds are located in shallow waters, while the Seawolf-class nuclear submarines are more suitable for hunting in the deep ocean, and usually do not operate in such shallow near-shore areas, and will not easily approach the complex fishing operation areas.
Therefore, the fatal factor for the speculation of “U.S. nuclear submarine hitting artificial fishing ground” is still the problem of the chart of USS Connecticut.
One of the causes of the accident of the USS San Francisco in 2005 was the use of outdated charts drawn in 1989.