This is the Chinese narrative about what happened to the USS Connecticut submarine. They disagree with the United States. Who said that it collided into an undersea mountain. Instead they say that they damaged it intentionally to prevent the nuclear reactor from irradiating the Chinese shoreline.
How accurate is this picture?
If this is true, it at least raises the question: what was the submarine doing so close to the PRC’s shores? Especially a submarine of its class (nuclear stealth sub as I understand it).
I also have no doubt the PLA was tracking the convoy and possibly the submarine too for hours. Because if I was them, in the current climate, I would too.
Then is it also true that the PLA navy surrounded the sub when it surfaced and escorted it?
I think these three factors are not gonna be secret for very long if they’re true and give legitimacy to the overall story. But like other comments have said, the author has conspiracy-level theories (they all write in the same way too lol, dead giveaway).
It’s entirely possible that the submarine hit a landmass (seriously, it can happen even if they are charted – and this one was not charter) and the PLA still did everything I described above – except attack the submarine. The sub’s commanding officer, chief officer and chief of boat were all relieved of their duties over this and the question is why? If they were engaged by the PLA, they wouldn’t have been, unless they acted in defiance of orders. There’s no reason to relieve commanders for doing their job properly.
I think also it’s not really a secret the US military is scared shitless of the PLA’s arsenal. This is how it is in warfare, the enemy develops weapons to counter your weapons so you develop new weapons to counter their weapons. While the military-industrial complex uses this state to fear-monger for more “defense” spending, the reality remains that they are completely blindsided in several aspects.
Regardless it’s still a huge L for the US military.
edit: I also want to add that firing 3 commanding officers of a ship is a big deal regardless. Rarely happens.
Yeah, this is a major incident regardless of whether PLA actually intercepted the sub or it ended up having issues on its own. My guess would be that US was probing Chinese capability and got a nasty surprise. It’s likely that PLA is now able to efficiently track US subs in South China sea. There’s also this video that appears to collaborate the article.