China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy has a lot of combatant ships, more in fact than the United States Navy, and that’s concerning. What they don’t have is much ability to project power; they lack at-sea replenishment capacity, and for the most part, their navy is a frigate navy. Nothing wrong with that, unless you’re going up against America’s carrier fleet.
One way to project power, of course, is with nuclear-powered ships, especially nuclear-powered submarines. China has a few of those and was reportedly earlier in 2024 to be building the first in the new Zhou-class subs. But now we learn that the first boat in this class, while under construction at a shipyard near Wuhan (is there something in the air around Wuhan?) has sunk – alongside the pier.
How bad do you have to screw up to have your submarine sink?
China’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank in the spring, a…
