China's Undersea Dragons | The Pursuit Force of Nuclear Armed Ballistic Missile Submarines

the 1930s and 40s were a time of great pain for the chinese people exploited by nearly all of the great foreign powers for decades its vast population were largely impoverished and with the collapse of the qing dynasty in 1911 which had ruled the country since the mid 17th century political instability broke the country up into factions then of course came the second world war the japanese occupation of china saw acts of brutality against the chinese population that would be considered barbaric even by the standards of the dark ages then came civil war ending in 1949 when chairman mao emerged victorious and communism ruled the country the newly founded people's republic of china found itself in a precarious position sapped by years of warfare and strife the country was now at odds with an increasingly hostile united states that was dominated by anti-communist mania remembering how the us defeated their great enemy japan with atomic bombs chairman mao and the communists knew they needed an answer to america's super weapons which were soon not coming just from the air but below the sea in today's episode we're going to look at the history of china's efforts to develop the ultimate weapon this is the story of china's undersea dragons its pursuit force of nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines or ssbns welcome to wars of the world [Music] so [Music] after chinese and taiwanese forces clashed between 1954 and 1955 over the kamoy and matsu islands mao felt it was now more vital than ever that china should develop its own nuclear program and over the next five years china built its first uranium enrichment facilities and then a nuclear test site on the lobner salt lake with help from the soviet union who provided them with technical assistance along with topolev 216 medium bombers and r2 short-range missiles china eventually detonated its first nuclear warhead on october 16th 1964. dubbed project 596 the bomb had a yield in the region of 22 kilotons broadly equivalent to the fat man dropped on nagasaki almost 20 years earlier both the united states and the soviet union had by this point developed significantly more powerful weapons and built vast stockpiles of them so china's nuclear program was not seen as an intercontinental threat but instead would help solidify china as a major regional power it also helps negate america's powerful carrier forces since china now had the theoretical ability to destroy an entire american battle group with just one bomb but even mao recognized that china was still unable to truly match united states firepower either conventionally or with its small but growing nuclear arsenal in the 60s instead simply being the fifth player in the game of nuclear brinkmanship afforded china's significant diplomatic influence at the u.n and in any future negotiations and if war with the u.s ever did come they could surely count on the soviets for help at least that was the belief by most concerned in fact while both beijing and moscow presented a unified front for the eyes of the world particularly when it came to asian issues such as america's growing involvement in vietnam the reality was that the two communist superpowers were slowly breaking apart the problem was that china was accusing the soviet union of slowly turning its back on communism and its goal of leading the socialist revolution against the old imperial powers such as the united states now china was preparing to take over that role and the communist world was threatened to be torn in two amidst a great power struggle between beijing and moscow in 1966 china and the soviet union severed their last remaining ties and now started to view one another as potential adversaries this was extremely troubling for china for a number of reasons firstly the chinese military complex relied heavily on producing soviet designs for weapons thus sparing china the time and financial cost of developing their own weapons with no new soviet designs for tanks aircraft and warships china was forced to retain aging designs for much longer than the soviets or americans leaving them to rely on sheer weight of numbers in battle as opposed to the quality of their weapons secondly chinese nuclear weapons were still in their infancy while their methods of delivering such nuclear weapons were becoming obsolete in the face of a more advanced american weapon system chinese bombers such as the 216 were especially vulnerable to supersonic fighters or ground-based defenses while chinese land-based ballistic missiles were still immature and their bases vulnerable to surprise attack thirdly china was now facing threats from nearly every direction the soviet union the united states japan taiwan the philippines south korea and the burgeoning power of india all had eyes on territories coveted by beijing and any one of them could spark a potentially devastating regional or even global war by the end of the 1960s the chinese felt they needed to act fast to guarantee their survival and maintain their influence over the region and it was clear what they needed a force of ballistic missile submarines that could provide china with its own stealthy undersea nuclear deterrence [Music] until the 1980s china's people's liberation army navy the plan was primarily focused on securing its own waters and regional interests as such it focused on smaller warships operating closer to shore known as the literal region rather than the ocean-going warships of the so-called blue water navies like the united states and this philosophy extended to their submarines china's attack submarine fleet in the 1950s and 60s relied heavily on conventionally powered soviet designs which would primarily serve to protect the chinese mainland and vessels from predominantly american japanese or taiwanese warships china envisioned its ballistic missile submarine fleet working in a similar manner operating within the south china sea region offering a second strike nuclear capacity should china be attacked first the threat of such submarines inflicting huge damage on an attacking force or nearby country would in theory discourage any aggressor from attacking china in the first place as part of their assistance to the china nuclear program before 1966 the soviets were already helping the plan develop a ballistic missile submarine force based around the soviet navy's project 629 class of submarine known to nato as the golf class this was an extremely crude design of ballistic missile submarines being essentially a project 661 class diesel electric attack submarine heavily rebuilt to be able to carry three vertical launch tubes for r11 liquid-fueled submarine-launched ballistic missiles to fit these tall weapons into a submarine the original project 661 sail had to be extended simply so the top of the missile could fit in the hull even when the soviets adopted the submarine into service in 1958 the class was recognized as a stop gap until more advanced designs came online in order to fire its nuclear missiles the submarine had to surface and ready them for launch during which time they could be detected and attacked but perhaps more crucially being conventionally powered meant the submarine's range was limited by how much fuel it could carry its time submerged was also limited by how long its electrical batteries would last and when they were depleted the submarine would either have to surface or extend a snorkel with which to provide air for the diesels to run for many hours charging the batteries up either method threatened to expose the sub to destruction given these limitations and with superior nuclear designs on the drawing board there was little opposition to selling china the technology to manufacture the project 661 in 1959 china dubbed the submarine type 6631 and work on the first of class began at the dallian shipyard in 1960 with the assistance of the soviets who earmarked a second example for plan from their own production order however given the troubles between beijing and moscow in the 60s the soviets never delivered the submarine they were building and construction of the chinese example slowed to a crawl taking six years to complete given the pennant number 1101 china's first ballistic missile submarine displaced 2794 tons on the surface and was nearly 99 meters long as well as the three vertical launch tubes four slbms the submarine also featured six 533 millimeter torpedo tubes which would primarily be used for defense against enemy warships top speed on the surface was 17 knots under diesel power and 12 knots submerged using electrical power although such a speed produced a huge amount of noise for hostile sonar operators to detect and would drain the batteries extremely quickly however there was one crucial part of this submarine that the chinese failed to acquire from the soviets before the split the missiles themselves [Music] any ballistic missile submarine is useless unless it has missiles with which to fire not receiving the missiles for the chinese version of project 629 the chinese began work on a missile with which to equip their ballistic missile submarines dubbed july 1 meaning huge wave one the missile was a two-stage solid fueled design capable of carrying a single warhead with a yield in the range of 250 to 500 kilotons for a range of 1056 miles range was increasingly becoming important for chinese engineers if they were to provide a truly effective submarine-based nuclear deterrence china's growing submarine capabilities and the location of two major soviet submarine bases at vladivostok and nagotka in the sea of japan led the united states and japan to develop an intricate underwater detection system stretching along the coastline of southern and eastern asia the idea was to make it impossible for the chinese or soviet submarines to break out from their harbours without being detected and tracked by anti-submarine warships the joint u.s japanese project began in 1957 with an experimental station being established in hokkaido japan and over the coming decades the net of acoustic sensors dubbed fish hook would stretch from the korean peninsula the west of the philippines through the java sea and up into the indian ocean thousands of miles of underwater cables were laid on the sea bed attached to which were hundreds of acoustic sensors which listened out for the sound of chinese or soviet submarines the sounds were then transmitted back to stations in japan which relayed them by satellites to analysts in the united states the result of this sensornet on the fetal plan ballistic missile submarine force was that they would likely have to remain relatively close to chinese territory if they were to remain an undetected factor during times of heightened tension this still afforded them thousands of miles of ocean with which to hide in and air cover from the chinese air force and naval force but it did narrow down the search parameters for an anti-submarine group to locate them and crucially for the americans limited the chances of any chinese ballistic missile submarine sailing out into the pacific to get their weapons in range to directly threaten the united states but such blue water considerations were still far from the minds of the plan leadership who focused on regional dominance as their primary military doctrine unfortunately compared to the original r11f missiles in the soviet submarines the huge wave missile was wider in diameter and as such couldn't be fitted in the three vertical launch tubes of 1101 this required the deletion of one tube in order to fit just two huge wave missiles into the hull 1101 emerged from the shipyards configured and ready for testing in 1972 but by this point the plan had already come to the conclusion that the design was ill-suited to their needs for an operational class of ballistic missile submarine therefore work began on a successor that would not only incorporate all the lessons learned from 1101 service but would be nuclear powered it is difficult to stress just how much of an undertaking this was for the chinese shipbuilding industry china's first nuclear submarine the type 091 was still under construction and without soviet assistance the chinese engineers were having to learn nearly everything from scratch nevertheless they finalized the design for the plan's first nuclear ballistic missile submarine or ssbn by 1978 and construction began in earnest soon after in the meantime tests of the huge wave missile that would arm the type 092 continued to help with the type 092 program 1101 was again redesigned in 1978 this time to finally give the submarine the ability to fire missiles while submerged the submarine was subsequently reclassified as type 031 and given the nickname great wall generally becoming known as the great wall 200. the huge wave undertook its first test launch on april 30th 1982. being fired from a submerged pontoon followed by a successful launch from great wall 200 in the yellow sea on october 12th in 1981 china's first indigenous nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine was completed designated type 092 and codenamed the zia class by nato intelligence is designed for something of a passing resemblance to the soviet navy's delta class of submarines with a pronounced hump being the sail containing the top of the missile compartments displacing an estimated 8 000 tons submerged the new sub was 21 meters longer than great wall 200 and had the capacity to carry 12 huge wave missiles a relatively modest figure when compared with the us navy's 1960s george washington class and the aforementioned soviet delta iii both of whom carried 16 missiles apiece power was derived from a pressurized nuclear reactor driving two steam turbines that generated power in the region of at least 58 megawatts enough energy to power nearly 28 000 american homes for a year today type 092 was a feat of engineering on the part of the chinese being the first ssbn to be designed and built by an asian nation and the largest submarine yet built in china yet despite these accolades the inexperience of the chinese designers and the construction methods involved were clear the type 092 was plagued by reliability issues and spent much of the first six years of its life moored up in harbour being repaired or redesigned when it did go to sea the submarine was said to be extraordinarily noisy making it easy to be tracked by surface ships and aircraft but perhaps most worryingly for the sailors on board there was also significant shielding concerns surrounding the submarine's reactor and the problems did not end there on september 28 1985 the submarine moved into the yellow sea to conduct its first test launch of the huge wave the missile breached the surface and ignited its first stage rocket motor but then became extremely unstable and exploded it would not be until 1988 that the submarine undertook a successful launch of the huge wave at sea despite being declared operational in 1987 the single type 092 reportedly never left the safety of china's coastal waters instead the submarine became yet another lesson for the chinese in building and operating an ssbn it's being employed on various test duties including the fitting of imported western technologies during a thawing of relations with western countries in the 1980s rumors have persisted that a second example was built and then lost in an accident although this has never been confirmed as testing of type 092 and the huge wave missile began in the 1980s the chinese were already looking to produce the next generation of ssbn and slbms to arm them knowing that both designs despite being cutting edge chinese technology were still inferior to western or soviet equivalents in the early 1970s work began on a new intercontinental ballistic missile that would have both land and submarine variants and in the latter case would offer a marked improvement over the earlier huge wave designated df-31 and jl2 for the land and submarine based variants respectively the new missile was a three-stage solid-fueled design with an operational range of up to 9000 kilometers or five and a half thousand miles the first stage engine undertook test firing in 1983 but as the decade drew on the project would be redefined to take into account china's growing experience in the miniaturization of nuclear warheads initially the jl-2 or huge wave 2 was intended to carry a single 1 megaton warhead however smaller warheads allowed one missile to be able to attack multiple targets or saturate a target area making them far more flexible and devastating weapons known as multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles or mirvs the weapons also had the advantage of being more difficult to shoot down once the individual warheads had separated from the launch vehicle mirvs were already the staple of western and soviet slbm systems and so the chinese leadership demanded their own equivalence however this did greatly delay the developments of the huge wave too at the same time work was underway on the next generation of chinese nuclear submarines including the type 093 attack submarine and the type 094 ssbn which would incorporate the lessons from the troubled type 092 the type 094 would have a similar configuration to the earlier submarine but would be longer again at 135 meters and displacing 11 000 tons nuclear armaments with the more bulbous hump meant the sale would consist of 12 huge wave 2 missiles such was the high priority of the nuclear submarine fleet that in the 1980s the plan enjoyed roughly a 20 share of the overall chinese defense budget a significant hike over previous decades plan was also expanding to include larger warships that would finally allow it to routinely sail outside of its territorial waters creating the blue water force many chinese admirals had dreamed of as well as projecting chinese influence further out to sea these surface ships would have a crucial role in protecting the new ssbns as they ventured further out to sea to threaten any potential aggressor even the american homeland itself if necessary even in the democratic west nuclear-armed navies are tight-lipped about their nuclear development programs for obvious security reasons so one can imagine how difficult getting reliable information on the chinese program can be sources vary as to when this new submarine known as the gin class entered service but the first example must have sailed in the early to mid 2000s for it was in 2006 that the world first caught a glimpse of the new warship thanks to commercial satellite imagery taken of a chinese naval base over the following years further images confirmed that the type 094 was not another one off like the 092 as more examples were identified confirming that china was now finally fielding a submarine-based nuclear deterrent as for the huge wave 2 it is perhaps somewhat fitting that the weapon which would give the plan its deterrent undertook its first test launch at sea from the great wall 200 submarine in june 2005 the very vessel that helped kick-start the ballistic missile submarine program over 40 years before the first launch was a success however the following year another test proved a failure delaying the weapons introduction until another successful test launch was carried out from the great wall 200 in 2008. this gave the plan the confidence to now test the missile from the type 094 in 2009 a test which proved successful and confirmed that the gin class submarines and the huge wave 2 could be declared an operational weapons system in 2010. over the following decade at least six type 094s became operational with the plan affording the chinese the capacity to provide a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence akin to that enjoyed by the us russia united kingdom and france the type 094s have also ventured further out to sea than the type 092 ever did and have conducted patrols intended to demonstrate that the plan now has a truly global reach with the submarine's arsenal of huge waves which are capable of reaching some 75 percent of the continental united states from islands east of japan the jl-2s can retain their single one megaton warhead if required but around three smaller warheads each with a yield of up to 150 kilotons or seven and a half times the nagasaki bomb is more likely giving the missile a wide operational scope guidance for the missile has also been significantly improved thanks to china's own satellite system china have also launched an improved variant designated type 094a showcasing a more prominent missile bay hump which has led to speculation that the number of missiles carried has been increased to 16 but it is also possible that these changes were made to prepare for the vessel to carry the huge wave 3 missile which is currently under development yet despite all these advances western analysts are still highly critical of the submarine most determined that the submarine's capabilities put it in the same bracket as the soviet union's delta class subs of the 1970s and 80s by modern ssbn standards they are still rather noisy vessels increasing their chance of detection by anti-submarine forces however with their ability to strike most of southern and eastern asia from their own ports if necessary they are still a significant threat to china's adversaries in the region something that has particularly alarmed india who is now fielding their own ssbn in the form of the ins arahant [Music] against the backdrop of china's growing fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines stepped in an oddity of a design in 2008 china began construction of a new smaller 6000 ton class ballistic missile submarine but this new vessel dispensed with nuclear power and instead reverted to conventional diesel and electric power given the path the plan appeared to be on with its submarines this was somewhat of a perplexing decision and set many tongues wagging in the west speculation ranged from the new sub being a lower cost backup to the type 094 to china intending to sell the design to pakistan as a counter to india designated as the type 32 but also referred to as the chin class the submarine is the largest conventional submarine to be put to sea displacing 6 682 tons on the surface and stretching out to 62.6 meters armament consists of two silos for slbms and four smaller silos for the launching of cruise missiles and like the great wall 200 it features a ventral firing to fit the weapons in the narrow hull since entering service in 2012 the submarine has undertaken a wide variety of testing duties which has led to the conclusion that the real purpose of the vessel was to replace the elderly great wall 200 with this relatively low-cost vessel to carry out such tasks the vessel's test program has thus far included the evaluation of new combustion powered torpedoes and unmanned underwater drones the sub has also tested specialized compartments for the carriage and deployment of special forces teams and a new escape pod design which will be applied to the next generation of chinese nuclear subs missile trials include work in support of the huge wave 3 project the new generation underwater launched anti-ship missiles and even a new surface-to-air missile system aimed at destroying anti-submarine helicopters like the sh-60 seahawk the type 32 is better available to simulate the long-duration underwater missions of the nuclear fleet thanks to advances in air-independent propulsion systems that allow conventional submarines to remain submerged for weeks at a time a previously unthinkable prospect just 25 years ago added to this is the fact that conventional subs are quieter than nuclear subs when running on their batteries and thus are more elusive targets for an enemy with all this in mind there is still speculation that the type 032 could be developed to a frontline unit but if true it would make china the only nuclear power to be investing in conventionally powered ballistic missile submarines on november 24th 2018 china conducted its first successful test of the huge wave 3 missile and further tests were carried out in 2019 and 2020 the missile is expected to be declared operational by the mid-2020s and will have a range of 7 500 miles 2000 miles greater than the huge wave 2. it is anticipated that the missile will arm the type 096 ssbn which is rumored to be in development and is said to be equivalent to the u.s ohio class although information is sketchy and at times highly speculative in the meantime the type 094s will continue providing china with a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent armed with either upgraded huge wave 2s or possibly even huge wave 3s given the chinese mania for squeezing every last usable second out of their weapon systems even when they have long past their useful lives it is likely the type 094s will soldier on for many decades to come yet operating out of underground submarine pens such as the ones on hanan island china's growing ballistic missile submarine capacity has been a constant source of concern for the region especially taiwan japan india and the united states in january 2021 it was reported in india that the country was working with the united states and japan on extending the modern equivalent of the fish hook system into indian waters not just as a counter against submarines like the type 094 but china's growing use of intelligence-gathering underwater drones india has also acquired american-made boeing p-81 poseidon advanced maritime patrol aircraft to help track chinese submarines however china appears to be refusing to be trapped in their home waters any longer either by their own doctrine or by technical limitations both of which hampered their naval expansion prior to the 1980s in 2017 the chinese submarine academy at qingdao outlined in a paper the situation it was finding itself in namely that the us and japan were trying to blockade their submarines in port with their elaborate senses and such it was imperative that their submarines operate further out to sea and indeed around the globe to maintain their effectiveness at a distance where they can become more elusive targets in order to achieve this the paper specifies that allied support from chinese clients nations such as those in africa or south america would be essential for resupply or even the basing of these submarines this paper continues to spark alarm amongst military planners in washington who fear that in the very near future they could be hunting chinese submarines not just in the south china sea or sea of japan but out in the pacific mediterranean and even the atlantic as well

Channel: WarsofTheWorld

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Id: KGaGk9uVVbM

Length: 34min 17sec (2057 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021