Chinese submarine 361
Encyclopedia
The submarine hull number No. 361 with name Great Wall # 61 (长城61号) is a Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
People's Liberation Army Navy
People's Liberation Army Navy
The People's Liberation Army Navy is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army , the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then, it has undergone rapid modernisation...
Type-035AIP (ES5E variant) (NATO reporting name Ming III) conventional diesel/electric submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
. It was reported to have suffered an accident killing all on board in 2003 while at the Bo Hai Sea
Bohai Sea
Bohai Sea , also known as Bohai Gulf, Bohai, or Bo Hai, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of Northeastern and North China. It is approximately 78,000 km2 Bohai Sea , also known as Bohai Gulf, Bohai, or Bo Hai, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of...
between North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and eastern Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
Province of China.
No. 361 was part of the 12th Brigade of the North Sea (Bo Hei) Fleet of the PLAN based at Lu Shun
Lüshunkou
Lüshunkou is a district in the municipality of Dalian, Liaoning province, China. Also called Lüshun City or Lüshun Port, it was formerly known as both Port Arthur and Ryojun....
(formerly Port Arthur) in the Liao Ning Province.
The loss of the crew of submarine No. 361 is the worst declared peacetime military disaster in the history of the People's Republic of China.
Ming class
The Ming class of Chinese submarines are an adaptation of the diesel/electric Romeo class submarineRomeo class submarine
The Romeo class is a class of Soviet diesel-electric submarine, built in 1950s. The origin of the Romeo class can be traced to the World War II German Type XXI Elektroboot U-boat. At the end of World War II, the Soviets obtained several Type XXIs, from which they were able to obtain certain key...
built in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, which are based on the German Type XXI submarine
German Type XXI submarine
Type XXI U-boats, also known as "Elektroboote", were the first submarines designed to operate primarily submerged, rather than as surface ships that could submerge as a means to escape detection or launch an attack.-Description:...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The Central Military Commission
Central Military Commission
A Central Military Commission or National Defense Commission is an organisation typical of Communist one-party states, responsible for supervising the nation's armed forces....
ordered the building of the Ming class submarines in 1967 as Project 035. The construction of the first began during October, 1969 at Wuhan Shipyard. The last boat was built in 2002. A total of 20 boats were built, of which 17 are left, and most serve in the North Sea Fleet. No. 361 serving the East Sea Fleet was the thirteenth and was built in 1995 making it one of the newest in the fleet.
CNN reports that China is increasing training and exercises of its submarines in the east to carry out a policy of "sea denial" to try counter the powerful U.S. Pacific fleet http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/02/china.submarine. The location of the incident (see below), the Bo Hei Sea is very strategic for China. It is the closest sea outlet to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, and one of the busiest sea routes in the world.
Incident
According to the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, the submarine was taking part in exercises east of Neichangshan islands in the Bo Hai Sea (渤海) of Northeastern China. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-07/02/content_936853.htm. The captain of the boat was (Naval) Senior Colonel (equivalent of a commodore) Cheng Fuming (程福明). Among the 70-member crew, 13 of them were not part of the original crew, but instead, trainees and cadres from the naval academy.On April 16, 2003, all 70 crew members of the submarine were killed when the diesel engine failed to shut down when the boat submerged and used up all the oxygen in the boat.
According to Xinhua on May 2, 2003, the crippled boat was discovered by Chinese fishermen on April 25, 2003, when they noticed the periscope sticking out. The submarine was then towed initially to Yulin on Hainan Island, and later towed back to the northeast seaport of Dalian
Dalian
Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...
. The submarine was drifting for ten days because it was on a silent, no-contact drill.
Mystery
A number of issues arose with this incident:- Michael McGinty, an expert on the Chinese navy at the Royal United Services InstituteRoyal United Services InstituteThe Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...
for Defence Studies in London and a former British submarinerhttp://www.dcfp.navy.mil/mc/articles/other/MingSub.htm, said "The accident likely happened while the submarine was on the surface. If the accident happened when the boat was under water, it was less likely China could have recovered it." This contradicts the official version that the submarine was submerged.
- One leading theory for the accident is called engine run-on casualty. This happens when the diesel engines are still running while the submarine is submerged, instead of switching to electric motors. This results in the diesels sucking oxygen out of the inside of the submarine, suffocating the crew. But this is dismissed because the original Russian design of this submarine has a device that cuts off diesel fuel supply to the engines if it detects a drop in barometric pressure inside the hull.
- Another theory is that seawater seeped into the batteries creating a toxic environment via deadly chlorineChlorineChlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
gas that could kill an entire crew while on the surface. Again, chlorine gas does not kill instantly. Chlorine gas also has a very distinctive smell.
- Other military commentators also pointed out that the sea water outside of the Liaodong Peninsula was only one to two hundred meters deep, which was considered shallow for a submarine.
- Also, all submarines have multiple escape hatches. So the inability of any of the crew to escape is also considered puzzling.
- The Chairman was shown visiting the submarine at Dalian during the first week of May. The submarine was very clean during the visit, which made observers wonder if it were the original.
- The usual complement of a Ming-class submarine is 9 officers and 46 crew. So the existence of 15 additional personnel onboard is puzzling, but may be related to the exercises. It has been speculated that the submarine was testing an AIPAir-independent propulsionAir-independent propulsion is a term that encompasses technologies which allow a submarine to operate without the need to surface or use a snorkel to access atmospheric oxygen. The term usually excludes the use of nuclear power, and describes augmenting or replacing the diesel-electric propulsion...
system when the accident occurred.
- When the flap valve, fitted to the snorkel which sucks in the oxygen, shuts in response to water being sucked into the snorkel it causes a temporary pressure drop in the submarine. This change in pressure is quite noticeable, for example your ears will pop and you might feel that your head is swelling. This generally can happen for short periods of time. However, if the diesel engines were running the crew would have known this was happening and should have been able to don EBS (emergency breathing system) if fitted. This is the first emergency procedure taught to new recruits to a submarine.
Impact
CMC Vice-chairman Guo BoxiongGuo Boxiong
Guo Boxiong , born July 1942 in Xianyang, Shaanxi province is the current Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, a position he was appointed during the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China along with membership of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China.As one of...
led an enquiry into the incident, which resulted in the dismissal of four senior PLAN officers, Navy Commander Shi Yunsheng
Shi Yunsheng
Shi Yunsheng , born in Fushun, Liaoning Province, is a general of the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China. He was the fifth Navy commander of PLA...
, Political Commissar Yang Huaiqing, North Sea Fleet Commander Ding Yiping (丁一平), and North Sea (Bei Hai) Fleet Political Commissar Chen Xianfeng (陈先锋) on June 13, 2003. Another four senior officers were also demoted. The official verdict was improper "command and control".
Quotes
- "The officers and sailors of 361 remembered their sacred duty entrusted to them by the Party and the People. They died on duty, sacrificed themselves for the country, and they are great losses to the People’s Navy." - Chairman Jiang ZeminJiang ZeminJiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
, Central Military CommissionCentral Military CommissionA Central Military Commission or National Defense Commission is an organisation typical of Communist one-party states, responsible for supervising the nation's armed forces....
in a condolence message to families of the dead, 2 May 2003.
External links
- Type 035 (Ming Class) Diesel-Electric Submarine
- Chinese Submarine Accident Kills 70 (Taiwanese Security Research)
- includes a picture of 361
- China sub deaths 'must rouse Navy' (BBC News)
- Sackings after China's sub disaster (BBC News)
- China sub victims 'suffocated' (BBC News)
- HK press seeks answers to sub accident (BBC News)
- Picture of Submarine 361
