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The job of commanding a nuclear submarine should go to smart and well-qualified officers. Or at least that's the case in Western navies. Not so in the Chinese navy. Except for engineers, Chinese submarine officers tend to come from military academies with the lowest college-entrance-exam scores, a US military analyst said. This suggests that People's Liberation Army Navy sub commanders are not the "best and the brightest" officers who may be most equipped to cope with the stresses and challenges endemic to submarine warfare. Based on China's college-entrance exam — called the gaokoa — the People's Liberation Army Navy engineering...

I was reading about a new Chinese mini sub - a badly needed distraction - and saw a spurious reference to a new US 'Columbia Class' SSBN which was alien to me. Obviously, I'd missed it, and apparently many here as well. I searched and saw no reference whatsoever to it here at FR, so rather than post a single article, there are a number below in the comments for clickable links, in addition to the linked Report to Congress.

ICBMs and their 400 ever-ready warheads are the most important part of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.. The fate of Western Civilization may hinge on the great debate now raging within Washington’s beltway, virtually unnoted on nightly news and unknown to most Americans, over whether to replace the nation’s 400 obsolete Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with a new ICBM — or unilaterally eliminate all U.S. ICBMs. ... U.S. bombers are not maintained nuclear-armed or on strip-alert and so would be destroyed in a surprise attack. Surprise attack on just two ports would destroy two-thirds of 14 U.S. SSBNs normally...

US and Hong Kong-based media agencies have reported that China has tested a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capable of a range of around 9,000km. The weapon is expected to significantly improve China's nuclear strike capabilities. In comparison, the Indian Navy's INS Arihant, which completed its first deterrent patrol recently, is armed with missiles with a range of 750km and will only get the 3,500km-range K-4 missiles in the future. The South China Morning Post reported China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) had tested the new missile, dubbed the JL-3, in the Yellow Sea in November. The Washington Free Beacon,...

India's top secret nuclear submarine project reached another decadal milestone last month with the launch of a second ballistic missile submarine, the Arighat . On November 19, Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman cracked the auspicious coconut on the fin of the submarine in the drydock of the Ship Building Centre (SBC) in Visakhapatnam in a low-key ceremony. Following this, the SBC's drydock was flooded and the submarine quietly floated out. It will be at least another three years before the navy commissions the Arighat. The event skipped the high-profile public ceremony of the Arihant's launch in 2009 even as the...

BEIJING: China has added a new nuclear-powered submarine to its fast expanding fleet but experts believe that it is not the most advanced version as speculated earlier, official media reported today. The new submarine is stated to be 69th conventional and nuclear submarines, according to unofficial estimates by global defence think-tanks. A new nuclear submarine has been turned over to the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), state-run Global Times today quoted an official with the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation or CSIC as saying. However, experts believe that this submarine is not the most advanced Type 096, which is China's next...

RIGHT now, a British Trident nuclear submarine is gliding deep beneath the waves, primed and ready to launch a devastating strike if the worst should ever happen. Our nuclear subs operate in the depths of the ocean, where nobody can detect them, and are always on alert to respond to the threat of a nuclear war. Trident sub commanders keep in contact with the surface as much as possible, but they're relatively cut off from Britain when on deployment. In the event of a sudden and unexpected strike, the sub crews may have no way of knowing exactly what's happening...

China’s first nuclear submarine was developed with the aid of an abacus, according to the scientist who led the project in the late 1950s. Now 93, Huang Xuhua, chief designer of the Long March-1, said he still owns one of the suanpan [abacuses] that were used by his team almost 60 years ago, Chutian Metropolis Daily reported on Monday. “Lots of critical data used in the development of the nuclear submarine jumped out from this suanpan,” he was quoted as saying. Often referred to as the “Father of China’s nuclear subs”, Huang worked for China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which had...

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the "top of the pack," saying the United States has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also complained about Russian deployment of a cruise missile in violation of an arms control treaty and said he would raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin when and if they meet. On another front, Trump said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea "very easily if they want to," ratcheting up pressure...

Aboard the Vigilant -- “There is a chance to spend 24 hours aboard an SSBN, are you available?” When I receive the message from the French Navy, I don’t even take the time to think about it. A chance to spend a day inside a nuclear ballistic missile submarine? “Yes, of course,” I answer right away. I get giddy just thinking about it. A chance to see from the inside one of the most secret places in the French military. What will it be like aboard this metal monster as it carries its nuclear warhead load 350 meters below the...

North Korea building secret ballistic missile submarine base By Peter Foster, and agencies 22 July 2016 • 4:08pm North Korea is constructing a massive underground facility capable of sheltering ballistic missile submarine at a location on its east coast, new satellite images have shown. News of the fortified submarine pens in the port city of Sinpo comes as tension spiked again on the Korean Peninsula following a series of recent missile and weapons tests. Earlier this month North Korea tested a Pukgeukseong (Polaris) submarine-launched ballistic missile in waters off Sinpo in the Sea of Japan, deepening fears that Pyongyang is...

The scrapping of a Rs 1,800 crore contract for 98 Black Shark torpedoes last week has directly impacted a critical strategic project, the construction of four 'Arihant' class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). Three of the four SSBNs were to have been equipped to fire Black Shark heavyweight torpedoes, whose purchase the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cancelled last week. The cancellation would mean modifications to the SSBN's torpedo tubes and delay induction of the second vessel by two to three years. Torpedo maker Whitehead Alenia Systemi Subacquei (WASS) is a subsidiary of Italian arms manufacturer Finmeccanica. The MoD believes Finmeccanica subsidiary...

In 2016 Russia is set to disarm the missile system of the Typhoon-class Arkhangelsk submarine, the largest in the world. The disarmament will be carried out in accordance with the New START agreement between Moscow and Washington. Working in accordance with the New START treaty between Russia and US, the country’s leading Zvezdochka shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk will disarm the missile system of the Arkhangelsk submarine, the shipyard’s press service told TASS news agency on Friday. “We will remove the covers of the submarine’s missile launchers and seal them, thus making it impossible to use the...

The Navy’s imperative to provide “uninterrupted strategic deterrence” with its ballistic missile submarines requires it meets two goals: development of the new boats must stay on schedule, and the old boats must make it to the end of their expected service lives. The latter isn’t easy – the Navy is counting on the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to stick around for 42 years each, something that’s never been done. The longest-serving American submarine, the boomer USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642), retired in 2002 after 36 and a half years of service. USS Ohio (SSGN-726) has been around for just over 34...

With its slightly chipped red grip and retro look, it could be the hand control for a Scalextric set or games console. In fact, the device seen here for the first time is the trigger to Britain’s nuclear deterrent, a button that when pressed could destroy hundreds of thousands of lives. It is in the hand of Lieutenant Commander Woods, the weapons engineer officer on HMS Vigilant, one of four Vanguard class submarines that carries up to eight Trident missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The 38-year-old father of three has spent 16 years training for the moment when Vigilant’s commanding...

On August 4, 2015, the French Navy (Marine Nationale) took over full responsibility and the effective command of ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) Le Triomphant (S616). This transfer of responsibility is an important milestone following the refit period started in May 2013 for maintenance, repairs, modernization and adaptation to the M51 new generation submarine launched ballistic missile (SLMB). Le Triomphant will now start some trials at sea before returning in the operational cycle. An NH90 NFH Caiman transfers personnel on board French Navy Le Triomphant class SSBN. Picture: V.Guyoton © Marine Nationale Le Triomphant, head of the class commissioned in 1997,...

The Akula-class nuclear submarine is the biggest in the world. Source: Oleg Kuleshov At the end of June the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear submarine left Severodvinsk, the principal base of the Northern Fleet. It entered the White Sea on a mission, one objective of which is to interact with Russia's antisubmarine forces. This is a unique vessel. The submarines of this series (Project 941, or Typhoon, according to NATO's classification) are considered the biggest in the world. Their length of 124 meters is comparable to two football fields, while the height of this naval predator is that of a nine-story building....

India’s first indigenous ballistic missile nuclear submarine (SSBN) began its maiden sea trials today, a senior Indian defense official announced. On Monday, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar announced that INS Arihant--which roughly translates to “annihilator of enemies”-- pulled out of Visakhapatnam Harbor this morning to begin its long awaited first sea trials. The Hindu described in the scene in unusually poetic language, writing, “INS Arihant, with a helicopter flying over it, emerged from the breakwaters into the Bay of Bengal even as low hanging mist made it difficult to view the submarine. The submarine glided in [the] Bay partially submerged...

The Chinese are preparing to deploy submarines armed with nuclear missiles that will patrol the northern Pacific Ocean and come within range of at least two US states, according to a new report from the US Navy. The US Naval Institute (USNI) reported that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has tapped the Jin-class nuclear ballistic submarines to begin patrols in 2014. The subs will carry intercontinental range missiles that are thought to have a range of no less than 14,000 kilometers (8,699 miles) and can deliver a single or multiple warheads. “With a range in excess of 4,000 [nautical...

US expert issues warning over new missile submarines Taiwan should be “very concerned” by reports that China’s navy will soon begin the first sea patrols of a new class of strategic missile submarines, a US military expert said on Tuesday. “While these missiles may not be aimed at Taiwan per se, they are aimed at America’s capacity to resist Chinese aggression against Taiwan,” International Assessment and Strategy Center senior fellow Richard Fisher said. He was responding to questions from the Taipei Times following publication by the Washington Times this week of a report that US defense officials believe Beijing will...