The rumors just keep swirling. If the latest from social media is to be believed, and that is always a tough thing for sure, the crew of a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 093 Shang II class nuclear submarine may have suffocated to death after sinking in the Yellow Sea off the coast.
Key Point: So far, the Chinese and Taiwanese authorities have denied the incident took place.
Note: 19FortyFive cannot confirm these reports, so let us at least rundown the latest that is out there on social media and why we should be skeptical of such reports.
What The Rumor Looks Like
The Type 093 is among the most modern components of the Chinese fleet and is known for its lower noise level compared with other Chinese submarines. According to reports, the PLAN 093-417 submarine was commanded by Colonel Xue Yong-Peng, a veteran of the Chinese submarine force.
If it did occur, and a big if at this point, the sinking allegedly took place during anti-submarine warfare exercises in approximately 229 feet of water off the coast of China’s Shandong Province at approximately 35°38.962’N/121°19.562’E, according to an unconfirmed report posted on Twitter by Dr. Li-Meng Yan.
“At 8:12am, on Aug 21 (of 2023), 417 （#LongMarch417, 09III nuclear-powered attack submarine) was hooked by “anchor and chain” (a type of CCP’s anti-submarine equipments) and caused the mechanical malfunction, during an assessment task of loading, diving and operation. The malfunction led to depressurization in the submarine cabin and slowly going up,” Yan wrote on X.
Yan claims the submarine’s crew reportedly suffocated following the failure of the boat’s air purification system. The crew – again, allegedly – succumbed to hypoxia caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide or another toxic gas.
Some crew members were allegedly rescued after the boat surfaced; however, 22 military officers, 7 students, 9 petty officers, and 17 soldiers were reported to have died.
She claims the information came from a source linked to China’s Central Military Commission.
Report Credibility Questioned
Heritage Foundation naval expert and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Brent Sadler questions the credibility of the tale. Sadler is a veteran submariner himself. He questions how Yan, who is a virologist, could have obtained a supposedly classified report on the submarine’s alleged sinking.
Sadler told 19FortyFive that the submarine community is a highly classified and closed community, and reports like Yan’s do not add up.
The PLAN 093-417 allegedly sank in extremely shallow waters. Consequently, it would have been fairly easy to surface the ship. There was not any major report of a Chinese salvage operation in the area where it was alleged to have sunk in the past few days.
“The silence about it is one thing … but things are all kind of convoluted,” Sadler said regarding the alleged circumstances. “It’s eerily reminiscent of a submarine that did have the entire crew asphyxiate. It was on a diesel … submarine back like in 2010 … and they all died because they didn’t have the proper ventilation lined up ― when the diesel exhaust was funneled back into the boat.
Sadler continued, “It sounds like some people are trying to bring up those old stories for a nuclear submarine, which could happen too … There is no new information that would be characteristic of a nuclear submarine.”
He does not see any evidence that would be the hallmark of a hush-hush rescue or salvage operation.
“This is all kind of fishy because … the scrubbing equipment if it fails, you come right to the surface,” Sadler said.
Chinese Media Condemns Submarine Report
The Chinese news website SOHU.com published a strong denial of the sinking.
“This may be the main reason why overseas anti-China media are keen to fabricate the Type 093 nuclear submarine. This nuclear submarine has always been relatively mysterious, with few clear photos and little news about participating in various PLA exercises. Therefore, it has attracted the attention of military fans around the world,” SOHU.com said. “Fabricating news related to the Type 093 nuclear submarine and setting the location of the so-called ‘accident” near the sensitive Taiwan Strait is easier to attract the attention of the outside world, so a carefully woven rumor was born.
John Rossomando is a defense and counterterrorism analyst and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
Note: The image above is a Chinese SSBN Nuclear-Powered Submarine.
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