Did nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN-22) hit an uncharted underwater massif while patrolling in the South China Sea on October 2?
That is what US Navy investigators concluded early this week, but not everyone is buying into that story— in particular, Chinese state media outlet, The Global Times.
Other questions are also being asked: Did the collision result in a nuclear leakage that the US is trying to conceal? And what were they doing there in the first place.
A Beijing-based think tank said last week it had satellite evidence showing that US spy planes, including a “nuke sniffer,” recently flew over the South China Sea, according to the South China Morning Post.
Experts told the SCMP that the aircraft were likely establishing whether there was any nuclear fallout from the collision.
Meanwhile, US military authorities are holding their cards close.
“The investigation determined USS Connecticut grounded on an uncharted seamount while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region,” Cdr. Haley Sims, a 7th Fleet spokesperson, told Insider.
“Commander, US 7th Fleet will determine whether follow-on actions, including accountability, are appropriate.”
The damage to the forward section of the Seawolf class submarine damaged its ballast tanks and prompted Connecticut to make a week-long voyage on the surface to Guam.
The Navy has said repeatedly that the submarine’s nuclear reactor and propulsion system are undamaged.
The collision caused a small number of moderate and minor injuries to the crew.
USNI News, which was first to report that the sub had struck a seamount, said damage to the forward section of the submarine damaged its ballast tanks.
The incident happened on Oct. 2 but was not reported by the Navy until five days later.
The vessel made its way to Guam for a damage assessment, where it is undergoing initial repairs overseen by Naval Sea Systems Command, personnel from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and submarine tender USS Emory S. Land.
According to Forbes, at a minimum, the USS Connecticut will be out of service for years, and there is a creeping realization that the damage may be significant enough to force its premature retirement.
China claims the South China Sea as its own, and objects to other nations sailing military craft in that region.
The US rejects Chinese claims to the waters, and makes a point of sailing there in so-called freedom of navigation missions, as do other Western nations, often angering Beijing.
The presence of a US Navy submarine in the South China Sea represents an aggression to Beijing, and Chinese state media were quick to attack the official US narrative.
On Tuesday, Global Times published claims from Chinese military experts who said the collision may have resulted in nuclear leakage that the US is trying to conceal.
“A nuclear leakage could have taken place, and a recent flight of a US nuclear material detection aircraft to the South China Sea shows the US understands the possibility,” the Global Times wrote.
Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the Naval Research Academy of China’s People’s Liberation Army, told the Global Times the US justification for the collision “lack sincerity, transparency and professionalism.”
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