Chinese Submarine Accident
Entire Crew Killed
16 April 2003
On 02 May 2003, the official Xinhua news agency of the Chinese government announced that there had been an accident aboard No. 361, a Ming-class diesel-electric attack submarine. It was reported that all 70 officers and crew were killed in the accident. The submarine was reported to taking part in a training exercise east of the Neichangshan Islands, off the northeast coast of China.
Initially, no date for the incident was give, but an un-named Senior Chinese Navy official later reported the accident ocurred on 16 April, but it was only discovered 10 days later No. 361 did not report in as scheduled.
The senior official also reported that the diesel engine aboard the submarine failed to shut down, using up all the oxygen in the small submarine. The entire crew was reportedly found at their posts, and there were no signs of a struggle. This would be strong evidence that the officers and crew of No. 361 died very quickly.
The submarine was reportedly towed back to an unidentified port. An early report noted that the "remaining problems of the wreckage are now being settled with care."
No. 361 would be one of the most recently built Ming-class submarines. This class is based on the Russian Romeo-class attack submarine, a 1950's design. The first Ming-class vessel was launched in 1975, with vessels being launched as recently as 1997.
Commentary: The Chinese Navy, or PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) has reported very few submarine accidents in the past, all involving diesel-electric submarines (one of the early Ming-class submarines was reported lost after a fire and a Romeo-class submarine was reported lost in an accident in 1993-94.
The crew of a Ming-class submarine is normally 55 (9 officers and 46 enlisted). The additional fifteen casualties could be observers, which might explain why the Chinese government made the accident known (it would be difficult to hide the death or disappearance of 10 or more flag officers).
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, the PLAN has a large but in most respects technically backward coastal submarine fleet. The Type 035 Ming-class design dates from the early 1970s, having itself been evolved from the earlier Soviet-designed Romeo class. Over 20 of the class have been built and, while obsolete by Western standards, production continues at the Wuhan Shipyard.
(Baker pp 108-111; China Internet Information Center; various press reports)
