Forbes
Date: Oct 16, 2019
By: H I SuttonContributor 

Vietnamese fishermen recently may have gotten a big surprise: an 11,000-ton submarine surfacing

among their boats. The incident reportedly occurred in September but has only recently come to light via social media. The Chinese Navy Jin Class ballistic missile submarine was said to have been operating near the Paracel Islands. The islands, known as Xisha in Chinese, are in a strategic location in the South China Sea. They are controlled by China but also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

The Jin Class is the newest missile submarine in the Chinese arsenal. Six have been built and are already the backbone of China’s at-sea nuclear deterrent. The submarines are based near Sanya on the island of Hainan, about 190 miles northwest of the Paracel Islands.

Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines can operate submerged for months at a time and stay hidden beneath the waves throughout their patrol. Surfacing next to another country's vessel is unusual and suggests that something has gone wrong. Something serious enough to warrant sacrificing its main asset: stealth. This is not the type of submarine you would expect to be used to send a message.
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