New sailless SSN (provisional)

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ACuriousPLAFan

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
According to @para80 on Twitter, the 1st unit of the new sailess submarine/09X has apparently been constructed and launched by the new-built halls to the southeast of Jiangnan Shipyard (circled in green), with the main Jiangnan site to the north and northwest (circled in red).

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The new sailess submarine/09X is seen moored in the fitting-out basin right beside those new halls in a recent photograph, though the intricate details are still to be discerned.

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00CuriousObserver

00CuriousObserver

Senior Member
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
According to @para80 on Twitter, the 1st unit of the new sailess submarine/09X has apparently been constructed and launched by the new-built facilities to the southeast of Jiangnan Shipyard (circled in green), with the main Jiangnan site to the north and northwest (circled in red).

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Yes, the significance isn't just the submarine itself. Jiangnan's production capacity also has implications for China's submarine development.
 
00CuriousObserver

00CuriousObserver

Senior Member
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
It appears that a submarine has been seen at the drydock at Huludao's east site, with a length of ~111 meters. No idea on whether this boat is newly built or just came in for maintenance, and no idea if this boat belongs to the 093 family or the 095 family.

Posted by @foolsball on Twitter.

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Though, the new submarine is said to be 120m. So this one at Bohai still remains to be verified.

Edit: Alex does clarify this:

In this context note that measurements on the low resolution imagery may not be reliable. Previously shared, this boat got measured at around 110 metres, but in reality it seems to be a little longer, matching the hull at JN.
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Tomboy

Tomboy

Captain
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
According to @para80 on Twitter, the 1st unit of the new sailess submarine/09X has apparently been constructed and launched by the new-built facilities to the southeast of Jiangnan Shipyard (circled in green), with the main Jiangnan site to the north and northwest (circled in red).

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Does JN have fueling facilities? AFAIK JN does have nuclear certification, but I've never seen anyone mention construction of the special fueling building you'd need to fuel reactors. Presumably it probably exists but it'll be nice to know for sure.
 
T

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
If Shanghai indeed has another nuclear submarine production line - that's possibly bigger news than the submarine itself. Pity about the location, though. Very forward, very exposed in an event of a war. (of course that applies to ship construction, too) Ideally, Tianjin up north, for example, would be a safer location for a military shipyard. But a pure military shipyard, as opposed to dual commercial/military one, is obviously too expensive to upkeep.

Of course, it remains to be seen if this indeed is nuclear powered. Maybe it's using small nuclear reactors similar to the Type 041 (maybe multiples of same kind??). If Wuhan shipyard was able to switch from pure conventional to small nuclear - there is really nothing stopping Shanghai to make the same switch. So, depending on mission requirements - high speed might not be needed. If so, large high power nuclear reactors like in 093/095 subs might not be even needed.
 
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