A retired People’s Liberation Army Navy submarine in port in Qingdao, China, in September 2018. China has developed an increasingly effective submarine force in the 21st century, despite a slow start. (Shutterstock/Rick Wang)

How China Quietly Became a Submarine Powerhouse

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China’s submarine fleet is smaller and weaker than America’s—but it could likely give the US Navy a run for its money in the Indo-Pacific, particularly near its own shores.

China now possesses the world’s largest navy by hull count, but submarines have historically been one of its weak points. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) began to develop submarines with second-tier Soviet technology during the Cold War; in the years since, it has lagged behind US submarines in every meaningful metric, including acoustic stealth, nuclear propulsion, sonar, weapons, and crew experience. Even today, the US enjoys a capability gap over the PLAN submarine fleet.

But the gap is quietly narrowing. China’s submarine evolution has followed roughly four stages: from Soviet-derived diesel boats to primitive indigenous nuclear submarines, to increasingly sophisticated conventional and nuclear designs, and finally to today’s effort to build blue-water SSNs and SSBNs that can compete with the US Navy........

© The National Interest