Chinese Media: U.S. Research Vessel in South China Sea Collecting Data to Support Submarine Warfare

The U.S. Navy is collecting underwater geographical and hydrological data in the South China Sea since late September using an oceanographic survey ship to support its submarine warfare in the region, Chinese military experts told local media.

USS Connecticut, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered attack Seawolf-class submarine, struck an unidentified underwater object in the South China Sea earlier this month. Another submarine USS San Francisco rammed into an undersea mountain in 2005 while sailing at full speed. It left just about the entire crew injured and took the life of one sailor on board. In order to maintain stealth, the San Francisco had not been operating its active sonar and was traveling too fast to make effective use of its passive sonar. The crew, meanwhile, were using outdated undersea navigation charts that did not indicate the presence of the mountain formation.