China's strategic submarines in the Taiwan Strait

An event with rarity value: It is now five years since a strategic submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) was last sighted in the open sea. Shortly before a Taiwanese military manoeuvre towards the end of June, one of the Type 094 boats appeared travelling northwards on the Chinese side of the international fairway between the island and the mainland (median line).

Underwater launch of a JL-2, photo: Chinese state media

The nuclear submarines of the Jin class (137 metres, 10,000 tonnes submerged, 12 launch containers for JL-2s, each with around 1 MT of nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)) are still a big unknown - their number is now said to have grown to five. The boat was presumably being transferred from the Southern Fleet for technical maintenance at the Bohai Shipyard in Huludao at the northernmost tip of the Yellow Sea. Incidentally, two boats of this class are currently visible on Google Maps at the pier and in dry dock in Huludao Harbour. As these boats have been laid up since the early 2000s, experts are expecting a successor type 096 with twice the number of ICBMs, although they have never seen one. However, it does not seem far-fetched to coordinate the timing of the current passage with military exercises in the island state of Taiwan.