There were unconfirmed claims one of China's Type 093 nuclear submarines was involved in an accident near the Taiwan Strait Monday (August 21).
The alleged incident came as the country's economy is currently suffering and its diplomatic relations with both the West and its neighbors are frozen over due to its South China Sea claims, as per Firstpost.
According to information published by Taiwanese news outlet Liberty Times Net Tuesday (August 22), the accident allegedly destroyed the submarine, resulting in the death of all hands aboard.
However, the Taiwanese defense ministry denied the claims, saying their joint intelligence efforts meticulously and very cautiously monitored all maritime and aerial activities around the Taiwan Strait and found no verifiable information confirming the incident. Taiwanese defense ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang was quoted in the Taipei Times the current circulating information was solely based on what was being spread on social media.
China's Nuclear Attack Submarine
The Type 093, also known by its NATO reporting name "Shang-class", is a nuclear-powered attack submarine operated by the Chinese navy. Submarines of this class have a common displacement of almost 6,100 tons when submerged and measure 107 meters in length, have a beam of 11 meters, and a draft of 7.5 meters.
This kind of submarine is powered and propelled by a pressurized water nuclear reactor, giving it an unlimited range of outside weapons capabilities, as well as speeds of up to 30 knots or 56 kilometers per hour (kph).
Each submarine can also accommodate a crew of 100 officers and sailors.
In terms of situational awareness, the Type 093 is outfitted with a Type 359 radar, hull-mounted sonar, flank array sonar, passive intercept array sonar, and in later variants, a towed array sonar.
As an attack submarine, each Type 093 is armed with six 553 mm torpedo tubes, capable of deploying Yu-3, Yu-4, and Yu-6 torpedoes. Each submarine is also equipped with the YJ-82 anti-ship cruise missile for surface-level targets.
