The development of the Type 091 (or Han class) began during the rule of China’s Chairman Mao in the late 1950s, although the first was not to be launched for over two decades. It was intended to be a nuclear attack sub that could rival those of China’s Cold War-era counterparts in the Soviet Union and the West. However, it was questionable as to whether it could equal them technologically at that time. In particular, it struggled to meet the same thermal performance standards and, crucially, sound reduction, as sonar detection is the biggest threat to a submarine’s security.
However, on paper, the Type 091 was impressive at 98 meters in length, 10 meters in diameter, and with a top speed of 25 knots. Its pressurized water reactor was a triumph of Chinese engineering at the time, and advanced sonar, reconnaissance, and sound detection equipment were developed without any assistance from Western sources. For the aging Mao, it must have felt like a great swansong and a show of China’s emerging status as a global power.
Five Type 091s were built, of which three are still in active use. These can fire various torpedoes (including NATO variants as the Chinese used standard calibers) and surface-launched anti-ship cruise missiles, with a range of 42 kilometers and a top speed of Mach 0.9. Despite their upgrades, these vessels have been reported to have required work to fix radiation leakage and are still considerably noisy, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence.
[Featured image via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | Public domain]
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