The Type 091 (Chinese designation: 09- I; NATO reporting name: Han class) is a first-generation nuclear-powered

attack submarine An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "m ...

produced by China. It was the first nuclear submarine employed by the People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force, and the first indigenously-produced nuclear attack submarine in Asia.

Background

The Chinese naval nuclear power program started in July 1958 when the Central Military Commission gave approval to start the Type 091 submarine project. Mao Zedong declared that China would build nuclear attack submarines "even if it took ten thousand years."

Peng Shilu Peng Shilu (; 18 November 1925 – 22 March 2021) was a Chinese nuclear engineer. Hailed as "the father of China's nuclear submarines" and the "father of China's naval nuclear propulsion", he was the first chief designer of the country's nuclear ...

was the first chief designer of this project. The first submarine in the class, ''Changzheng 1'' ("

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese Nati ...

1"), was commissioned in 1974; the last was launched in 1990.Erickson and Goldstein (2007: 58) In 1983, Peng moved to the civilian development of nuclear power plants, and he was succeeded at the nuclear submarine project by

Huang Xuhua Huang Xuhua (; born 12 March 1926) is a Chinese mechanical engineer and submarine designer, and was one of the chief designers for the country's first generation of nuclear submarines ( Type 091 and Type 092). He is director emeritus of the Wu ...

. The Type 091 has operated mainly in local waters, and has been involved in several incidents. One submarine shadowed the '' Kitty Hawk''

carrier battle group A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The ''CV'' in ''CVBG'' is the United States Navy hull classification code for an ai ...

in October 1994, provoking a stand-off. Another entered Japanese territorial waters near

Ishigaki Island , also known as ''Ishigakijima'', is a Japanese island south-west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group, behind Iriomote Island. It is located approximately south-west of Okinawa Hontō. It is within the ...

(part of

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest cit ...

) near

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

in November 2004, causing the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

to go on alert for the second time since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

; China apologized for the trespass and blamed "technical reasons" on the submarine. The boats have received major upgrades and numerous refits since commissioning. They have six

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...

s and carry 20

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

es. Alternatively, they can carry 36 mines in their tubes. It is capable of firing sub-launched variants of the C-801 anti-ship missile as well as a range of indigenous and Russian torpedoes or mines. All remaining hulls have been refitted with new

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

s, with Type H/SQ2-262B sonar manufactured by No. 613 Factory replacing the original Type 603 sonar on board. Anechoic tiles were added later to reduce noise levels.

Criticism

The Type 091 is extremely noisy and has poor radiation shielding, a result of being based on 1950s technology.Rehman (2012: 75) It cannot launch missiles while submerged. Overall, the submarine's tactical utility is limited against modern combatants.

Failed lease to Pakistan

In 1989,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

made an abortive attempt to procure a Type 091 for USD$63 million in 1992, as a response to the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

'' K-43'' leased to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

in 1988. Occasional rumours of Pakistani interest in a Type 091 continued to surface as late as 2012; any purchase would be useful mainly as an antiquated training platform.

Units

References

Sources