A submarine is what called an 'ambush predator'.
Ambush predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Even the cheetah, pretty much the fastest land animal, prefers stalking and ambush in hunting than to being a pure pursuit predator. So there is no speculation here on what that Chinese sub was doing. The Chinese sub did not submerged at the arrival of the American carrier. She was already under the surface.
How did the Chinese sub, or more specifically the PLAN, know where the American carrier was going to be ? Actually, the whole world know whenever an American carrier set sail...
"Big E" Comes Home
Every time a ship, never mind a capital vessel like an aircraft carrier, is ready to deploy (sail), it is always at least local news. Families and friends are always present to see the sailors and the ship off. Then when a ship is arriving home, families, friends, and the local news are waiting to welcome the ship and sailors home. Of course, foreign intelligence agencies are there as well, plus with today's news travelling as fast as the Internet can carry news, foreign intelligence agencies will definitely know. Then as the fleet is underway, anyone under surface listening will know from far that it is the Americans. Any competent sub crew can do this and plenty of past competent sub crews have done this. So if this Chinese sub knew where to 'lie and wait' for the Kitty Hawk, there is nothing spectacular about this feat -- as you probably hoped it was.
Yes, it is called the 'sonar'.
Sonar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I do not know about the Chinese subs, but I think it is safe assume that they have sonars as well. Not sure if you know of the device but it is very tough to see thru steel.
Nothing spectacular about this as well. If a sub is in 'lie and wait' mode, and if everyone on board is careful not to make loud noises, like dropping a pair of chopsticks or playing
pipa, the sub will not be detected.
Assuming that this tale is true, it is stupid for the PLAN and a big deal for US. It is stupid because the PLAN just gave away a national secret -- that at least one of its subs can sneak up on the Americans. It is a big deal for US because now we know of at least one vulnerability. Again -- this is assuming the tale is true.
If he is
NOT an idiot, he would not do this. If the commanding officer back in mainland China is
NOT an idiot, that officer would not give an order to do this. It does not matter what your sub's and crew's capabilities, if you can sneak up on a potential adversary, you do not reveal yourself this way. This is so common sense that it is amazing to me that anyone would believe this tale.
In training, a sniper would tell his protege how did the sniper got the crosshairs on the trainee, how he tracked the trainee over terrain, and how he finally surprised the trainee. Is the American carrier China's trainee ? If yes, then we heartily thanks China for the lesson.
Fine...Assume that the Chinese sub is that awesome. Now ask
YOURSELF: Why would
YOU give away this awesome secret for nothing ? Is embarrassing US worth that much ? Did it actually kept US away ?
Again...Assuming this tale is true, here is the reality of how we would respond to this tale: We would return and return even more often.
We would provoke any/all PLAN subs in the area. This is peace time between US and China, no ? So the worst that can happen is that we would get embarrassed some more, but we would learn and learn so fast it would make your head spin the same rpm as the props on that sub. You think we are afraid of being embarrassed in peace time ? I hope you believe so. Face is more important to you than it is to US and face will be your defeat in a real war because unlike you, we are not afraid to be self critical, even to the public.
No, it is not logical. Not in the context of military experience. A sub's capabilities ranks way up there as to when the President take a shit or have sex or what is on his dinner menu. Ask yourself: Why not reveal a sub's absolute depth or top speed ?
You talk about my arrogance ? If you want to see arrogance, look in the mirror. Just like your fellow Chinese, most likely you have never served in the military. If you had, you would know the value of keeping secret certain technical details. People here know that I have never crossed the INFOSEC line in spite of the technical details of my explanations. They performed their own research based upon information I gave and if they do not believe me, I do not care, but the smart people on this forum know I have
NEVER intentionally misled anyone even though many times I declined to go further. If someone asked once for more details and I declined, no one pressed because they understood the necessity of keeping military secrets. But because you have no military experience, you are making assumptions of/from this tale based on emotions, not critical thinking.
Put yourself in the Army's place. Would
YOU tell the enemy that you have a couple of snipers in his rear echelon ?
OF COURSE NOT. Would you tell the enemy you have A quantity of artillery, B quantity of tanks, or C quantity of troops ?
OF COURSE NOT. In fact, there is no need for you to have any military experience to know that revealing such information is outright stupid. You would
INSTINCTIVELY know that it is common sense to keep those snipers off the air, out of print, and under cover. Why did I say 'instinctively' ? Self preservation. You want those snipers to be hidden so they can kill the enemy general so that their troops would be demoralized, etc...etc...
Whoever wrote that 'news' article was a rank amateur reporter, if he was one. If he is a real professional, if he has no contacts of his own in the military and/or defense industry, he would have sought out those who do have such contacts, but if he has contacts of his own, they would have told him that story is pure bunk. There would be no shortage of real and retired submariners who would gotten him on the straight. Instead, what we have here is a 'feel good' story. It was to make the author feel good that he can publicly make the US look silly, and it is a feel good story to any gullible Chinese in that it would him feel good about China.
So for this tale, you are, figuratively speaking, willing to risk your nation's secrets just so you can make US look bad, and all your fellow Chinese applauded (thanked) you for such stupidity. By believing that the sub's commander actually surfaced just to embarrass the American admiral, you would tell the enemy general that you have stationed a couple of snipers in his rear echelon.
Here is how the Chinese members on this forum thinks...
To tell the Americans how many Chinese ICBMs there are and where would be stupid, but to the tell the Americans a Chinese sub can sneak up on an aircraft carrier is smart and even hilarious.
If there is a real Chinese military professional reading this exchange, particularly a Chinese submariner, I can only imagine his embarrassment for his fellow countrymen.
Congrats. I hope the PLA is infested with people like you. And if this tale is true, that infestation is already in deep.
And did the French sub revealed how ? Or maybe the Frenchies were smarter than the Chinese and did not surface and just quietly slunk away into the depths ?
Are you speaking from extensive personal experience in submarine and submarine warfare ? Or are you just blowing farts ?