Chapter 1471 You Must Keep It Secret

French submarine crashes seem to be a tradition. Some military enthusiasts jokingly call them the world's two most bizarre military anomalies: India's plane crashes and France's submarine crashes. In reality, France has far fewer submarine accidents than India, so why the joke? After all, France is a major military power, isn't it?

French submarines are prone to accidents, not like India's. It's either due to technical reasons or human factors. Their submarine accidents are frequent because of... NATO!

NATO has its own military command and management system, which requires member countries to disclose the deployment areas of their submarines to prevent submarine collisions between NATO allies. Although France is a key NATO member, it does not participate in this military command and management system, and therefore will not provide NATO allies with the location information of its nuclear submarines.

After all, strategic nuclear submarines are a powerful weapon of nuclear deterrence. Their main function is to hide deep under the sea and then launch a surprise attack. Therefore, basically countries with nuclear submarines will not announce the location of their nuclear submarines.

Well, except India.

Sometimes I really can't understand the way Indians think.

The Indians have nuclear weapons but no nuclear submarines. What's their solution? Leasing. Their first nuclear submarine was a 20-year-old Soviet submarine.

They want to develop their own, but what about India's R&D capabilities? Aren't the Arjun tank and Tejas fighter jets, which took thirty years to develop, examples of this? Only they could design tanks that could crush their own drivers! Despite all the hard work, tanks and aircraft were finally built, but what about nuclear submarines? After more than 20 years of development, they're now shelved indefinitely! Although Russia helped them build a nuclear submarine a few years ago, it's still a work in progress.

They can only continue to rent.

Who are they renting from? There's only one country in the world that rents out its active nuclear submarines: cash-strapped Russia. As for the countries that dare to sell nuclear submarines? There isn't a single country in the world that would!

So, India leased an Akula-class nuclear submarine from Russia at a hefty price, naming it Chakra-2, for service in the Indian Navy. It's the Indian Navy's only nuclear submarine. Russia has dealt India a heavy blow. But it's hard to say who's at the receiving end of this incident; it's even questionable whether Chakra-2 will survive the lease period.

A good nuclear submarine ended up in Indian hands? It was truly a case of "bad luck opening the door to bad luck – extreme bad luck": First, while leaving the port, it collided with its own warship and smashed its bow; after finally repairing it, it went out to sea for training and then crashed into the seabed, causing the sonar to stop damage and continue repairs. But this is really not the most bizarre thing they have done.

The most bizarre thing is: they went to Japan to participate in joint military exercises and sent this nuclear submarine there - after all, this is their only nuclear submarine, right?

How did they get there? They kept their AIS on the whole time, afraid that others wouldn't know their submarine was coming.

What do nuclear submarines fear most? Having their water patterns recorded!

Every submarine creates a unique "water pattern" as it orbits the seabed. Adversaries can use this pattern to identify the submarine's type—destroyers and anti-submarine ships typically have water pattern observation equipment for this purpose. Nuclear submarines' water patterns are often kept secret. When British and French submarines collided on the seabed, their first concern wasn't to observe the damage, but to "go home and find their mothers," fearing their submarines' water patterns would be recorded. India, on the other hand, simply opened its arms and shouted, "Come on, come on, come and record the water pattern of my only nuclear submarine!"

I guess they still think: this submarine is Russian anyway...

Well, they have done more weird things than this: the nuclear submarines of various countries are absolutely confidential, and no country is allowed to visit them, but India directly invited American experts to take a look around the Russian submarines they rented, which made Russia very angry.

So, is Russia taking advantage of India? It's hard to say who is suffering the most!

The reason why the French hit the submarine was different from that of India.

The waters suitable for stealth submarine operations in the Atlantic are limited, especially in Europe, where there are many countries. Submarines from many countries frequently operate in specific areas, which increases the chance of collision. During the Cold War, Soviet and American nuclear submarines collided several times...

Some people may ask: Are all the sonar operators on the submarine asleep?

This is generally said by laymen: strategic missile nuclear submarines are the nation's most important weapons, their range and location are kept secret. To reduce the chance of detection, nuclear submarines typically travel at low speeds while undersea, with their active sonar disabled to prevent their location being exposed. They also have anechoic tiles on their hulls, allowing them to use ocean currents to conceal themselves. Given their limited range and the "blind men's elephant" mentality, submarine collisions are understandable.

At that time, the French nuclear submarine "Triumph" and the British nuclear submarine "Vanguard" had a shocking collision. Fortunately, the submarines were traveling at a low speed and no major accident occurred. However, due to confidentiality requirements, neither side disclosed further details of the submarine collision. Has it collided again this time?

Xiao Peng teased, "Ms. Parli, don't tell me we hit a British submarine again this time. Is the submarine you had an accident with another Triumph-class submarine this time?"

Since 1960, the United Kingdom has established a rule that in order to maintain "nuclear deterrence", there must be a nuclear submarine on the seabed at all times. The submarine's hidden targets, navigation routes, etc. are all top secret, and countries in the world with nuclear submarines generally do the same - except India.

However, what Xiao Peng said was absolutely a sarcasm. The probability of two submarines colliding in the vast ocean is really very low.

Parli replied, "It may have hit a British submarine again, but it wasn't a Triumph class submarine, it was a Barracuda class submarine."

Xiao Peng didn't know how to complain after hearing this - you guys did this on purpose, right? You definitely did this on purpose, right?

"Wait!" Xiao Peng was suddenly stunned and asked, "You said the 'Barracuda-class'? Don't tell me it's the 'Suffren'!"

But Parli said, "It is indeed the 'Suffren'. Do you understand now why we hope you can keep it a secret?"

Xiao Peng was silent for a while and then nodded: "I understand!"

The 'Barracuda class' is the latest class of attack nuclear submarines developed by France over half a century. The 'Suffren' is the first submarine of the 'Barracuda class'. It has been delivered to the French Navy for less than a year. Now I am told that it crashed and disappeared?

Holy shit! You guys are so good at playing!