China sets trap for U.S., British Navies; catches its own submarine

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In August, an unfortunate incident occurred in the Yellow Sea, where a Chinese nuclear submarine was captured in a trap intended for British and US sub-surface vessels. This incident resulted in the tragic loss of at least 55 Chinese sailors, as reported by a UK-based newspaper.

According to a top-secret UK report cited by The Daily Mail, the crew members of the Chinese submarine were fatally affected by a catastrophic failure in the onboard oxygen system. This report, based on military intelligence, is classified at a high level of secrecy.

Chain of Events Leading to Disaster

"Intelligence reports that on 21st of August there was an onboard accident whilst carrying out a mission in the Yellow Sea.


"Incident happened at 08.12 local resulting in the death of 55 crew members: 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty officers, 17 sailors. Dead include the captain Colonel Xue Yong-Peng. Our understanding is death caused by hypoxia due to a system fault on the submarine.

"The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese Navy to trap US and allied submarines.

"This resulted in systems failures that took six hours to repair and surface the vessel. The onboard oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure," the report read.

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The casualty list indicates China still adheres to the old Soviet doctrine of not trusting the enlisted ranks to do anything important, resulting in an officer-heavy organization.