Rear Admiral Monty Khanna (Retired)
China’s nuclear submarine building programme is running on overdrive.[1] If China maintains its current pace of construction of 4.5 to six nuclear submarines per year for the next couple of decades, the number of nuclear boats in the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) inventory is set to swell substantially.
Nuclear submarines are amongst the most complex and maintenance-heavy platforms ever made globally. They require capable bases with robust repair and maintenance facilities to ensure that they are combat-capable throughout their commissioned lives. While existing Chinese bases have evolved and grown over the years, they will fall short in their ability to home-port this rapidly expanding fleet unless augmented substantially. This report examines existing Chinese nuclear submarine bases and makes a prognosis on how the capacity shortfall is likely to be mitigated in the coming years.
Existing Chinese Nuclear Submarine Bases
a. First Submarine Base – Jianggezhuang (Northern Theatre Navy)
Location. This base is located 18 km East North East of Qingdao (36o 06.5’ N, 120o 35.1’ E) in a wide bay (1.9 km x 1.1 km), the mouth of which has been partially constricted by the construction of breakwaters at either end (Fig 1). Given that the facility is located in the Yellow Sea with easy access only to the East China Sea and Sea of Japan—both of which impose constraints on operations either due to shallow depths or transit through restrictive straits—it was not the ideal location for basing nuclear submarines.
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