WASHINGTON: China's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank earlier this year, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday, a potential embar...

China's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank earlier this year, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday, a potential embarrassment for Beijing as it seeks to expand its military capabilities.

Sharing the details, a US defence official said that China's new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank alongside a pier sometime between May and June, though the exact cause behind the sinking of the submarine was not clear.

China's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank earlier this year, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday, a potential embarrassment for Beijing as it seeks to expand its military capabilities. China already has the largest navy in the world, with over 370 ships, and it has embarked on production of…

The Zhou-class attack submarine is China's newest nuclear submarine. Satellite images indicate that it sank between May and June, according to a US defense official.

China has the largest navy in the world, with over 370 ships, and it has embarked on production of a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines.

The Zhou-class vessel plunged under water while being built with the gaffe first being discovered by US officials who were assessing satellite photos of Wuchang Shipyard.

China's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank earlier this year, a senior US defence official said on Thursday, a potential embarrassment for Beijing as it seeks to expand its military capabilities.

China’s ambitious nuclear-powered submarine program suffered a major setback earlier this year when a new Zhou-class submarine sank near a shipyard in Wuhan.

WASHINGTON: China sought to cover up the sinking of its newest nuclear-powered submarine, a senior US defence official said on Thursday (Sep 27). The sinking at a shipyard earlier this year was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which also said that satellite imagery later showed large floatin

The Zhou-class vessel that sank near a pier in Wuhan in May-June is the first of a new class of Chinese nuclear-powered submarines. The government had attempted to cover up the incident but satellite imagery of the site revealed the mishap.