New sailless SSN (provisional)

Blitzo

Blitzo

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So to summarize our current understanding in terms of this year's "new" SSN types so far...
  • 09V hull no. 1, launched at Bohai in February 2026 (no debate there). Role likely high end SSN with multirole and land attack capabilities (including VLS)
  • JN small sail submarine, 10-11m beam (possibly more), 120m length, small sail boat (likely SSN), launched some point in recent past, visualized in late May/early June by satellite. Intended role and details (including presence or absence of VLS) unclear. Does appear to have X tails.
  • Bohai mystery submarine, launched recently in past, beam unknown (possibly 10-11m, but also visualized as possibly 16m??), 120m length, characteristics not clear. Unclear if same class as JN small sail submarine, or same class as 09V, or related to either, or something entirely new
 
bsdnf

bsdnf

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Another point is why Sutton depicted it as a double/hybrid hull. It's likely because satellite imagery shows a high freeboard, pump-jet nozzles and the upper half of its X-rudder are almost completely above the water, indicating high buoyancy.

We all know that building a single hull submarine is not a problem for PLAN, so why did the 09X still opt for a double/hybrid hull design?

The answer is likely still that it's a UUV carrier: it could, like the Belgorod and SSN-23 Jimmy Carter, have added special sections to accommodate large UUVs.
 
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M

magmunta

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00CuriousObserver said:
I think the width might be more than just 10-11m. This is just the waterline, the actual dimensions should be more

NgDdWos.png

8pzBTLy.png


My overlay should be good enough here.. Though of course it's always rough with satellite angles and distortions and whatnot

VLfOKUV.png
Click to expand...
As for the width, the sub might be more than 50% submerged and hide its true width; that is you might not have measured the widest central part. So, it's better to say at least 11m in diameter/width.
 
Neurosmith

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NavalNews is speculating that the Bohai submarine is the same type as the JN sailless submarine rather than a 2nd unit of the 09V class, which to be honest doesn't make sense. It's unlikely that two shipyards would simultaneously launch two units of a brand new class. There hasn't been such a precedent in PLAN history, IIRC.
 
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Blitzo

Blitzo

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Neurosmith said:
NavalNews is speculating that the Bohai submarine is the same type as the JN sailless submarine rather than a 2nd unit of the 09V class, which to be honest doesn't make sense. It's unlikely that two shipyards would simultaneously launch two units of a brand new class. There hasn't been such a precedent in PLAN history, IIRC.
Click to expand...

They aren't necessarily "simultaneously" launched; chances are they could be offset by a few months (we don't know when the JN hull was specifically launched afaik).

Launching two boats of a new class in close interval from two different shipyards also isn't wholly unprecedented for the PLAN, because the matter with that is "building a new class in two different shipyards immediately without prior verification of a new hull class"... and technically when 055 started construction between JN and DL back in the day it was also basically near simultaneous (with offset between JN and DL's first hulls partly because DL's first two 055s were built alongside each other in the same drydock and simultaneously launched).
 
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