Japanese submarine, Hong Kong ship collide off Shikoku

The navy did not identify the commercial ship, but NHK public television said it was the Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier Ocean Artemis.

NHK can identify that ships better than Navy.

@timeon

Luck?

This was no accident. Any military intelligence officer can tell you that.

One can only presume that no one could disobey the commander even though they knew he was looking the wrong way through the periscope

Michael MachidaToday  07:46 am JST

This was no accident. Any military intelligence officer can tell you that.

You're on the ball with this one. Most likely shadowing a big fat noisy slow bulk carrier traveling at 8kts and got a bit too close.

@InspectorGadget

You're on the ball with this one. Most likely shadowing a big fat noisy slow bulk carrier traveling at 8kts and got a bit too close.

No, the sub was surfacing when it hit the cargo ship.

@dbsaiya

Look before you leap, or conversely look up before you surface. Sonar anyone?

So Japan's enemies learn about capabilities, or lack of it, of Japanese subs from incidents like this.

Just as the world learned that the P-1 lacked the ability to distinguish radar types(only radar frequencies) after the infamous radar type confusion incident back in 2019.

How could any submarine not hear a huge ship like that?

Did the sub captain simply ignore the warnings from the crew?

..And some people here are calling for a war ?

Here is another Marco Polo Bridge incident lead to a third Sino Japanese war and here we go roll again！ A submarine can be stalked by a cargo ship must be some special spying method!

So, a state of the art Japanese submarine couldn’t detect a huge iron ore bulk carrier directly above it? They have to be kidding! I’ll bet they try to blame the Hong Kong ship too.

Here is another Marco Polo Bridge incident lead to a third Sino Japanese war

Agreed! Although it appears that only the Japanese are pushing this

This is why I believe all subs should be equipped with nuclear short range and long range ballistic missiles and be powered by nuclear reactors. These big problem cargo ships wander around the world just to deliver food and products using oil. Why do they have a right of free navigation?

Most dangerous time is when a sub pulls into port and lets loose all those sailors locked in a tin can for prolonged periods of time.

There was obviously a lot of negligence in play, and I expect to see the commander and possibly the fleet admiral’s head roll for this one.

I’m not a submariner, but from what I understand from the news reports and my limited knowledge of submarines, when a sub is surfacing, it loses most of its steering capabilities and pretty much only go up. The sub was training in an area with uncharted seabed and surfaced for safety reasons but was too late to avoid the ship.

So much for telling me that Soryu-class submarines are better than nuclear submarines. Yeah, a Japanese ultranationalist once told me that Soryu-class submarines are better than any Ohio-class or Typhoon-class.

@Samit BasuToday  09:24 am JST

No, the sub was surfacing when it hit the cargo ship.

Hmm. I don't believe it. Randomly surfacing under a ship is a far more benign answer than "we were shadowing a bulk carrier trying not to be detected and got a bit too close"

InspectorGadget

Part of the training may very well have been shadowing larger noisy ships. But given the secretive nature of submarine operations, we may never know the truth.

@Michael Machida

This was no accident. Any military intelligence officer can tell you that

OK, then what it was?