Satellite Photo Shows New Activity at China's Underground Submarine Base

Satellite imagery appears to have captured the activation of a possible damage control system at an underground submarine base for Chinese nuclear-powered submarines operating from the contested South China Sea.

A photograph supplied to Newsweek by Virgnia-based BlackSky, a real-time, space-based intelligence company, showed the unusual activity occurring at Longpo Naval Base on the afternoon of September 2, at a tunnel entrance on the island of Hainan, China's southernmost province.

The image shows a possible Type 093A attack submarine leaving the base with signs of cavitation on the water's surface and apparent water spray directed toward it at the tunnel entrance. Cavitation is caused by a submarine's spinning propeller blades, which create bubbles in the water.

Experts in Chinese naval development told Newsweek that they had not seen the water spray before.

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Tom Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submarine commanding officer and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, also believed the spray could be part of a nuclear, biological and chemical—or NBC—washdown system for China's submarines.

The water spray at the Chinese submarine base might clean the vessel before it enters the tunnel, Shugart told Newsweek. Washdown systems are a countermeasure commonly found on surface warships, which use sprinklers to decontaminate hazards such as radioactive fallout or chemicals.

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