With the imminent release of a military documentary, British media recently clamored about how the British aircraft carrier has driven away a Chinese submarine. People familiar with the matter and military experts questioned this claim, believing it to be an intentional hype by British media that imagined re-establishing the glorious image of their country's navy.

According to a military expert who asked for anonymity, even if the British carrier did identify a Kilo-class submarine in the South China Sea, there is no way it could determine it belongs to China. “Among countries around the South China Sea, Vietnam and Indonesia also have Kilo-class submarines, so do Russia and India. How can they be sure it's China's? That's obviously a preconception.”

The expert further argued that from a tactical point of view, no country would assign a conventional submarine to track a carrier strike group because it simply cannot with the usual speed of six knots or so compared with an aircraft carrier's 18 knots.

According to experts, generally speaking, the discovery of a conventional submarine in the rear of a carrier strike group means the submarine must have known the fleet's route and ambushed it. The documentary mentioned the submarine tailed the fleet, which, if in wartime, means it was only discovered after it had finished attacking the fleet and already turned into a defensive position.

Another scenario in which the conventional submarine would be discovered is that after spotting the carrier, it had to float and take photos at periscope depth when it would risk being detected by the fleet's anti-submarine vessel, the military expert added.

Actually, this wasn't the first time that the British carrier claimed it had detected a "Chinese submarine" when carrying out operations in the South China Sea. In August 2021, The Daily Express of Britain published a report telling a similar story that as the Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group sailed from the South China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, its anti-submarine frigates HMS Kent and HMS Richmond allegedly used anti-submarine sonar to detect a Chinese nuclear submarine following and monitoring the fleet.

Military expert Song Zhongping said on February 12 that some western countries represented by Britain and the US all take China as an imaginary enemy now and reckon that if they can defeat China, no other country would be able to compete with them anymore. “The reasons for their hype are obvious. Emphasizing the invincibility of the British navy could create an illusion that they have revived the past glory while highlighting the grave threats from China would necessitate stronger military capacities and therefore justify the increase in military spending.”

Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.