Continuing the theme first presented yesterday, when we showed that while America’s financial situation is in dire straits, it is the strength of its military – that age-old realpolitik variable – or lack thereof…
… that may determine the longevity of the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency, overnight we learned from Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for capabilities and resources, who testified before the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee that China “is building some fairly amazing submarines and now has more diesel- and nuclear-powered vessels than the United States,” although he admitted their quality was inferior.
‘They may not be the same quality, but their submarine forces are growing at a tremendous rate. They now have more diesel and nuclear attack submarines than we have,’ the admiral told the lawmakers. ‘They are producing some fairly amazing submarines and they are actually deploying them.’
The top Navy admiral added that China was also expanding the geographic areas of operation for its submarines, and their length of deployment. For instance, China had carried out three deployments in the Indian Ocean, and had kept vessels out at sea for 95 days, Mulloy said.
Are the subs armed with nuclear ICBMs?
‘We don’t think they have nuclear weapons on board, but we’ve seen them producing the missiles and testing them,’ the admiral said. “We know they are out experimenting and looking at operating and clearly want to be in this world of advanced submarines.’
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 02/26/2015.
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