Chinese submarine officers – with the exception of engineers – tend to have the lowest scores on entrance exams.
The lack of selectivity is remarkable. Submarines are likely to play a crucial role in a conflict.
The Chinese navy appears to have doubts about its ship and submarine commanders.
The task of commanding a nuclear submarine should be entrusted to intelligent and qualified officers. Or at least that’s the case in Western navies.
This is not the case in the Chinese navy. China’s submarine officers – with the exception of engineers – tend to come from applicants with the lowest scores on college entrance tests, according to a US analyst. This suggests that People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) deputy commanders are not the best or brightest officers best prepared to deal with the stress and challenges endemic to submarine warfare. .
“Based on Gaokao According to information on national college entrance examination results for PLA (People’s Liberation Army) academic institutions, PLAN Engineering University ranks second on average in test scores in PLA academic institutions,” according to an article written by Roderick Lee, a Chinese military expert, for the US Naval War College’s China Institute of Maritime Studies. “Meanwhile, the Academy of submarines regularly ranks among the bottom three institutions of the PLA.
“Assuming that a student Gaokao “The score is generally indicative of overall performance potential, suggesting that PLAN submarine cadets who move to non-engineering department positions are inferior to their engineering brethren,” Lee said.
Rivalry between lower deck engineers who operate the ship’s engines and bridge officers such as captains, navigators, and weapons officers, is not unusual in any navy; in the United States, by contrast, all submarine officers and commanders are trained in nuclear engineering. When a Chinese officer achieves command of a submarine, he has accumulated more than a decade of training and experience in the fleet since taking his college entrance exams.
Still, the disparity in selectivity within China’s navy is remarkable, given that submarines would be one of China’s most important weapons in a conflict with the United States, Japan, or Taiwan. The PLAN currently operates approximately 60 submarines, including 6 armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, as well as 6 nuclear and 46 diesel attack submarines armed with various anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.
Whether academic prowess equates to military proficiency has always been a matter of debate. History is full of commanders – like George McClellan in the American Civil War – who were more impressive in the classroom than on the battlefield. On the other hand, the legendary George Patton almost failed at West Point.
Regardless, the Chinese navy appears to have had doubts about who commanded its surface ships and submarines: senior officers often sailed with them to supervise them. “Historically, the authority of a PLAN submarine captain could be eroded by the presence of senior officers on board,” Lee noted. “The issue of deploying flotilla-level leaders in single-ship formations and “babysitting” ship captains was such a problem for the PLAN surface fleet that the PLAN explicitly banned the practice in 2019 »
It is unclear to what extent senior officers continue to guard the submarine captains, who already must share authority with a political commissar aboard each ship. There is evidence that when a senior officer actually takes command of a submarine, it breeds resentment among the submarine’s crew. It is perhaps no coincidence that Lee notes that the flotilla commanders and staff were on board when the Ming-class diesel submarine SS-361 sank in 2003, as well as during the near loss of Kilo-class SS-372 in 2014.
Submarine service is already arduous and isolating, and command conflicts only exacerbate what appears to be a mental health crisis among Chinese commanders and crews. When researchers from China’s Second Military Medical University conducted a 2021 survey of submarine crews in the PLAN fleet in the South China Sea, 21% of them reported having mental health problems . Sailors and officers “in submarine forces in the South China Sea face mental health risks and suffer from serious psychological problems,” concludes the study, which ranks education – as well as age and l experience – as the best indicators of sub-crew mental health. .
“Life in the PLAN submarine service is difficult,” Christopher Sharman, director of the China Institute of Maritime Studies, told Business Insider. “Conditions are difficult and China has experienced submarine accidents in the past. These variables contribute to making life in the submarine force less attractive.”
The idea of a submarine – especially one powered by a nuclear reactor or even armed with nuclear missiles – being commanded by an officer with a low SAT score is far from reassuring. Nevertheless, Lee believes that China’s submarine fleet remains a capable force. There are “no clear and glaring flaws in the way the PLAN runs its submarine force.” Although its education system experienced some upheaval in the early 21st century and continues to face challenges today, these challenges do not appear significant enough to dramatically affect operational performance.”
Still, the low education level of Chinese submariners could be a vulnerability that U.S. anti-submarines could exploit, Lee suggests. China’s submarine force is more likely to make mistakes as it “recruits its leaders from among the lowest-performing cadets,” Lee said. “Even if the Gaokao The score is not representative of overall human performance, it reflects a certain level of individual intelligence and dedication. The PLAN submarine force must therefore rely on its least talented officers to lead forces that may be isolated for days or even weeks. »
By stressing Chinese submarine commanders, for example by confronting them with multiple or unexpected challenges, they could be incentivized to make a mistake. “This could make PLAN submarine officers more likely to suffer from precursor errors such as poor proficiency, poor problem-solving skills, inappropriate attitudes toward tasks, imprecise communication habits and an inability to manage stress.”
In contrast, a Chinese submarine captain will have years of experience and additional training before taking command. It remains to be seen whether his college test scores have any impact on his combat performance.
Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine and other publications. He holds a master’s degree in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter And LinkedIn.
Read the original article on Business Insider
yahoo
