New Chinese Boomers

Recently, some pictures of two new Chinese Jin-class SSBNs showed up on Google Earth; now, we have a low-angle shot showing the sails of both, with the 12 missile tube hatches open on the near submarine:

Personally, I'm not surprised the Chinese Navy didn't take a lot of effort to hide these ships; after all, a deterrent only works if people know you have something to deter them with. Some more discussion on the "public unveiling" of these ships can be found here and here.

As I've said previously, I'm not that worried about the near-term threat from China. The Chinese leadership is nothing if not survivors, and they know the best way for them not to survive is to risk nuclear war with the United States. Still, the existence of these boats serves the purpose of giving us another reason to maintain undersea superiority -- in both the tactical and strategic senses -- over the rest of the world. As long as we stay a couple of generations ahead of the Chinese in quieting technology, these two boats will just be Navy Crosses waiting to happen if push ever does come to shove.