History | |
---|---|
China | |
Name | No. 361 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Ming-class submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length | 76 m (249 ft 4 in) |
Beam | 7.6 m (24 ft 11 in) |
Draft | 5.1 m (16 ft 9 in) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed |
|
Complement | 55 (9 officers) |
Armament |
|
The submarine hull No. 361 named Great Wall #61 (长城61号)[1] was a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Type 035AIP (ES5E variant) (NATO reporting name Ming III) conventional diesel/electric submarine. In April 2003, during a military exercise in the Yellow Sea between North Korea and China's Shandong Province, the vessel suffered a mechanical failure that killed all 70 crew members on board.[2][3] It was one of China's worst peacetime military disasters. The PLA Navy's Commander Shi Yunsheng and Political Commissar Yang Huaiqing were both dismissed as a result of the accident.[2]