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Chinese submarine officers – with the exception of engineers – generally have the lowest entrance exam scores.
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The lack of selectivity is remarkable. Submarines are likely to be crucial in a conflict.
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The Chinese Navy appears to have doubts about its ship and submarine commanders.
Commanding a nuclear submarine should rest with smart and well-qualified officers. Or at least that is the case with Western navies.
Not so in the Chinese Navy. According to an American analyst, Chinese submarine officers – with the exception of engineers – tend to come from applicants with the lowest college entrance test scores. This suggests that the subordinate commanders of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) are not the best and brightest officers most ready to meet the tensions and challenges inherent in submarine warfare.
“Based on Gaokao score information for PLA National Entrance Exam for PLA [People’s Liberation Army] academic institutions, PLAN Engineering University ranks second on average in test scores among PLA academic institutions,” according to a paper written by Roderick Lee, an expert on the Chinese military, for the US Naval China Maritime Studies Institute War College. “Meanwhile, the Submarine Academy consistently ranks in the bottom three of all PLA institutions.”
‘Assuming it’s a student Gaokao The score is generally indicative of overall performance potential, suggesting that PLAN submarine officer cadets who advance to non-technical department positions are inferior to their technical brethren,” Lee said.
Rivalry between the engineers on the lower decks who keep the ship’s engines running, versus bridge officers such as captains, navigators, and weapons officers, is not uncommon in any navy; in the US, on the other hand, all submarine officers and commanders are trained in nuclear technology. By the time a Chinese officer reaches submarine command, they have more than a decade of training and fleet experience behind them since taking their college entrance tests.
Still, the difference in selectivity within the Chinese Navy is notable, as submarines would be one of China’s most important weapons in a conflict with the US, Japan or Taiwan. The PLAN currently operates approximately 60 submarines, including 6 armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, plus 6 nuclear- and 46 diesel-powered attack submarines armed with a variety of anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.
Whether academic competence equates to military competence has always been up for debate. History is full of commanders – like George McClellan in the American Civil War – who proved more impressive in the classroom than on the battlefield. On the other hand, the legendary George Patton almost flunked out of West Point.
In any case, the Chinese Navy appears to have had doubts about those who commanded its surface ships and submarines: higher-level officers often sailed with them to provide oversight. “Historically, a PLAN submarine captain’s authority could be eroded by the presence of senior officers on board,” Lee noted. “The issue of flotilla-level leadership deployed in single-ship formations and ‘careful’ ship captains has been such a problem for the PLAN surface fleet that the PLAN explicitly banned the practice in 2019.”
It is not clear to what extent senior officers will continue to babysit submarine skippers, who must share all authority with a political commissar on board each ship. There is evidence that the fact that a senior officer takes effective command of a submarine causes resentment among a submarine’s crew. Perhaps not coincidentally, Lee notes that fleet commanders and staff were on board when the Ming-class diesel submarine SS-361 sank in 2003, as well as the near loss of the Kilo-class SS-372 in 2014.
The task of submarines is already arduous and isolating, and command conflicts are only exacerbating what appears to be a mental health crisis among Chinese commanders and crews. When researchers from China’s Second Military Medical University conducted a survey of PLAN fleet submarine crews in the South China Sea in 2021, 21 percent reported experiencing psychological problems. Sailors and officers “in the South China Sea submarine force face mental health risks and suffer from serious psychological distress,” the study concluded, citing education – along with age and experience – as the best predictors of the mental health of crew members. .
“Life in the PLAN submarine service is difficult,” Christopher Sharman, director of the China Maritime Studies Institute, told Business Insider. “Conditions are challenging and China has suffered from submarine accidents in the past. These variables contribute to making life in the submarine force less attractive.”
The thought 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 not exactly reassuring. Nevertheless, Lee believes that China’s submarine fleet is still a capable fighting force. There are “no obvious and glaring deficiencies in the way the PLAN manages its submarine force. Although the education system underwent some upheaval in the early 21st century and continues to face challenges today, these challenges do not appear to be substantial enough to have dramatic impacts on operational performance.”
Still, the poor educational qualifications of Chinese sub-skippers could be a vulnerability that U.S. anti-submarines can exploit, Lee suggests. China’s submarines are more likely to make mistakes because they “derive their leadership from some of the worst-performing officer cadets,” Lee said. “Even if the Gaokao The score is not indicative of overall human performance, but does reflect a certain level of intelligence and individual dedication. The PLAN submarine force must therefore rely on its least talented officers to lead troops who can be cut off for days, if not weeks, at a time.
Putting the emphasis on Chinese submarine commanders, for example by presenting them with multiple or unexpected challenges, could encourage them to make a mistake. “This makes PLAN submarine officers more likely to suffer from the precursors to mistakes: poor proficiency, poor problem-solving skills, inappropriate attitudes to tasks, inaccurate communication habits and an inability to cope with stress.”
On the other hand, a Chinese submarine captain will have had years of experience and additional training before taking command. It remains to be seen if his college test scores will impact his combat performance.
Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine and other publications. He has an MA in Political Science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him further Tweet And LinkedIn.
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