Could mystery Shanghai vessel be a mothership for China’s underwater drones?

Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia programme at Defence Priorities and head of the China Initiative at Brown University’s Watson School, said Sutton’s interpretation was “quite plausible” given China’s long-standing work on very large UUV prototypes.

Floating docks were useful for “testing and experimentation”, Goldstein said, but sustaining XLUUV operations at sea over extended periods could justify a dedicated mothership.

Goldstein was sceptical though of Sutton’s suggestion that the drones could be deployed off the U.S. west coast, given their vulnerability to interception.

Such a ship would also be a large, vulnerable target. Heath said it would be better suited to operating relatively close to China in less hostile conditions, leaving crewed submarines to operate in the most contested waters. Goldstein likewise cautioned that survivability would be limited in a conflict with a peer military power.