What You Need to Know: The 2021 incident involving the USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class submarine, continues to raise questions after its collision in the South China Sea. Officially, the U.S. Navy attributed the damage to an uncharted seamount, leading to the submarine’s commanding officers being relieved of duty.

-However, an alternative theory suggests a natural phenomenon known as a “Mesoscale Eddy,” a massive whirlpool-like ocean current, may have contributed to the event. These eddies can interfere with sonar, potentially impairing the submarine's navigation systems.

-The incident occurred near the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands, sparking speculation that Connecticut was on a covert surveillance mission, possibly monitoring Chinese naval activities near Hainan Island.

Did a Whirlpool Damage the USS Connecticut in 2021?

The incident in the South China Sea back in 2021 involving the United States Navy’s Seawolf-class submarine, the USS Connecticut, and what the Navy officially says was a previously unknown undersea mountain (or, a “seamount”) remains a mystery today. 

Of course, an official investigation was undertaken, and determinations were made by the Pentagon which laid the blame for the incident on the aforementioned seamount, causing the Navy to relieve the commanding officer and his first officer for a “lack of confidence.” Yet, people are still confused by this incident. 

Something does not add up. 

Indeed, there are many variables that lend itself to independent investigators and journalists raising all manner of alternative explanations to the event which resulted in one of America’s most important submarines being removed from service for years after its front end was bashed in from the unexpected impact. The reasons for this collision, at least unofficially, range from the plausible to the absurd. 

The Incident

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) has a very interesting alternative explanation that might account for what happened to the vital American submarine in 2021. According to the SCMP, it’s possible that the Connecticut was caught up in a massive whirlpool that was more than 124 miles across. 

The anomaly, known as a “Mesoscale Eddy,” and can “last for weeks to months.” What’s more, such an eddy can carry “up to 90 percent of the kinetic energy on the planet’s surface.” Further, according to SCMP, these Mesoscale Eddies can interfere with “the accuracy of sonar,” such as the kind that the USS Connecticut relies on while plumbing the depths of the South China Sea.

Here's where it gets interesting. According to reports, the USS Connecticut was in the vicinity of the Mesoscale Eddy in 2021 when it ripped through the South China Sea, specifically near the Paracel Islands. 

The Chinese, meanwhile, had deployed a massive armada of ships, submarines, and drones to chase the eddy for scientific study. The writer of the SCMP piece, the always excellent Stephen Chen, makes the assertion that the eddy may have played a significant role behind the submarine’s collision.

Of course, left unsaid was precisely what the American submarine was doing there. It is obvious, at least to this expert, that the Connecticut was engaged in covert surveillance activities. Since it happened so near to Hainan Island, which has been dubbed “China’s Hawaii” because of the sprawling, secretive Chinese naval base located on the island in the South China Sea, many analysts assumed that the collision occurred as a result of American spying on the island. 

It might have been that the Connecticut was deployed to see just what the Chinese were doing deploying that mass of submarines, surface ships, drones, and gliders to the middle of the South China Sea. 

Author Experience and Expertise: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

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