The superiority of US subs could severely limit the potential of China's own undersea fleet in a prolonged conflict, even degrading its coastal defence capability. Cote described US boats taking up positions outside Chinese ports, tracking and destroying PLAN subs as they left or entered. There’s a catch. The US Navy maintains only 10 submarines on routine forward deployment all over the world during peacetime. Many more boats could ‘surge’ in the event of hostilities, but would require days or weeks to reach Chinese waters. For that reason, ‘the US can do little to stop an initial sortie by a large portion of the Chinese submarine fleet.’
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