Volume 59, Number 2 (2006) Spring

The shadowy vessel is a surfaced 092 Xia-class submarine, China’s only first-generation nuclear ballistic-missile submarine. The first of China’s secondgeneration 094 SSBNs, a type that is set to enhance vastly China’s sea-based nuclear deterrent, was reportedly launched in 2004. The image is inspired by poster art produced by the Naval War College Visual Communications Division for the College’s “China’s New Nuclear Submarine Fleet” Research Symposium, held 26–27 October 2005—a conference that produced a study, appearing in this issue, of “China’s Maturing Navy,” by Rear Admiral Eric A. McVadon, U.S. Navy (Retired).