Chinese Navy (PLAN) News & Discussions

[IronsightSniper]

Nice pics. Doing the math, it's radar's mast is at a height of 28 m.

 

[Sasquatch]

 

[Sasquatch]

Got to update all 3 .

 

[Sasquatch]

Type 54A

 

[Sasquatch]

 

[Sasquatch]

Got a ton of pictures on my computer but hard time uploading.

 

[oct605032048]

Navy's 11th batch of anti-pirate fleet is going to the sea tomorrow!

Qingdao

Yantai

 

[Sasquatch]

Shi Lang with J-15 and Z-8

 

[Greater China]

North Sea Fleet (NSF) carries out first escort mission

After two years of refit, 052 Luhu class DDG 113 is ready for action in the Gulf of Aden. Once the most powerful warship in the Chinese navy, this one is actually smaller than the Type054 frigate "Yantai", accommodating her in this deployment.

North Sea Fleet carries out first escort mission

(Source: PLA Daily) 2012-02-28

The 11th naval escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) set sail from a naval port in Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, at 10:00 of February 27, 2012.

The 11th naval escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) set sail from a naval port of Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, on February 27 for the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast to replace the 10th Chinese naval escort taskforce for escort missions. This is the first time for the North Sea Fleet to participate in the escort mission since the PLA Navy carried out the escort mission in December 2008.

It is learned that the 11th Chinese naval escort taskforce is composed of the “Qingdao” guided missile destroyer, the “Yantai” guided missile frigate and the “Weishan Lake” comprehensive supply ship, with 2 ship-borne helicopters, 70 servicemen for special operation and over 800 people in total.

The “Qingdao” guided missile destroyer has taken part in over 50 major combat readiness exercises since it entered service in 1995. It has visited 19 ports of 17 countries on behalf of the PLA Navy, and is known as the “diplomatic star” ship. The “Yantai” guided missile frigate with a side number of 538 was commissioned in 2011 and boasts strong air-defense and anti-ship capabilities. The “Weishan Lake” comprehensive supply ship is a large supply ship independently designed and manufactured by China with a 23,000-tonnage displacement and used for ocean replenishment. It has successively engaged in escort missions of the 1st, the 2nd, the 5th and the 6th Chinese naval escort taskforces.

By Chen Dianhong and Mi Jinguo

China Defense Blog

 

[Greater China]

Improved living conditions on PLAN ships

Saturday, March 3, 2012

For the past number of years, China has always made the announcement that it is using the increased defense budget to not only pay for purchases and training, but also to raise the wages and living standard of the armed forces. The latter point often gets ignored by the China threat crowd, but I think it's something important to look at.

Kanwa defence has often talked about the much more significant improvements in the PLA living quarters compared to that of India's armed forces. It really is a stark contrast when one considers the amount of investment both countries spend on procuring new weapons.

The improved wages and living condition of PLA service members is a general reflection on the changing dynamics of the Chinese society. As a result of the vastly improved quality of lives in China, PLA also has to improve its living conditions to attract new recruits. When one considers that PLAN is shifting toward a blue water style navy, PLAN sailors will have to spend longer time away from home than ever before. As with the other three services, PLAN is looking to recruit higher educated and more technologically proficient personnel in order to operate the newer ships that it has been building. The recruitment process cannot be easy for PLAN. Not only does it have to compete with all of the companies around the country, but it also has to compete with the other three services of PLA. There is already a growing population crisis in China due to the extremely tilted male to female ratio of the current generation of youth. The increasingly blue water demand for PLAN will result in longer trips away from home for the sailors. The life style of having to spend long period away from home naval base is not appealing to most young men, who have to think about finding wives. As a result of this, PLAN has moved away from Soviet style of treating sailors like robots to actually allowing sailors to have more enjoyment on ships. If they do not do this, PLAN would have a really hard time to retain the NCOs that it recruited. Chinese news websites have documented the improvements in sleeping areas, seating and food for submarines and other ships that are making long deployments. We have seen pictures of larger basketball courts and improved cafeteria on Type 071 LPDs. The most interesting part of this movement is the commissioning of the No. 88 Life Style ship as shown below.

Since China does not have any official overseas naval base, No. 88 was launched to address crew fatigue. It should also be able to give sailors medical attention. While this is not as luxurious as a cruise ship, it is still quite an interesting ship.

First we have special female cabin with more spaces and head board that can be lowered to become a desk.

Other cabins come in the form of high quality single person cabin, single person cabin, 2 people cabin, 4 people cabin and 6 people cabin. Some cabins apparently also hold retractable hammocks (for additional personnel I guess).

They have the first ever super market on a PLAN ship. Aside from this, they also having automated vending machines.

I think I may have seen work out room like this on Type 071, but this is probably the largest one on any PLAN ships.

We have a modern conference room that can hold 200 people. With advanced audio visual equipment equipment, this can achieve multiple purposes: to organize cultural and sports party, serve as a maritime cinema. You can also unicom via video transmission system to the main compartment of the ship with a remote network information sharing.

It has a large multipurpose cafeteria.

And finally, it even has a cafe on board.

So, the living conditions on PLAN is definitely improving. While this "life style" ship is an anomaly, we should see more living style improvements and food quality improvements on PLAN war ships in the future. That not only increases the morale of sailors, but also will help PLAN recruit and retain college grads.

China Air and Naval Power Blog

 

[sweetgrape]

071 LPD, 999 Ship and its hovercraft.

 

[no_name]

Speculation on future Chinese vessels

Not sure how credible this is. Below is the likely changes to the PLAN major surface combatant ship fleet:

includes destroyers and frigates, ACs/flattops and ships like the type 071 are not counted, Ships like the 065 corvette are also not counted.

DDG1, etc., refers to the destroyer flotillas

DDG1 = 1 Destroyer Flotilla Qingdao-Jiaonan
DDG2 = 2 Destroyer Flotilla Zhanjiang
DDG3 = 3 Destroyer Flotilla Zhoushan-Dinghai
DDG6 = 6 Destroyer Flotilla Zhoushan-Dinghai
DDG9 = 9 Destroyer Flotilla Yulin
DDG 10 10 Destroyer Flotilla Lushun

The unit referred to as the Gulf of Tonkin frigate group does not properly speaking exist today. JIANGHU I/II 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 557 belong to 2 Destroyer Flotilla’s 18 Frigate Squadron at Zhanjiang (or rather, 554 and 557 belonged until they were sold to Burma).

The Shanghai frigate group is 8 (Independent) Frigate Squadron at Shanghai-Wusong
The Fujian frigate group is 3 (Ind) Frigate Squadron at Ningde
The South China Sea frigate group is 2 (Ind) Frigate Squadron at Shantou.

Also it seems that the number of surface combat ships would be more or less remain the same size but modernising overall. Total tonnage would increase quite a bit though.

=================================================================

(First row: retiring ship, second row comissioned ship, 3rd row det

2012 131(Served 35 years) 107（36 ） 515（37）516(37)
150 151(2 type 052C) 546 547(2 type 054A)
Handing over to DDG6, DDG1 525 526 move to DDG10

2013 108（33)132（33） 517（36）511（35)----------------
152 153（2 type 052C) 550（054A)------------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG1 548 549 to DDG3

2014 162（35) 133（31）134（30）512(36) 513(37)
-------172 173（2 type 052C）572（054A) -------------
handing over to DDG9, 168 move to DDG10

2015 163（33）514（36）518（36）519（36)----------------
573 574 （2 type 054A)------------------------------
Handing over to DDG9, 169 move to DDG2

2016 109（34）551（36）552（36)---------------------------
117（type 052D,6800T）575（054A)---------------
Handing over to DDG1, DDG9

2017 110（33）164（30）533（35） 534（34)--------------
118 119 （2 type 052D) ------------------------------
handing over to DDG1, 115 116 move to DDG10

2018 535（32）543（33）553（33）554（32）--------------
101（type 058 destroyer，9900T) 120（052D）--------------
Handing to DDG9, DDG1 169 move to DDG10

2019 536（32）545（32）555（32)---------------------------
102（058）154（052D)-----------------------------
handing over to DDG9, DDG6

2020 165（31）537（30）557（32）--------------------------
103（058）155（052D)-----------------------------
Handing over to DDG9, DDG6 170 move to DDG2

2021 166（30）539（29） 540（29)--------------------------
104（058）156（052D)-----------------------------
handing over to DDG9, DDG6 171 move to DDG2

2022 541（29）542（28）--------------------------------------
105（058)157（052D) -------------------------
Handing over to DDG6

2023 558（30）559（29)---------------------------------------
106（058）501（059 Gas turbine large frigate，5100T)------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG3

2024 560（30）561（30)---------------------------------------
107(058) 502(059)---------------------------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG3

2025 562（30）563（30）--------------------------------------
108（058）503 504（2 type 059）-------------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG3

Ships retired from 2012-2020 are due to having served overtime，Normal replacement starts from 2020. Focusing on replacing GGD9 before 2020, and DDG6 by 2025.

2026 112（32） 113（30）
174 175( 2type 052D） 505（059）
handing over to DDG9 DDG10 172 173 move to DDG2

2027 521（29） 522（28）
176 177（2 type 052D) 506(059)
handing over to DDG9 DDG10

2028 523（29） 524(28)
507 508(2 type 059）
handing over to DDG10

2029 167(30) 136(30) 137(29)
509 510(2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG2

2030 564（30） 565（30）
511 512（2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG2

2031 565(29) 566(29)
109(058) 121 122(2 type 052D）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG10

2032 168（28） 169（28） 525（27）
110（058） 123 124（2 type 052D）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG10

2033 115（27） 116（27） 526（27）
111（058） 513 514（2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG2 572 573 move to DDG6 150 151 move to DDG3

2034 138（29） 139（28） 527（30）
112（058） 515 516（2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG2 574 575 move to DDG6 152 153 move to DDG3

2035 170 （30） 171（30） 528（30）
178（052D） 179（052D）
handing over to DDG2

In those 10 years the 13 transitional/foreign bought destroyers will be decommissioned，as well as 12 Jianghus abd the (2) type 054, replaced by large D medium F.

2015 Fleet
DDG10 109 110 164 168 525 526 527 528
DDG1 112 113 115 116 538 546 547 550
DDG3 136 137 138 139 529 530 548 549
DDG6 150 151 152 153 521 522 523 524
DDG2 165 166 167 169 568 569 570 571
DDG9 170 171 172 173 564 565 566 567
Shanghai frigate group 539 540 541 542
Fujian frigate group 533 534 535 536 537 543 545
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group 551 552 553 554 555 557
South (China) sea frigate group 558 559 560 561 562 563 total 71 ships DDG 24 F 47

2020 Fleet
DDG10 115 116 168 169 525 526 527 528
DDG1 112 113 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 136 137 138 139 529 530 548 549
DDG6 150 151 152 153 154 155 521 522 523 524
DDG2 166 167 170 171 568 569 570 571
DDG9 101 102 103 172 173 572 573 574 575
Shanghai frigate group 539 540 541 542
fujian frigate group replaced with DDG6
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group 564 565 566 567
South (China) sea frigate group 558 559 560 561 562 563 total 65 ships DDG 29 F 36

2025 Fleet
DDG10 115 116 168 169 525 526 527 528
DDG1 112 113 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 136 137 138 139 501 502 503 504 529 530 548 549
DDG6 105 106 107 108 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157
DDG2 167 170 171 172 173 568 569 570 571
DDG9 101 102 103 104 572 573 574 575
Shanghai frigate group 539 540 541 542
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group564 565 566 567
South china sea frigate fleet removed, south china sea surveillance to be handled solely by maritime surveillance
total 67 ships DDG 33 F 34

2030 Fleet
DDG10 115 116 168 169 525 526 527 528 505 506 507 508
DDG1 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 138 139 501 502 503 504 529 530 548 549
DDG6 105 106 107 108 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157
DDG2 170 171 172 173 568 569 570 571 509 510 511 512
DDG9 101 102 103 104 174 175 176 177 572 573 574 575
Shanghai frigate group replaced with 8 type 056（not counted in total）
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group 564 565 566 567 total 68 ships DDG 34 F 34

2035 Fleet
DDG10 121 122 123 124 505 506 507 508
DDG1 109 110 111 112 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 150 151 152 153 501 502 503 504 529 530 548 549
DDG6 105 106 107 108 154 155 156 157 572 573 574 575
DDG2 178 178 172 173 568 569 570 571 509 510 511 512
DDG9 101 102 103 104 174 175 176 177 513 514 515 516
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group replaced with 8 type 056（not counted in total） total 68 ships DDG 36 F 32
Note: Aircraft carriers not counted.

 

[Akasa]

Speculation on future Chinese vessels

Not sure how credible this is. Below is the likely changes to the PLAN major surface combatant ship fleet:

includes destroyers and frigates, ACs/flattops and ships like the type 071 are not counted, Ships like the 065 corvette are also not counted.



Also it seems that the number of surface combat ships would be more or less remain the same size but modernising overall. Total tonnage would increase quite a bit though.

=================================================================

(First row: retiring ship, second row comissioned ship, 3rd row det

2012 131(Served 35 years) 107（36 ） 515（37）516(37)
150 151(2 type 052C) 546 547(2 type 054A)
Handing over to DDG6, DDG1 525 526 move to DDG10

2013 108（33)132（33） 517（36）511（35)----------------
152 153（2 type 052C) 550（054A)------------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG1 548 549 to DDG3

2014 162（35) 133（31）134（30）512(36) 513(37)
-------172 173（2 type 052C）572（054A) -------------
handing over to DDG9, 168 move to DDG10

2015 163（33）514（36）518（36）519（36)----------------
573 574 （2 type 054A)------------------------------
Handing over to DDG9, 169 move to DDG2

2016 109（34）551（36）552（36)---------------------------
117（type 052D,6800T）575（054A)---------------
Handing over to DDG1, DDG9

2017 110（33）164（30）533（35） 534（34)--------------
118 119 （2 type 052D) ------------------------------
handing over to DDG1, 115 116 move to DDG10

2018 535（32）543（33）553（33）554（32）--------------
101（type 058 destroyer，9900T) 120（052D）--------------
Handing to DDG9, DDG1 169 move to DDG10

2019 536（32）545（32）555（32)---------------------------
102（058）154（052D)-----------------------------
handing over to DDG9, DDG6

2020 165（31）537（30）557（32）--------------------------
103（058）155（052D)-----------------------------
Handing over to DDG9, DDG6 170 move to DDG2

2021 166（30）539（29） 540（29)--------------------------
104（058）156（052D)-----------------------------
handing over to DDG9, DDG6 171 move to DDG2

2022 541（29）542（28）--------------------------------------
105（058)157（052D) -------------------------
Handing over to DDG6

2023 558（30）559（29)---------------------------------------
106（058）501（059 Gas turbine large frigate，5100T)------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG3

2024 560（30）561（30)---------------------------------------
107(058) 502(059)---------------------------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG3

2025 562（30）563（30）--------------------------------------
108（058）503 504（2 type 059）-------------------
Handing over to DDG6, DDG3

Ships retired from 2012-2020 are due to having served overtime，Normal replacement starts from 2020. Focusing on replacing GGD9 before 2020, and DDG6 by 2025.

2026 112（32） 113（30）
174 175( 2type 052D） 505（059）
handing over to DDG9 DDG10 172 173 move to DDG2

2027 521（29） 522（28）
176 177（2 type 052D) 506(059)
handing over to DDG9 DDG10

2028 523（29） 524(28)
507 508(2 type 059）
handing over to DDG10

2029 167(30) 136(30) 137(29)
509 510(2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG2

2030 564（30） 565（30）
511 512（2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG2

2031 565(29) 566(29)
109(058) 121 122(2 type 052D）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG10

2032 168（28） 169（28） 525（27）
110（058） 123 124（2 type 052D）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG10

2033 115（27） 116（27） 526（27）
111（058） 513 514（2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG2 572 573 move to DDG6 150 151 move to DDG3

2034 138（29） 139（28） 527（30）
112（058） 515 516（2 type 059）
Handing over to DDG1 DDG2 574 575 move to DDG6 152 153 move to DDG3

2035 170 （30） 171（30） 528（30）
178（052D） 179（052D）
handing over to DDG2

In those 10 years the 13 transitional/foreign bought destroyers will be decommissioned，as well as 12 Jianghus abd the (2) type 054, replaced by large D medium F.

2015 Fleet
DDG10 109 110 164 168 525 526 527 528
DDG1 112 113 115 116 538 546 547 550
DDG3 136 137 138 139 529 530 548 549
DDG6 150 151 152 153 521 522 523 524
DDG2 165 166 167 169 568 569 570 571
DDG9 170 171 172 173 564 565 566 567
Shanghai frigate group 539 540 541 542
Fujian frigate group 533 534 535 536 537 543 545
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group 551 552 553 554 555 557
South (China) sea frigate group 558 559 560 561 562 563 total 71 ships DDG 24 F 47

2020 Fleet
DDG10 115 116 168 169 525 526 527 528
DDG1 112 113 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 136 137 138 139 529 530 548 549
DDG6 150 151 152 153 154 155 521 522 523 524
DDG2 166 167 170 171 568 569 570 571
DDG9 101 102 103 172 173 572 573 574 575
Shanghai frigate group 539 540 541 542
fujian frigate group replaced with DDG6
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group 564 565 566 567
South (China) sea frigate group 558 559 560 561 562 563 total 65 ships DDG 29 F 36

2025 Fleet
DDG10 115 116 168 169 525 526 527 528
DDG1 112 113 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 136 137 138 139 501 502 503 504 529 530 548 549
DDG6 105 106 107 108 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157
DDG2 167 170 171 172 173 568 569 570 571
DDG9 101 102 103 104 572 573 574 575
Shanghai frigate group 539 540 541 542
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group564 565 566 567
South china sea frigate fleet removed, south china sea surveillance to be handled solely by maritime surveillance
total 67 ships DDG 33 F 34

2030 Fleet
DDG10 115 116 168 169 525 526 527 528 505 506 507 508
DDG1 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 138 139 501 502 503 504 529 530 548 549
DDG6 105 106 107 108 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157
DDG2 170 171 172 173 568 569 570 571 509 510 511 512
DDG9 101 102 103 104 174 175 176 177 572 573 574 575
Shanghai frigate group replaced with 8 type 056（not counted in total）
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group 564 565 566 567 total 68 ships DDG 34 F 34

2035 Fleet
DDG10 121 122 123 124 505 506 507 508
DDG1 109 110 111 112 117 118 119 120 538 546 547 550
DDG3 150 151 152 153 501 502 503 504 529 530 548 549
DDG6 105 106 107 108 154 155 156 157 572 573 574 575
DDG2 178 178 172 173 568 569 570 571 509 510 511 512
DDG9 101 102 103 104 174 175 176 177 513 514 515 516
Gulf of Tolkin frigate group replaced with 8 type 056（not counted in total） total 68 ships DDG 36 F 32
Note: Aircraft carriers not counted.

How credible is this? The fact that it goes to 2030s and that the 052D is only 6800 puts me at a skeptical position.

 

[oct605032048]

Navy's export to Myanmar and... happy faces.

 

[Sasquatch]

Improvements look great.