Myth of PLAN's Power

[shiphone]

the coming Type052D

so far ten 052D have been ordered ,and they would be built in two shipyards, these new DDGs would replace the remaining Type 051 destroyers...three of them have been launched.

#1 on Aug 28th 2012
#2 on Dec 28th 2012
#3 on Jul 1st 2013

this improved 6500 tons varient has following 'visible' upgrades :

new 130mm main gun ,
64 cells new Gen VLS(8×YJ18 SSM + HHQ9B SAM) ，
24 cells HQ10 SRSAM...
and the Improved 346A AESA radar...

this Auguest , the first 052D has begun the sea trial right one year after the launch...MP.net happend to have some pix about this seatrial...so just a cross post job here...

------------------------------
some bird's eye view of shipyard building these destroyers from the Airliner .
two 052C and three 052D in the basin...

 

[shiphone]

Part 4 the First and Second Generation Home made Frigates-- Type 053 serial Frigate ...

many mistakes on this table...
Let's start with this: so called 4 JiangWei I(053H2) actually is 053H2G...and the comment mistakes the 1150 tons Type 065 Jiangnan class corvette which was based on the Soviet 50's Design...LOL...all these four ships of this class retired in early 1990s...the 053H,H1,H2,H1G was designed in 1970-80s sharing the same tech and research achievement with 051 class

I happened to have a Jane's fighting ships 2004-2005 in hand, it seems Jane's didn't make such mistake and could ID most of the Type 053 sub varients...

PLA used to own 31 1800-ton(full load), first Gen Home made FFGs. there are 14 left in the fleet nowadays. all of these got the MLUs ,average life of around 25 years. we could sort out some sub varients:

053H ---all retired
053H1 ---six ships left (FFG 533,534,543,545,555,557)
053H1G --six ships (FFG558-563) left ,MLU in around 2008s, commissiond in mid 1990s
053H2 ---three in total(FFG 535,536,537) ,quite new, but two of them has retired in 2013 and were sold to some SouthEast Asian Navy...in 1990s Thailand Royal Navy ordered 4.

Type 053H2---three sister ships and FFG535,536's decommission ceremony

actually the right"equivalence" of P25/P25A could be found only in this catalogue.

6×053H1(1750 tons, commissioned in early 1980s) vs 4×P25 (1300 tons ,commissioned in 1989-1991)
6×053H1G (1850 tons, commsioned in mid 1990s) vs 4×P25A (1400 tons, commssioned in 1998-2004)

VS.

 

[Ray]

The ships look typically Russian in design!

The Russian designs look really great!

 

[s002wjh]

i'm pretty sure 52 has nothing to do with russian hull design.

 

[J20!]

The ships look typically Russian in design!

The Russian designs look really great!

Which part of the 052D looks Russian Ray?

Maybe you could post a pic of the particular
Russian design you're reffering to; enlighten us...

Or is that ur twisted way of paying a compliment without really saying it outright?

 

[shiphone]

Part 4 continued ............... let's back to the mentioned Type 053H2G and 053H3 class on this table...

Both 053H2G and 053H3 in this table are PLAN's second generation home made Frigates. they(4+10 ships) were Newly designed in late 1980s(so called 1950's soviet design?...LOL),commissioned in 1990s and early 2000s(the last two of them commissioned in 2005) , although they followed 053 project code that the first Gen Home made frigate(designed in 1970s) used.
to save my time and effort, I would like to quote the introduction page on the Jane's fighting ships 2004-2005 here...certainly there are some mistakes, but generally speaking, Jane's has properly defined these two classes, which could help us to judge whether they are so called "equivalence" of P25/P25A corvette...LOL...

-----------------------------

in the 1980s ,PLAN experimentally introduced three sub varients of specialized FFG based on the 053 Platform (Type 53K(FFG531) AAW, FFG544 ASW, Type 053H2 AshW ),After the continuous research ,attempt and practice , the PLAN managed to get a very Balanced in ASW, AShW, AAW performance, mass produced ,2nd Gen Frigate ,and the tonnage was increase to 2250 tons(Full load) ,equipping SSM, SAM, with helicopter hangar and platform ,newly developed and improved sensors, and mordern Combat management and commanding system...

2250 tons might be a little less for a Frigate class.but in 1970s,1980s, 2K-3K tons FFG and 3K-4K tons DDG were not rare in the world navies.
e.g. 1. Italian Lupo-class frigate 2. Japan's Hatsuyuki-class destroyer. the design of Type 053H2G/H3 was deeply affected by the former. Italian navy mainly operates their ships in the enclosed Mediterranean sea, and in 1990s, PLAN's main opreation area was within the first island chain. so such tonnage is acceptable...
in this century ,053H3 extended the opreation area to the outside the island chain for the Ocean training ,visiting Russian and Austrialian ports...the most ambitious mission is : as one of the three warships forming the 14th escort fleet for Gulf of Aden escort opreation. FFG528 accomplished a 225 days ,4400 nautical mile away Indian Ocean Region deployment without home base support...the ship was well tested...we might be able to see more of them in the IOR for the following Escort Operations.

 

[shiphone]

Part.5 the Third Generation Frigates--Type 054 and 054A

-----------------
quite fair comments...but it seems that the number in service needs some correction.

two Type 054 were commissioned in 2005-2006...so far , since 2008 , PLAN has accepted 15 054A frigates(average three per year, the detailed commission dates is right in the J20!'s post)...one(DDG574) is in the Sea trial phase, would be commissioned within this year....Three more has been launched(two were launched just about 10 days ago at the two shipyards) ...it was said the final order would be 24, which was shared by two shipyards

PLAN is quite satisfied with this 4000 tons(full load) class of warship.the large order number is best proof...054/054A is also a tested ship. almost every 054/054A have been deployed in Indian Ocean Region for the Escorting operation for 4-6 months right one year after their commission.

the launched #19 054A (FFG576) on Sep 29 2013 at HuangPu shipyard----from J20!'s #45 post

the launched #17,#18 054A FFG in May and Sep 2013 at HuDong shipyard, and the # 16-FFG574 (launched last Nov) is waiting for the commission...
BTW,this shipyard is just 500 meters away from my working place...I have almost witnessed almost every launch of these Frigates in shipyard these years...

---------------------
two pix of Type 054 FFG and 054A FFG for distinguishing.

 

[shiphone]

A summary of Newly Commissioned PLAN vessels in the past year 2013........source CD and other Forums.

1. Type052C DDG--- 2

Date:
2013.01.31 DDG 150 长春
2013.12.26 DDG 151 郑州

2. Type054A FFG--- 3

2013.05.03 FFG 575 岳阳号
2013.06.22 FFG 550 潍坊号
2013.12.13 FFG 574 三亚号

3. Type056 Light Frigate(1250 tons normal displacement, 1500 tons full load)--- 8+1(the 9th was hand over by the shipyard on the 31st Dec and commissioned on 7th Jan)

2013.02.25 FFG 582 蚌埠号
2013.05.18 FFG 580 大同号
2013.06.10 FFG 583 上饶号
2013.07.01 FFG 596 惠州号
2013.07.01 FFG 597 钦州号
2013.07.29 FFG 584 梅州号
2013.08.01 FFG 581 营口号
2013.10.12 FFG 585 百色号

4. Type 081 Ocean Mine Sweeper --- 2 ( AUX 889 and 890 )
5. Type 903A Replenishment ship --- 3
6. Type 094, 039B and 032A submarines --- 5 in total...

-------
18 combat vessels in total...

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

BTW...the two discommissioned Type 053H2 FFG(Ex FFG535 and 536) in 2013 were refitted and repainted . finally it is confirmed that they were sold to Bangladesh Navy , Pennant No: F15 and F17, to replacing the old British Type41 Corvette.

Ex-FFG535 and 536

old British Type41 Corvette in Bangladesh Navy

refitted and repainted as F15 and F17

 

[t_co]

Which part of the 052D looks Russian Ray?

Maybe you could post a pic of the particular
Russian design you're reffering to; enlighten us...

Or is that ur twisted way of paying a compliment without really saying it outright?

I'm not sure anyone needs to take an ex-Army Brigadier's comments on the superficialities of naval architecture seriously.

 

[shiphone]

Today the very First vessel of latest class of Destroyer--052D class , DDG172 'Kunming'昆明 is commissioned

this 6000 tons displacement vessel was launched on 28 Aug 2012, the first sea trail took place in last Aug-Sep. this period took just 19 months which sets a new record in the JN Shipyard's Destroyer Building History...

130mm main gun and 24 cells of HQ10 SRSAM launcher

around 10 days ago

---------------------
in 2014, so far three more 1500 tons Light Frigats(Corvette) were commissioned which made the total number in service to 11...

Jan 8...FFG586 "Ji An 吉安" joined East Sea Fleet

Jan 26 ...FFG 587 "JieYang 揭阳"joined South Sea Fleet

Mar 15 FFG 590 "WeiHai 威海" Joined North Sea Fleet

 

[J20!]

High resolution pics of DDG172 Kunming's commissioning:

 

[J20!]

 

[W.G.Ewald]

^^
In regard to signaling flag display in the photo (USN calls it "dressing ship"), what is PLAN Code of Signals?

I found one for Russian Navy.

Russian Navy Code of Signals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[shiphone]

that's the same as "Dressing Ship"-- full dress (挂满旗) on important state occasions

PLAN code stipulate : for a Destroyer . full dress means: around 67 flags would be hung. the flag size would be No.2(No.1-5 means five flag sizes , No.1 is the largest one ). the national flag should be hung at the hightest point (normally on the main mast). there are 46 kinds of signal flags in total( including 26 alphabetical flag ,`10 number flag.......)

 

[Sea Eagle]

How many ships have you commissioned into your navy this year ??

 

[W.G.Ewald]

that's the same as "Dressing Ship"-- full dress (挂满旗) on important state occasions

PLAN code stipulate : for a Destroyer . full dress means: around 67 flags would be hung. the flag size would be No.2(No.1-5 means five flag sizes , No.1 is the largest one ). the national flag should be hung at the hightest point (normally on the main mast). there are 46 kinds of signal flags in total( including 26 alphabetical flag ,`10 number flag.......)

Also found this:


Manual for International Maritime Signal Codes:

Chapter 1 - Signalling Instructions

Chapter 2 - General Signal Codes

Chapter 3 - Medical Signal Codes

Chapter 4 - Distress and Lifesaving Signal Codes

Each chapter has PDF at link:

Naval/Maritime Signal Flag Codes

 

[Sea Eagle]

the coming Type052D

so far ten 052D have been ordered ,and they would be built in two shipyards, these new DDGs would replace the remaining Type 051 destroyers...three of them have been launched.

#1 on Aug 28th 2012
#2 on Dec 28th 2012
#3 on Jul 1st 2013

this improved 6500 tons varient has following 'visible' upgrades :

new 130mm main gun ,
64 cells new Gen VLS(8×YJ18 SSM + HHQ9B SAM) ，
24 cells HQ10 SRSAM...
and the Improved 346A AESA radar...

this Auguest , the first 052D has begun the sea trial right one year after the launch...MP.net happend to have some pix about this seatrial...so just a cross post job here...

------------------------------
some bird's eye view of shipyard building these destroyers from the Airliner .
two 052C and three 052D in the basin...

These ships are using new VLS ?? Wheren't your VLS were circular shaped

 

[shiphone]

yes, this is the new generation(2nd Gen) Generalized Vertical Launching System , PLAN are operating two kinds of homemade VLS besides the imported S300RIF sys...

Cold launch: HQ9 Long range SAM
Hot Launch: HQ16 Middle range SAM and Yu8 anti-submarine missile (similar to RUM-139 VL-ASROC)

------------------------------
All indigenous New Naval weapon sys would be tested on several PLAN weapon test vessels...we have seen these three kinds of VLS were fit on the same ship--PLAN 891 weapon test vessel for sea trail...

as we can see, the new VLS is much Longer with bigger dimension for containing new Gen SAM, Anti-ship Missile ,and Land attack Cruise Missile.... the size is big enough even to contain the ESSM like 4 in 1 structure(4 small size missile canisters in one Launch Cell--some varient based on the 230 mm Diameter DK10A SRSAM is the possible one, )

the Development Requirement of new VLS also required this VLS could conduct both Cold and Hot launchs. another important feature is ' Self Exhaust hot Launch container'.unlike the MK41 and Hq16 VLS (their Launcher cells are fitted to ships in 2×4 modules that share a common exhaust system sited between the two rows)

this means each hot launch container has a independent exhaust syetem which is similar to British Seawolf SRSAM VLS design...

------------------------------------------------
the comparison of HQ16 VLS and New VLS---with and without a common exhaust system

 

[Sea Eagle]

So both these VLS are Universal ? I mean can they carry all types of missiles ??

 

[shiphone]

the 1st Gen Hot Launch VLS on 054A Class Frigate can carry two kinds of missiles --Hq16 SAM and Yu8 Anti-Submarine Missile(but this VLS has limited size,both in length and diameter)

the 2nd Gen Generalized VLS could launch more kinds of missiles.
so far this VLS on New 052D class Destroyer carries HQ9B LRSAM and YJ18A SSM. (32+32, 64 Cells in total)... normally a PLAN DDG carries 8-16 SSMs and the rest are SAMs

=============================
few days ago , the second ship of 052D class DDG(DDG173 , unpainted) has began her first sea trial ,it was launched on Dec 28th 2012...if it goes well ,this vessel might be able to be commissioned within 2014...so this year, PLAN might get four new DDGs in total ,the last two Type 052C(DDG152,153) and first two Type 052D(DDG 172 ,173)