''Yuncheng'' (571) is a

Type 054A frigate The Type 054A (NATO/ OSD Jiangkai II) is a Ship class, class of guided-missile frigate from the People's Republic of China. It is a development of the Type 054 frigate; compared to its predecessor, the Type 054A has medium-range air defense capa ...

of the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...

. She was commissioned in December 2009.

Development and design

The Type 054A carries

HQ-16 The HQ-16 (; NATO reporting name: CH-SA-16) is a Chinese medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It is derived f ...

medium-range air defence missiles and anti-submarine missiles in a

vertical launching system A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mo ...

(VLS) system. The HQ-16 has a range of up to 50 km, with superior range and engagement angles to the Type 054's

HQ-7 The HQ-7 (; NATO reporting name: CH-SA-4) is a short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) from the People's Republic of China. It was reverse-engineered by the Changfeng Electromechanical Technology Design Institute from the French R-440 Crotale ...

. The Type 054A's VLS uses a hot launch method; a shared common exhaust system is sited between the two rows of rectangular launching tubes. The four

AK-630 The AK-630 is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian fully automatic naval, rotary cannon, close-in weapon system. The "630" designation refers to the weapon's six gun barrels and their 30 mm caliber. The system is mounted in an enclosed automatic ...

close-in weapon systems A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...

(CIWS) of the Type 054 were replaced with two

Type 730 CIWS The Type 730 is a Chinese seven-barrelled 30 mm Gatling gun/rotary cannon CIWS. It has a PLA Navy designation H/PJ12. It is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and directed by radar, and electro-optical tracking systems. The maximum ...

on the Type 054A. The autonomous Type 730 provides improved reaction time against close-in threats.

Construction and career

''Yuncheng'' was launched on 8 February 2009 at the

Huangpu Shipyard Huangpu, also formerly romanized Whangpoo or Whang-Po, may refer to: * Huangpu District, Shanghai, China ** Huangpu River, in Shanghai, China * Huangpu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China ** Huangpu Military Academy, in Guangzhou, China * Pazhou ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Commissioned in December 2009. On November 2, 2011, ''Yuncheng'' and

Haikou Haikou; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Hoihow is the capital city, capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. ...

formed the tenth navy escort fleet from Zhanjiang City,

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

to perform escort missions in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

and the waters of

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. The escort lasted 186 days, with a total voyage of 98,180 nautical miles, and completed 40 batches of 240 Chinese and foreign ships. On June 7, 2012, ''Yuncheng'' returned to Zhanjiang Military Port. On October 22, 2012, ''Yuncheng'',

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

crossed the waters south of

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

and went to the western Pacific waters for routine training. On 19 December 2013, the

South Sea Fleet The Southern Theater Command Navy (STCN), or the South Sea Fleet (SSF) until 2018, is a formation of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the naval component of the Southern Theater Command. History In December 1949, the Fourth Fi ...

consisting of

Huangshan Huangshan ( zh, s=黄山),Bernstein, pp. 125–127. literally meaning the Yellow Mountain(s), is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. It was originally called "Yishan", and it was renamed because of a legend that Em ...

, ''Yuncheng'', and Weishanhu set sail from Zhanjiang City and proceeded to the Western Pacific and other waters. Exercises in subjects such as continuous maritime alert, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy, and joint search and rescue. In May 2014, the

China National Offshore Oil Corporation China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC Group (), is the third-largest national oil companies, national oil company in China, after CNPC (parent of PetroChina) and China Petrochemical Corporation (parent of Sinopec). The CNOOC Group ...

's drilling platform Offshore Oil 981 conducted drilling operations in the Xisha waters. On May 13, ''Yuncheng'' arrived in the sea area where the drilling platform was located, driving away the Vietnamese coast guard ship that was interfering with the operation. On August 1, ''Yuncheng'', Changbai Shan and Chaohu formed the eighteenth navy escort formation from a military port in Zhanjiang, and then went to the Gulf of Aden and Somalia.

Chaohu Chaohu () is a county-level city of Anhui Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hefei. Situated on the northeast and southeast shores of Lake Chao, from which the city was named, Chaohu is under the adm ...

alongside ''Yuncheng'' and Changbai Shan made a goodwill visit to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

on 30 January 2015.

Gallery

File:PLANS Yuncheng (FFG-571) 20150130(2).jpg, ''Yuncheng'' in Rotterdam on 30 January 2015. File:PLANS Yuncheng (FFG-571) 20150130(3).jpg, ''Yuncheng'' in Rotterdam on 30 January 2015. File:PLANS Yuncheng (FFG-571) 20150130(1).jpg, ''Yuncheng'' in Rotterdam on 30 January 2015. File:PLANS Yuncheng, Chao Lake and Changbai Mountain ported at Rotterdam Port.jpg,

, ''Yuncheng'' and Changbai Shan in Rotterdam on 26 January 2015. File:Yung Cheng , Chao Hu & Shangbaishan , Wilhelminakade Rotterdam. (16374919671).jpg,

, ''Yuncheng'' and Changbai Shan in Rotterdam on 26 January 2015. File:Z9C Chinese Navy (16391212735).jpg, ''Yuncheng'''s Harbin Z9C in Rotterdam on 26 January 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuncheng 2009 ships Ships built in China Type 054 frigates