The Type 054 (NATO Codename Jiangkai I) is a class of Chinese multi-role

frigates A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

that were commissioned in the

People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force The People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force is the surface warfare branch of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), consisting of all surface vessels in operational service with the PLAN. The PLAN Surface Force operates 661 ships ...

in 2005. They superseded the

Type 053H3 frigate The Type 053H3 (NATO reporting name: Jiangwei II) is a class of Chinese frigates that entered service with the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force in the 1990s and 2000s. The class comprised 10 vessels, all of which remain in active servi ...

s. Only two ships, ''Ma'anshan'' (525), and ''Wenzhou'' (526), were completed before production switched to the VLS equipped improved

Type 054A frigate The Type 054A (NATO/OSD Jiangkai II) is a 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 capability in ...

Design

The Type 054 has a stealthy hull design with sloped surfaces, radar absorbent materials, and a reduced superstructure clutter. The main anti-ship armament were YJ-83 sea-skimming anti-ship

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhea ...

s in two four-cell launchers. It retained the

HQ-7 The HQ-7 is a short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) from the People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by populat ...

SAM Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

, an improved version of the French Crotale, from the preceding Type 053H3; the HQ-7 had a ready-to-fire 8-cell launcher, with 16 stored in the automatic reloader. Short range defence was improved with four

AK-630 The AK-630 is a 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 turret and ...

CIWS turrets. A 100 mm main gun, also based on a French design, was mounted. Both ships were powered by four CODAD Type 16 PA6 STC marine diesel engines designed by

SEMT Pielstick SEMT Pielstick was a French company that designed and built large diesel engines. Its full name was (Company of Thermal Machines Studies). Founded in 1948, SEMT was bought by MAN Diesel in 2006 During its existence as an independent compa ...

, each generating 6,330 hp. Licenses for the engines were sold to China in April 2002, where they were built by the

Shaanxi Diesel Engine Factory Shaanxi Diesel Engine Heavy Industry, Co. Ltd. () of Shaanxi, China is a major producer of diesel-powered electrical generators, high-speed prime movers for large-scale marine applications, and is one of China's key state enterprises for the prod ...

. Other reports claimed each ship was powered by two (or four) Type 16 PA STC and two MTU 20V 956TB92 diesels.

Comparison with ''La Fayette'' class

The Type 054 resembled the French s in shape and displacement. In addition, the Chinese used French, or French-derived, electronics and weapons. The French exported these systems to China in the 1980s, and later granted production licences. These systems were similar to those used on the ''La Fayette''s in the 1980s. The succeeding

s incorporated a larger proportion of more-advanced indigenous systems.

Operations

''Ma'anshan'' and ''Wenzhou'' deployed from

Zhoushan Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of ...

on 21 February 2011 to undertake an anti-piracy patrol off

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

. They were the eighth such Chinese patrol and, following ''Wenzhou's'' pennant number, gained the semi-compatible Task Force designation 'Task Force 526'. Commodore Han Xiaohu commanded the flotilla from ''Wenzhou''. En route the flotilla made a stop at

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

, before setting sail again on 13 March 2011. The ships were joined by replenishment ship ''

Qiandaohu Qiandao Lake (), a human-made, freshwater lake located in Chun'an County, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, was formed after the completion of the Xin'an River hydroelectric station in 1959. Geography 1,078 large islands dot the lake and a f ...

Design

Comparison with ''La Fayette'' class

Operations

Ships of class

See also

References

External links