The Type 068 and Type 069 ( NATO reporting name: Yuch'in or Yuqin) are classes of

landing craft mechanized The landing craft mechanized (LCM) is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults. Variants There was no ...

(LCM) of 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 population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). They may be based on the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

T-4 landing craft, or smaller versions of the Type 067 landing craft with shorter tank and longer poop decks. The Type 068 and Type 069 were mainly designed to transport cargo and personnel respectively. The landing craft were built at

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

from 1962 to 1972. A few modified Type 069s were built at

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 ...

for

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

in the 1990s.

Operators

; Bangladesh bought six of the landing craft from China. Two Type 069s were fitted as inshore survey craft and entered service in 1983. Four Type 068s were delivered in 1986. The

1991 Bangladesh cyclone The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone was among the deadliest tropical cyclones on record. Forming out of a large area of convection over the Bay of Bengal on April 24, the tropical cyclone initially developed gradually while meandering over the sout ...

severely damaged two Type 068s, one of which was scrapped. ; ; Tanzania bought two modified Type 069s for logistics support. They were launched from the Kailing Shipyard and delivered in 1995. They have greater molded depth for increased cargo capacity, air conditioning and improved steering.

References

Sources

* * {{Ship classes of the Chinese Navy Amphibious warfare vessel classes Amphibious warfare vessels of the People's Liberation Army Navy