"Military Sub-Plane" author: I am Ivan the Great
Recently, according to the News of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard under the group is undergoing technical transformation of some of the Type 056 frigates of the Chinese Navy. From the pictures released by the company, these Type 056 corvettes were dismantled from the 8-mount HQ-10A point air defense missile launcher located on the stern bridge, and installed LED screens on both sides of the stern bridge, an improvement strategy that is undoubtedly not related to the technical improvements common to the main battleship.
LED screens on both sides of the bridge
At the same time, according to rumors in recent times, the Chinese Navy has decided to "abandon" all 22 Type 056 corvettes. Of course, "abandonment" does not mean "decommissioning and dismantling", these Type 056 corvettes will be transferred to the Chinese Coast Guard after retirement from active service, continue to play a key role in China's coastal oil protection and fishing protection, marine rights and interests protection and other fields, and continue to protect China's marine security and marine interests. The appearance of these technically modified Andrea 056 corvettes at the Zhonghua Shipyard in Hudong seems to confirm the veracity of these rumors to a large extent.
How do you evaluate this transfer?
There is no doubt that the transfer of so many Type 056 corvettes from the Navy to the Coast Guard is probably the largest and most profound "troop adjustment" of the Chinese Navy and Coast Guard in recent years.
Despite its excellent performance, the 051 was slow to start because the ship was mainly powered by a steam turbine, and eventually failed to join the Coast Guard.
Speaking of "the largest", this is probably the largest single transfer of active equipment and retained equipment of the Chinese Navy to the Coast Guard. Previously, the Chinese Navy has also handed over some ships to the Chinese Coast Guard, such as the previous Type 053H2G frigate, which was basically handed over to the Coast Guard after decommissioning to "play residual heat", and even has a record of experimentally handing over the decommissioned Type 051 destroyer to the Coast Guard. However, the handover of 22 corvettes to the Coast Guard at once is unprecedented in terms of the scale of the handover alone.
To say "the most profound", this is probably the first time that the Chinese Navy has handed over naval ships that are in the "year of fighting" to the Coast Guard, and most of the ships handed over by the Chinese Navy before are "second-hand" equipment that is in the end of service or has simply retired from active service. The Type 056 corvette is different, the first ship of the type of frigate, the No. 582 "Bengbu" ship, was still equipped to a certain department of the East Sea Fleet in 2013, and the No. 22 ship and the No. 510 "Ningde" ship were equipped to a certain department of the East Sea Fleet in 2016.
Therefore, all type 056 frigates are generally only six or seven years old, and for frigate-class combat ships, they have not even reached the "golden age", but are in the early stage of service, which is all handed over.
056Why transferred to the Coast Guard?
Since this is such a situation, why the Chinese Navy will hand over the Type 056 frigates at hand so quickly, and what kind of impact this batch of corvettes will have on the Chinese Navy after the handover, I believe that this is the most concerned issue for all road fans.
Ivan the Great believes that the performance of the Type 056 corvette and the tasks currently facing the Chinese Navy are "really incompatible", and the improvement and cost performance of the Type 056 corvette does not seem to be so high and not suitable for technical modification or modification, which is a key factor in its handover to the Chinese Coast Guard.
Performance targeting
To say that the performance of the Type 056 corvette and the task facing the Chinese Navy are "really incompatible", we still look at the performance positioning of the Type 056. Unlike the anti-submarine type 056A, the 056 type is really a "patrol" light protection:
Four generations of "Sea Tiger Boats"
On the one hand, the ship's ship's electrical system and armament system are very simple, and the ship's electrical system only has a simple machine sweeping aircraft and sea alert radar, and some basic navigation radar and communication systems. The armament system also consists of only one H/PJ-26 76 mm rapid-fire naval gun (with fire control radar), two H/PJ-17 single-barrel 30 mm naval guns, two twin YJ-83 anti-ship missile launchers, two triple 324 mm torpedo launchers, and one eight-mount HQ-10A short-range air defense missile launcher.
056 performance parameters (Source: large package CG)
On the other hand, the ship's seaworthiness, habitability is very good, don't look at just a small boat of more than 1,000 tons, because the ship design is better, and the ship's stern is installed with a wave plate, the 056 type frigate's wave resistance and navigation performance are good, while the ship's degree of automation is very high, the number of crew is very small, the single living area of the crew, living facilities, etc. even exceed some large destroyers, very suitable for long-term transfer at sea.
The combination of the two, the armament system and the ship's electrical system are simple, which is not a big problem for the patrol ship, the habitability and wave resistance are good, and the patrol ship is simply the best advantage. Therefore, to say that the Type 056 frigate is a "patrol" corvette, not even an "anti-submarine" corvette like the 056A, is essentially no problem.
Performance is obsolete
To tell the truth, the Type 056 frigate was still an outdated ship type for the Chinese Navy about seven or eight years ago. After all, at that time, the task given to the Type 056 frigate by the Chinese Navy was quite clear:
056 is in the same frame as 054A
In the struggle to defend maritime rights and interests in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, the Chinese Navy urgently needs an economically applicable, extremely high sailing rate, and a certain deterrent to cooperate with coast guard vessels, undertake to protect the exclusive economic zone, protect islands and reefs in the South China Sea, and be able to engage in long-term confrontation with the targets of struggle;
The second is the base defense task, which was previously handed over to the 037 series of hunting submarines, but these hunting submarines have lagged behind after decades of use and must be replaced.
056 in front of the Liaoning ship
At this juncture in 2021, it seems that even the Type 056 frigate is a bit of a piece of equipment for the Chinese Navy:
In terms of offshore service tasks, although 056 still has relatively important significance in the struggle for oil protection and fishery protection and marine rights and interests, with the reform of China's coast guard and coastal supervision system, the main executors of this marine rights and interests struggle task have been handed over from the Navy to the Coast Guard on a large scale, and the tasks undertaken by the Navy will become more and more monotonous and more and more focused on maritime combat tasks. Of course, this kind of institutional reform is correct, but for the Type 056 corvette, the status is undoubtedly more embarrassing, after all, one of the "main businesses" in the previous mission design was "robbed" by the Coast Guard.
Of course, the Chinese Navy is not completely free of coastal service tasks at present, but the Chinese Navy's coastal service tasks have been rapidly concentrated from the original conventional combat tasks such as coastal defense and coastal air defense to near-shore anti-submarine missions. After all, at present, no country's navy dares to run to the front line of China's coast with a big grin, but attack nuclear submarines or special nuclear submarines carrying frogman work boats are not necessarily. Therefore, the current offshore service tasks of the Chinese Navy are to a large extent offshore anti-submarine missions, especially in the search for submarines in the outer circle of important waterways or naval bases. In this task, the Type 056A frigate is still somewhat useful because it is an anti-submarine frigate, and the Type 056 corvette is not even very prominent in anti-submarine warfare, which is undoubtedly more embarrassing.
Of course, the Type 056 frigate can also be improved in technical status, from the original Type 056 to install anti-submarine special equipment, to the technical level of type 056A, so that it can carry out offshore anti-submarine missions. Theoretically, of course, it is possible, but the problem is that the price is not high.
After all, for a destroyer, frigate-sized ship, the hull, materials, engines and man-hours account for 40% of the cost, and the remaining 60% are key ship electrical and armament systems:
For the Type 056 frigate, because its ship's electrical system is very simple, it is estimated that the most expensive is the 8-in-pack HQ-10A air defense missile launcher, so the overall cost will be very low;
The 056A is different, its most expensive ship electrical system is of course the advanced towing sonar system, I am afraid that a set of sonar system with background processing equipment, the cost is close to the sum of all the ship electrical systems of the 056 type frigate.
056G radar sentinel ship concept
Such an analysis, instead of installing a sonar system on the Type 056 frigate and upgrading it to the level of the Type 056A frigate, it is better to directly build a new Type 056A frigate, not to mention that the number of Type 056A frigates is also quite large, and more than fifty have been built, so in contrast, the Navy simply transferred the Type 056 corvette to the Coast Guard, which is not difficult to understand.
What does it mean to be transferred to the Coast Guard in 056?
With the Type 056 frigate retired from active service and transferred to the Coast Guard after only a few years of service, it undoubtedly means the following points for the Zhongyuan Navy:
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard
First, the distinction between the Navy and the Coast Guard will become clearer and clearer, and the Navy is responsible for the protection of maritime rights and interests and the struggle for maritime interests, which is beneficial to both the Navy and the professional construction of the Coast Guard.
Although the number of crews of the Type 056 frigate is not much, the number of this type of frigate is very large, and it is undoubtedly to free up a lot of "empty seats" for the naval forces in various theaters. Thinking that with the beginning of a new five-year plan, the Chinese Navy's new round of "dumplings" is imminent, it is estimated that I don't know how many naval units are already in a hurry, ready to send the Type 056 frigate away and modify the new type of frigate.
582 "Bengbu" ship
Third, the navy unexpectedly has dozens of more ship names, after all, the Type 056 frigate is expensive as a "frigate", and its ship naming is also named according to the prefecture-level city. There are many Type 056 frigates, and the name does make people scratch their heads, such as the No. 582 "Bengbu" ship, the 580 "Datong" ship, the 588 "Quanzhou" ship, the 511 "Baoding" ship and the 510 "Ningde" ship. The prefecture-level cities used in these ships are very important cities in the province, such as Datong and Baoding, and their comprehensive strength is very high in Shanxi and Hebei. Another example is Bengbu City, although the economic strength is stronger than Huainan City, but Huainan City unexpectedly named a Type 052D destroyer.
Therefore, there has always been a joke in the military fan group, saying that the 056 type frigate is "the second in the province", and now with these 056 type frigates handed over to the coast guard, these dozens of city names are even if they are empty, these "second in the province", the future may also be able to name 054A and 052D, which is a thing that is a matter of great joy for both the navy and military fans.