Today, let's talk about the East China Sea Fleet in the three major fleets, as a fleet facing the waters of the Taiwan Strait, many people have believed for a long time that the strength of the East Sea Fleet in the three major fleets is not the first, at least it should not be at the bottom. However, the actual situation is that if we compare according to the strength, the strength of the East China Sea Fleet in the three major fleets of the Navy is indeed the lowest at present.
In fact, since the South China Sea Fleet obtained the "Shandong" aircraft carrier and the "Hainan" amphibious assault ship, as the only fleet in the three major fleets that is not equipped with aircraft carriers, the overall strength of the East China Sea Fleet is already the lowest among the three major fleets. But at that time, many people thought that this should be temporary, after all, now we only have two aircraft carriers, and the North Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet really need aircraft carriers to resist the enemy.
But what about the 055 large guided-missile destroyer? The first batch of 8 055 large guided missile destroyers, the East China Sea Fleet did not get a single one.
The first batch of 8 055 large guided missile destroyers, as of now, the 101 "Nanchang" ship, the 102 "Lhasa" ship, the 103 "Anshan" ship, and the 105 "Dalian" ship have joined the active service of the Chinese Navy. Among them, except for the 105 "Dalian" ships, the remaining 101 ships, 102 ships and 103 ships all belong to the Battle Sequence of the North Sea Fleet.
The remaining 4 055 large guided missile destroyers, 104 "Wuxi" ships, 106 "Yan'an" ships, 107 "Zunyi" ships, 108 "Xianyang" ships, in addition to 104 ships belonging to the North Sea Fleet, 106 ships, 107 ships, 108 ships all belong to the South China Sea Fleet. In other words, the first batch of 8 055 large guided missile destroyers was divided equally between the North Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet.
If you don't look at aircraft carriers, 075-class amphibious assault ships and 055 large guided-missile destroyers, the overall strength of the East China Sea Fleet is actually OK.
At present, the main force of the surface fleet of the East China Sea Fleet has 2 destroyer detachments and 4 frigate detachments, namely the third detachment of destroyers, the sixth detachment of destroyers, the thirteenth detachment of frigates, the fourteenth detachment of frigates, the fifteenth detachment of frigates, and the sixteenth detachment of frigates.
The East China Sea Fleet currently has a total of 15 guided-missile destroyers, including 7 052D/DL guided-missile destroyers, namely 131 "Taiyuan" ships, 132 "Suzhou" ships, 133 "Baotou" ships, 134 "Shaoxing" ships, 154 "Xiamen" ships, 155 "Nanjing" ships and 156 "Zibo" ships.
There are 4 type 052C guided-missile destroyers, namely 150 "Changchun" ships, 151 "Zhengzhou" ships, 152 "Jinan" ships, and 153 "Xi'an" ships, of which 150 "Changchun" ships are flagships. There are 4 "Hyundai" class guided-missile destroyers, 136 "Hangzhou" ships, 137 "Fuzhou" ships, 138 "Taizhou" ships and 139 "Ningbo" ships.
The Changchun is the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet
From the perspective of the composition of destroyers, the East China Sea Fleet from the 1990s to the first decade of this century was actually taken care of in terms of equipment, and the four "Hyundai" class guided-missile destroyers that China first had the ability to defend the maritime area, and 4 of the 6 Chinese "China Aegis", were allocated to the East China Sea Fleet.
6 ships 052C, the East Sea Fleet is divided into 4 ships
In terms of frigates, the East China Sea Fleet has 11 Type 054A guided missile frigates, namely 533 "Nantong" ships, 599 "Anyang" ships, 515 "Binzhou" ships, 529 "Zhoushan" ships, 530 "Xuzhou" ships, 531 "Xiangtan" ships, 532 "Jingzhou" ships, 548 "Yiyang" ships, 549 "Changzhou" ships, 577 "Huanggang" ships and 578 "Yangzhou" ships.
2 Type 054 guided-missile destroyers, 525 "Ma'anshan" and 526 "Wenzhou" ships. 13 Type 056A guided missile frigates, 608 Liaocheng, 615 Xiaogan, 617 Jingdezhen, 611 Lu'an, 610 Shuozhou, 644 Tongren, 640 Ezhou, 641 Yiwu, 645 Xuancheng, 554 Deyang, 643 Yichun, 639 Zhuzhou, and 638 Sanmenxia.
In fact, the East China Sea Fleet originally had 11 Type 056 guided missile frigates under its jurisdiction, but with all 22 Type 056 guided missile frigates beginning to be converted into Coast Guard ships, the East Sea Fleet equivalent to losing these 11 Type 056 guided missile frigates. However, as additional orders for Type 054A guided-missile frigates begin, the East China Sea Fleet should be able to obtain another batch of Type 054A guided-missile frigates as a supplement.
For the Navy, before the Taiwan Strait issue is completely resolved, the East China Sea Fleet is equivalent to being "blocked" by The Island of Taiwan in the first island chain. For the East China Sea Fleet, the biggest goal now is to solve the Taiwan Strait problem first, otherwise there will be an "upper limit" in the development of the East China Sea Fleet.
At present, among the 15 guided-missile destroyers in the East China Sea Fleet, 7 052D/DL guided-missile destroyers and 4 Type 052C guided missile destroyers, together with shore-based aviation and long-range shore-based air defense missiles, can basically ensure a sufficiently strong air defense network in the Taiwan Strait in wartime.
After modernization and upgrading, the 4 "Hyundai" class guided missile destroyers have actually become "Large 054A". In addition to its own certain maritime area air defense capabilities, the fierce firepower of its AK-130 twin naval guns can also provide rapid response firepower for landing forces.
The two current 054 type missile frigates of the East China Sea Fleet have completed major reforms, and they are not equipped with a vertical firing system like the Type 054A missile frigates, but the original "Sea Red Flag-7" has been replaced by "Red Flag-10". Considering that the Type 054 guided missile frigate also has a strong anti-submarine combat capability, the two overhauled Type 054 missile frigates can basically be regarded as "Large 056A".
Overhauled Type 054 guided-missile frigate
In wartime, 11 Type 054A guided missile frigates, 2 Type 054 guided missile frigates, and 13 Type 056A missile frigates can build anti-submarine networks on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and provide escort missions for landing ship groups, which is basically most of the combat tasks of the current East China Sea Fleet.
Obviously, combat tasks beyond the Taiwan Strait have been handed over to the North Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet, respectively. The North Sea Fleet blocked the U.S.-Japan coalition southwards, and the South China Sea Fleet prevented the U.S. Navy and other navies from coming from the South China Sea. Therefore, none of the "big ships" of the 055 big drive will be given to the East Sea Fleet, but will be divided equally between the North Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet, because the East Sea Fleet cannot use such large ships at present.
For example, the North Sea Fleet dispatched the 101 "Nanchang" warship to carry out the "Strait Key Road Blockade" exercise a few days ago, just to deal with this situation. Even if the East China Sea Fleet forcibly equipped with 055 large guided missile destroyers, in order to facilitate management and command in wartime, it will still be temporarily classified under the establishment of the North Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet, which will be more troublesome.
However, compared with the North Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet has a large "latecomer advantage". After the Taiwan Strait issue is resolved, the East China Sea Fleet will become the first of the three fleets to face the Pacific Ocean, and the East China Sea Fleet will play a very important role in the Chinese Navy's plan to enter the second island chain. At that time, not to mention the 055 large guided missile destroyer, the aircraft carrier may not have only 1.
Overhauled ship 136
Therefore, my personal evaluation of the East China Sea Fleet is that "the current limit is limited, but the potential is not small." When the East China Sea Fleet can usher in great development depends on when it can completely solve the Taiwan Strait problem.
Image source network, intrusion and deletion.