After the sea trials in a certain area of the East China Sea, the pictures of the Type 054B frigate that have been disclosed on the Internet one after another, including the CG renderings of the chimney of the type of frigate, can basically determine that the frigate with the largest tonnage in the history of the development of our Navy's ship equipment is still not equipped with the gas turbine as reported on the Internet, but uses the same diesel engine as the current Type 054A frigate of the Chinese Navy as the power.
The Type 054B frigate, the high-resolution images that have been widely exposed on social media, and there is no indication that it has a large air filtration window similar to the Type 052D destroyer, which contradicts the large air intake requirements of the gas turbine, which is the strongest evidence that the Type 054B frigate is powered by diesel engines.
Even if the volume is less than 6,000 tons at 5,500 tons, the Type 054B is 1,500 tons more than the Type 054A in the 4,000-ton class. At this time, a single 16PA6V280MPC diesel engine with a power of 6400 kilowatts on the 054A type is still used, and the maximum output of the 4 diesel engines of this type is only 25600 kilowatts when it is networked, which is difficult to make the 5500-ton Type 054B frigate reach a 30-knot aircraft carrier.
Now, some netizens have claimed that the Type 054B frigate is likely to use a single 16PC2-6B medium and high-speed diesel engine with an output of 12,000 kilowatts used on the Type 075 amphibious assault ship with a full load displacement of 40,000 tons in service with a full load displacement of 40,000 tons as the main engine.
Type 054B frigates, if the use of four 16PC2-6B diesel engines networking, the maximum output can reach 48,000 kilowatts, which is very close to the total output of 53,556 kilowatts of two QC-280 gas turbines on the 7,000-ton Type 052D destroyer.
The total output power of the two is only 5556 kilowatts apart. Considering that the Type 054B frigate is in the 5500-6000 ton range, it means that this ocean-going frigate will have a maximum speed of 30 knots or more. With the ability to keep up with our aircraft carrier battle group, the possibility of undertaking anti-submarine missions will also rise sharply.
The original intention of the Chinese Navy to build the Type 054B frigate is to use it to replace the Type 054A frigate with a maximum speed of 28 knots and become the escort ship of the aircraft carrier battle group. It is mainly used to undertake the heavy task of anti-submarine in the depths of the ocean and to curb the threat of attack nuclear submarines that make covert underwater sorties to the aircraft carriers of our Navy.
The Type 054B frigate is equipped with 32 units of 650 mm H/AKJ16 VLS installations, which can vertically launch the "Hongqi"-16 series of medium- and long-range regional air defense missiles; there are at least two four-pack "Eagle Strike"-12 supersonic anti-ship missiles at the amidships of the ship, so that it also has powerful capabilities in sea combat and air defense, and will become the "all-rounder" of the aircraft carrier battle group of our navy at sea.
The latest photos of the chimney of the Type 054B frigate, including the CG renderings of the chimney layout of the ship made by enthusiastic netizens, all show the chimney part of the ship, which is equipped with a total of 8 round-shaped smoke exhaust holes of 4 large and 4 small.
Even if the size of the four large exhaust vents is very close to the chimney of the Type 054A frigate, it is smaller than the size of the exhaust pipe of the gas engine, which should be the chimney of the four main power diesel engines, and the other four small round holes are not surprisingly the chimneys of the diesel power generation auxiliary engine.
In short, as far as the future main surface ship of our Navy, the Type 054B frigate, the majority of netizens predicted its power system, that is, the Type 054B, as the main force of the anti-submarine of our Navy's cutting-edge ocean-going frigates and aircraft carrier formations, will use a comprehensive electric propulsion system powered by gas turbines.
Judging from the high-definition pictures of the sea trial of the No. 1 ship and the CG renderings of the chimney layout made by enthusiastic netizens, the prediction of netizens has overturned. The most disadvantaged Type 054B frigate will also use a diesel-electric-fuel combined power system, and it seems that there is still a considerable gap between reality and ideals.
It shows that when building this ocean-going frigate, our Navy not only takes into account the comprehensive combat performance, seaworthiness and crew habitability, but also takes into account the practicality and cost performance, reduces the cost of construction and equipment, and facilitates the large-scale construction and equipment of the same Type 054A frigate, and rapidly expands the scale of our Navy's frigates.
As far as frigates are concerned, their status in the military is inferior to that of aircraft carriers, 10,000-ton drives, air defense destroyers, and amphibious assault ships, and the cost of building and entering the ranks is much lower than that of these large ships, which is suitable for building and serving in large quantities. After all, in wartime, frigates are "consumables" that are extremely easy to be damaged in battle, so if the scale of equipment is large, then the construction cost must be reduced.
Type 054B frigate, some netizens said that the biggest highlight is actually that there is no bright spot. It's not that there is any black technology on the ship, but the comprehensive cost is very well controlled. The number of equipment in the future can be expected, and it is possible to reach the same 40 Type 054A frigates as the current service of our Navy, and our Navy will build the largest frigate group in the world.