Not long ago, we talked about Dalyan Shipyard and Gianna Shipyard, these two are undoubtedly the domestic T0 level manufacturers, so this time let's talk about Hudong Shipyard, usually this shipyard is mainly built frigates in the eyes of everyone, and they are generally ranked in T1 like Huangpu. But now, Hudong has also become a big factory. Why do you say that, it is not just because Hudong won Qatar's eight largest LNG ship orders in January 2024, and hit South Korea on the head. At present, there are four 70,000-ton ships launched this year, and the construction of a 50,000-ton quasi-aircraft carrier dock took only one year, which is somewhat beyond the imagination of the West.
Here's the thing, recently foreign media released relevant pictures of the recent Shanghai shipyard. It can be seen that in the new dock in the new factory area of Changxing Island in Hudong, there are at least 4 ships waiting to be completed in the dock. On the left side of it can be seen a largely intact hull, with two large segments of the hull on it, which it is speculated that could be 3 054A frigates. But it is not clear whether it is the Coast Guard version of the 054A, or the last batch of 054A frigates ordered before the 054B.
Then the right side is a very large hull, and you can clearly see that the bow part is complete, the segmented part of the hull has also been assembled, and the middle part of the hull has a very open space, such a hull is certainly not an ordinary destroyer, friends who have seen the 075 hull should be very clear, this is a typical amphibious assault ship hull. If the guess is correct, this is the domestic 076 electromagnetic catapult quasi-aircraft carrier.
I believe that seeing this, everyone should be able to understand why Hudong has now become a large factory. Judging from the 4 ships in this dock alone, it has reached a scale of 70,000 tons, a 054A displacement of more than 4,000 tons, 3 ships are 13,000 tons, and the tonnage of 076 is on the scale of 40,000 tons of 075, and it is conservatively estimated that more than 50,000 tons is easy, so this ship is close to 70,000 tons, which is just a small target for Hudong's ships launched this year. So what is the concept of 70,000 tons? In 2023, the tonnage of the capital ships of the British Navy will be 360,000 tons, and 70,000 tons is equivalent to one-fifth of the British fleet.
And this year is not the year in which domestic surface ships have been launched the most, after all, more energy has been slowly put under the water to make up for the shortcomings. However, this does not affect Hudong Shipyard to become one of the world's largest shipbuilders. Just looking at the construction speed of 076, it is obvious that the actual construction time of this 50,000-ton ship in the dock is almost 1 year, looking at the completion trend of this hull, there is no problem at all with launching this year for dock outfitting. In fact, there was such a saying before, saying that a ship like 075 has a lot of internal space, and it is necessary to put carrier-based aircraft, vehicles and landing craft, and the complexity is not as good as that of an aircraft carrier, so it is built quickly. Actually, if not, you can look at the construction time of a similar French Mistral Scale.
The Northwest Wind will start construction in July 2023 and will be launched in October 2024, which will take 15 months, and the standard displacement of the Northwest Wind level is only 16,500 tons, and the displacement is 21,500 tons, which is one level lower than 075, let alone a quasi-aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult like 075. And 076 has basically achieved 1 year of dock construction and launching, and 075 will not be a problem if it is speeded up for 10 months. It can be said that the level and speed of domestic ship manufacturing are obviously better than those of the United States and the West, but it is very strange why some people admit this fact, and feel that they are just unacceptable.
Generally speaking, in addition to Jiangnan and Dalian shipyards, with the demand for domestic surface ships to "get dumplings", the production capacity and level of Hudong shipyards have gradually become the style of large factories, and this growth rate is believed to be rare in the world. Who would have imagined that the shipyard that built the 056 frigate back then could now casually abandon 3 054A in one dock, and then build an electromagnetic catapult quasi-aircraft carrier? Of course, this is only a microcosm of the development of domestic surface ships, and these are not falling from the sky, but are stepped out step by step by Chinese industrial workers, is the improvement of the level of engineering management, and is the result of the joint efforts of hundreds of enterprises in the shipbuilding supporting system.