056 class FFL/corvette

mr.bean said:

i'm actually thinking in the near future china might switch to sending "coast guard" type cutters in the 3000-4000 ton displacement to do the Somalia escort duties.

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I don't think so. Government agencies needs to be very clear cut about what roles they perform. Somali patrol is an international affair - so the military will be sent rather than an internal government department ship.

Some interesting points raised here about the role of these cutters...........therefore would I be correct in assuming that to distinguish these government department ships from military ships........they carry no arms whatsoever?........even small arms?

Definitely cutters do carry arm. An ammo bay fill with small arms or RPG and MANPADS. They need to do boarding. Don't tell me they board without arming themselves?

steve_rolfe said:

Some interesting points raised here about the role of these cutters...........therefore would I be correct in assuming that to distinguish these government department ships from military ships........they carry no arms whatsoever?........even small arms?

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Many Coast Guard Cutters are armed. With drug lords, or with interdiction within your own waters, be it port security, or coast line, or inland waterways there is the danger of armed adversaries and so a cutter must be able to defend itself...or take the fight to the vessel that is intruding.

The large US Coast Guard Cutters, called National Security Cutters have a 57mm main gun and a 20mm CIWS and are capable of adding an Mk-41 VKS. The Offshore Patrol Cutters will also have a 57 mm main gun. The next smaller size carries a 25mm chain gun. Other cutters are armed with 20mm guns, and then mounted .50 caliber guns. All of them have small arms.


So it is not an issue of them being unarmed. It is an issue of the role.

Generally in international waters, where either other nations, or large armed non-nation organizations (like large Pirates operations, or Al Quida, etc.) are involved, you will find the military dealing with the issue. In your own territorial waters with small scale piracy, durg lords, criminals and the like, you will find the Coast Guard involved. Now, if a military from another nation comes into your territorial waters with any kind of ill intent...then the Coast Guard may help, but it will probably immediately or quickly escalate to involve the military.

mr.bean said:

i'm actually thinking in the near future china might switch to sending "coast guard" type cutters in the 3000-4000 ton displacement to do the Somalia escort duties. right now they use PLAN ships because they value the training ( showing the flag) but it is overkill and expensive way to deal with pirate problem, but later on they might switch to more efficient use of resources. after the 4 civilian maritime agencies are merged and streamlined then the new china coast guard (or whatever it's going to be called) can be called upon for duties farther out. armed chinese civilian law enforcement ships escorting and protecting Chinese flag mechant vessels in international waters makes sense doesn't it?

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They are currently deploying 528 Mianyang which is only around 2300 tons displacement. Don't think it's overkill or expensive. Infact, there's 10 active 053H3s that can provide anti-piracy patrols for a very long time.

Great photo albums joshtree, thanks for sharing.

Indeed, the new Jiangwei + Luhu patrol fleet in Somalia shows China is move from show the flag Somalia convoys to Economical/Training convoys.

In the future we'll probably see 1st line ships like Liaoning 054As and 052Cs complete their high seas training the western pacific, while the 2nd line ships like 053H3, 052s, 051Bs and even 056 (Assume we see a variant similar to the Pattani OPV Thailand has send to Somalia) do Somalia patrols for high seas training.

luhai said:

Indeed, the new Jiangwei + Luhu patrol fleet in Somalia shows China is move from show the flag Somalia convoys to Economical/Training convoys.

In the future we'll probably see 1st line ships like Liaoning 054As and 052Cs complete their high seas training the western pacific, while the 2nd line ships like 053H3, 052s, 051Bs and even 056 (Assume we see a variant similar to the Pattani OPV Thailand has send to Somalia) do Somalia patrols for high seas training.

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Or it's just a matter of rotations, if there're new ships available for long-range shakedown they'd put them on the next taskforce as well. Though of course the nature of Somalia expedition doesn't require advanced weaponry, just need ships that has ocean-going capabilities and the endurance to ride the waves, plus helo operating capability.

In any case, by now the show of flag phase is long over, this is truly turning into breaking-in voyage for the PLAN sailors to long range blue water operations, with the Somalia pirates readily providing the OpFor part of the training.

No News is Good News-2nd 056 of Hudong, 583 Ganzhou is Ready to go

Situation is Gulf of Aden is getting better and piracy is now dying out, however this should not be taken as mission over, they should still continue to send big task forces and patrol the region otherwise piracy will just com back

Few nations have sent submarines on this missions too, might be a idea for China to think about sending a modern SSK at some point