056 class FFL/corvette

I take it from that the ship is designed to operate within a few hundred miles of the Chinese coast, concentrating mainly on anti submarnine warfare. With lots of small ships working close inshore, especially with TAS the plan would be to make the area close to the Chinese coast too dangerous for foreign submanines.

If the corvette detects a foreign submarnine, then shore based aircraft could be called in to assist. As always having the flight deck aft gives a helicopter a chance to refuel, possibly rearm, to let the crew rest up for awhile, greatly increasing the time on station.

In terms of sending a corvette out for world partols, the French have a class of ship called the D'Estienne d'Orves class, which are only 1250t full load. For decades they have been patrolling distant oceans, showing the flag, giving a degree of reassurance to French possessions spotted arond the globe, being a much more cost effective solution to showing the flag than a larger ship. It being true that the French have more possessions overseas than does China. I take your point though that the Type 56 would only rarely be stationed overseas.

In a separate thread, there was that new Chinese trimaran craft. Whilst it is possible that it is a fisheries protection vessel, another possibility is that it is designed to operate with the type 22 FAC. It would provide a degree of air cover, a flight deck for having a small helo to assist in target acquisition. Maybe 1 or these in conjuction wiht 4 or 5 type 22. It should have the speed to keep up with the type 22 FAC. In WW2 it was common practice to add a light cruiser to a squadron of destroyers in order to give them a bit of fire power in case they can into trouble. That is one larger ship working with 4 or 5 smaller ships. Am not saying it will happen, though it may. Another possibility is that they are learning about the trimaran hullshape and working out what works well and what works not quite as well, then should they ever decide to go down this route they have experience in this type of vessel

i think the true advantage of a ship like Type 056 i that it will free up Type 054A frigates and Type 052C destroyers, plus Type 22 work in packs, with Type 056 they can patrol on thier own at long range and have more facilitys than Type 22 does

also this means Type 054A and Type 052C can go and do serious work like supporting a task force and long range deployments and missions for which they were designed

asif iqbal said:

i think the true advantage of a ship like Type 056 i that it will free up Type 054A frigates and Type 052C destroyers, plus Type 22 work in packs, with Type 056 they can patrol on thier own at long range and have more facilitys than Type 22 does

also this means Type 054A and Type 052C can go and do serious work like supporting a task force and long range deployments and missions for which they were designed

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Yes, interesting. They might push for 056 to take on near defense, while the 054As are out on more international missions (like Aden).

asif iqbal said:

i think the true advantage of a ship like Type 056 i that it will free up Type 054A frigates and Type 052C destroyers, plus Type 22 work in packs, with Type 056 they can patrol on thier own at long range and have more facilitys than Type 22 does

also this means Type 054A and Type 052C can go and do serious work like supporting a task force and long range deployments and missions for which they were designed

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Yes it essentially eliminates the needs for major surface combatants to perform mundane patrol tasks within the first island chain. Larger ships are still gonna be called when things get hotter, but they are now free to sail into the Pacific, stationed in the SCS or even in the Indian Ocean, deployed to the Gulf, or visit European nations. Just one correction, 022s are not patrol vessels so they are not tasked for any patrols. They only go on training missions to keep the crew and equipment sharp because those boats are not designed for long patrols at seas. Patrols are mainly done by 037 family of FACs such as Hainan and Hongxing class, which the 056 will likely to replace.

interesting concept

hmmwv said:

Yes it essentially eliminates the needs for major surface combatants to perform mundane patrol tasks within the first island chain.

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IMO the EEZ patrols should be done by the Chinese Coast Guard, not the Chinese Navy. But if the 056 is assigned to the HK garrison, then it'd have to serve multiple roles full-time.

adeptitus said:

IMO the EEZ patrols should be done by the Chinese Coast Guard, not the Chinese Navy. But if the 056 is assigned to the HK garrison, then it'd have to serve multiple roles full-time.

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Speaking of that...the last time I visited the HK garrison open house, I heard some gossip between some military buffs and reporters about the Sino-British Joint Declaration, of which include the restriction of the maximum vessel size and displacement the PLA HK garrison could field...to be more precise, not bigger than what the RN fielded back in the colonial days.

But of course it doesn't make sense, since I can't dig up anything related to that in the Joint Declaration; also, back then PLAN South Sea Fleet was sidelined (unlike now, they get the priority of the newest indigenous surface combatants) the best they got for show were those missile boats; plus, the Stonecutter Island naval base is a bit tight in terms of parking berth, just park two 054 FFG there (which is cut close to DDG in terms of size and displacement) can take up 2/3 of the pier side...

It's also worth to note that PLAN have no corvette in its fleet before 056 class...it's missile boat then frigates, nothing in between.

It's to be seen if they'd actually put the 056 to HK Garrison, kinda unlikely if what they want is to put it on extensive validity tests (as it should be) instead of for show (which the HK garrison primary does), though something like that would definitely a welcoming sight in open house in years to come...and I can sure the tickets for the Stonecutter Island open house will be like hot cakes then...

adeptitus said:

IMO the EEZ patrols should be done by the Chinese Coast Guard, not the Chinese Navy. But if the 056 is assigned to the HK garrison, then it'd have to serve multiple roles full-time.

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Does the CCG and CN currently both have ships homeported and operating out of HK? If so, why would it be any different if an 056 is assigned to HK?

joshuatree said:

Does the CCG and CN currently both have ships homeported and operating out of HK? If so, why would it be any different if an 056 is assigned to HK?

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The Coast Guard don't operate out of Hong Kong, its all about jurisdiction in the context of Basic Law and Joint Declaration. The PLAN component in the HK Garrison does operate ships in HK but nothing from frigates and above...well the Stonecutter Island base isn't that big anyway, and the PLAN SSF have other major bases along the coast of Guangdong Province.

adeptitus said:

IMO the EEZ patrols should be done by the Chinese Coast Guard, not the Chinese Navy. But if the 056 is assigned to the HK garrison, then it'd have to serve multiple roles full-time.

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CCG is a coastal water law enforcement agency, it has virtually no authority beyond the 12 nm territorial water. The actual government body that patrols Chinese EEZ are FLEC and CMS, not even MSA, which is tasked to maintain navigation safety and has no law enforcement authority. Patrolling EEZ has always been a civilian job, but when PLAN support is needed now it's those frigates' role, in the future it'll be 056s'.