From HI Sutton
New Intelligence Shows China Is Building More Type-075 Assault Carriers
Contributor
I cover the changing world of underwater warfare.
The Chinese Navy is expanding at an incredible pace, rapidly outstripping almost all other navies. A year ago it had no amphibious assault carriers (termed landing helicopter docks). These large helicopter carriers are often the most powerful ships in many navies, and almost all navies want them. Fast forward a year’s time and they will likely have a fleet of them second in size only to the U.S. Navy. And China is building them quicker.
The rapid construction of Chinese Navy (PLAN) warships is hard to keep up with. China’s new Assault Carriers are known as the Type-075 LHD. They have already launched two in the past year. And now images have emerged on Chinese-language social media that, perhaps unwittingly, reveal yet another.
This equates to an assembly time in dry dock of about 6 months. It is difficult to make direct comparisons to the U.S. Navy because the construction approaches vary, and America is not in the same rush. But for context the U.S. Navy’s second America Class assault carrier, USS Tripoli, was laid down in June 2014 and launched in May 2017. 2 years and 10 months later.
The vessels are roughly the same size and in many ways comparable, although the Chinese ships are closer in pattern to the U.S. Navy’s older Wasp Class, the difference being that they have a well-deck for hovercraft to ferry tanks, vehicles and troops to the shore.
At this pace the third Type-075 may be launched in October. Commercial satellite imagery has helped to confirm the newest vessel. Construction is taking place at the Hudong–Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai. The new ship is visible, partly constructed, in the same dry dock where the first two were assembled. Those are seen sitting outside the dock on the July 25 satellite imagery.