FFG 054/054A Thread

[crobato]

I think the first one is 529. The second 054A in HD took a long time to get launched, so it's not too surprising that the number hasn't been painted yet. I have a picture of it from late November, looks like this one, but seemed to have more work done to it.

As far as the Hudong ships goes, the first one is the one that got the pennant 530. The second one is 529 (both have black on the second mast), and that one already has the 529 pennant on it. I think you can find that picture, should be familiar to you, its the one with two Sovermannies.

The new pics might be a third Hudong ship. Note the black on the second mast. The hull color is also different from the two previous Hudong ships. I have been hearing some stories that a third Hudong 054A is being made behind another ship being made in front of it, and obscuring the view inside.

The one that still does not have a pennant on it is a Huangpu ship, the twin sibling to ship 570, also from Huangpu. They got white color on the second masts below the SR64 radar. The number is supposedly either 568 or 569.

 

[tphuang]

As far as the Hudong ships goes, the first one is the one that got the pennant 530. The second one is 529 (both have black on the second mast), and that one already has the 529 pennant on it. I think you can find that picture, should be familiar to you, its the one with two Sovermannies.

The new pics might be a third Hudong ship. Note the black on the second mast. The hull color is also different from the two previous Hudong ships. I have been hearing some stories that a third Hudong 054A is being made behind another ship being made in front of it, and obscuring the view inside.

The one that still does not have a pennant on it is a Huangpu ship, the twin sibling to ship 570, also from Huangpu. They got white color on the second masts below the SR64 radar. The number is supposedly either 568 or 569.

This picture is from Nov 26, it has the black on the second mast. So, it's been here for a while. I know what you are saying, previous pictures indicate white colour there. There were about 5 or 6 months where I don't have any pictures of it, so can't say for sure what happened it. I think 530 is the first 054a from HP and 529 is the first one from HD.

 

[crobato]

The ships with the white on the second mast are not the same ships as the ones with the black mast. If you see ship 570, it still has the white mast, which means these are not painted over.

Both 529 and 530 were from HD, both with black mast, while 570 and 569 were from HP, both with white mast. All four ships seem to have a red water line; this pic has a dark grey one.

 

[Pointblank]

I'm with you. I say the 054 and 054A looks pretty big for me, like there is this picture, and FFG 529 compares favorably in size to the two Sovremannies behind and ahead of it.

I would think 4000mt to 4500mt is not implausible.

I will go out on a limb and say in comparison to other ships of a similar size, such as the Halifax class frigates, F123 Brandenburg class frigates, and the Fridtjof Nansen class frigate, the Type 54 is 4500+ tons, unless the Chinese came up with a new shipbuilding material that is lighter than air and stronger than steel.

 

[crobato]

Looks like the pictures of the Hudong 054A are being taken out from the mainland websites (sina, xilu).

I'm trying to review the pictures to ascertain as to who 530, 570 and 529 is from HD or HP.

 

[crobato]

There seems to be more of the "new" 054A. It looks very much like the same pictures before, just taken with a slightly different angle.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[crobato]

The same 054A sighting in Hudong. This time, its HSH taking the shots. Can't upload everything due to file size limits. So you can check the rest of the images at this thread.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[crobato]

In the meantime, something is being built in Huangpu. Note comparison of the 054A in an early construction stage taken by a Japanese photographer.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[tphuang]

some pictures of 570 still sitting in HP, looking like some work is done to it. I guess someone had an up close photo of holes on the side of helipad to try to indicate some kind of TAS. Anyways, it's kind of interesting that they are still putting final touches on it. They also had another photo that sort of shows another 054A in the dock, but it's by no means conclusive.

 

[crobato]

I made a review of past 054/054A construction pictures to help create a rough time line and to give me insight on the real nature of the 054A now spotted at Hudong.

Many of the postings, actually done by people who are well informed and big shrimps in the mainland forums, seem to suggest that 529 and 530 are Hudong ships. Hudong is conveniently in Shanghai, and 529 and 530 are ESF ships, so naturally both should be from Hudong and return to Hudong for maintenance. Also there are pictures of two 054A in Hainan, as well as many now famous pictures of 054A in trials in blue/green tropical sea water, indicating that these ships are having trials in the South Seas. A post in the CDF mentions that both ships in Yiling Hainan are from Guangzhou (Huangpu), with one accepted, and one returned to Guangzhou.

For now I think 530 and 570 are Huangpu, and 529 and 569 are Hudong. The ship in Hudong now might be 569, and may have been back to the shipyard, probably not accepted by the PLAN to do some additional changes. It took some digging but the few pictures I found of 530 in a shipyard or in some condition of repair or maintenance, seems to point to being in Huangpu. Its not easy to tell both Huangpu and Hudong from pictures that don't show the surroundings very well, and both shipyards have the typical white/beige walls with blue tops. But only because the scene where 530 returned seems very similar to a scene where 526 returned to, and 526 was made in Huangpu, while 525 was made in Hudong. Despite being the same class, they go back to the shipyards of their origins for maintenance.

This pic is of Spring last year after 529 returned from trials to Hudong.