PLA Navy news, pics and videos

Overbom said:

Hull at about 147m, beam at 18m
View attachment 105941

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1618652194944974848

Click to expand...

I won't paste links to his Tweets directly, since he apparently didn't like it.

Speaking of which, if that hull is indeed a 054B, then the 054B's length is definitely a considerable stretch from the 054A (147 meters vs 134 meters). In terms of tonnage, he estimated the 054B would displace around 6000 tons by "doing rough calculations with the Constellation class & 054A's measurements as a point of departure". A displacement of 6000 tons is a massive departure from the 054A, and could be "different enough to merit an entirely new class".

Type 057-class FFG, perhaps?


Besides, the massive stretch of length and displacement on the 054B from the 054A and 054 is actually pretty aggressive, when you compare that to the evolution of Chinese destroyers, especially from the 052B all the way to 052D/DL.

(052D/DL be like: What about us??!! )

On the other hand, he also posted a satellite imagery update (Pleiades, 15 January 2023) on the 5 052Ds currently under construction in Dalian:


Looks like the above 2 hulls could be ready for launch within the next few months. The bottom 3 hulls (perhaps minus the hull in the middle), meanwhile, could be ready to launch by the end of this year.

Overbom said:

Hull at about 147m, beam at 18m
View attachment 105941

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1618652194944974848

Click to expand...

Assume this is indeed 054B:

054B: 147m, 18m
054A: 134m, 16m, ~4,000t
052D: 157m, 18m, ~7,000t

This presumed 054B is closer to 052D than to 054A in full displacement. ~6,000t appears to be quite reasonable.

Previously the prevailing consensus (sort of, with a rather large margin for error) is that 054B would be around 5,500t. Personally, I think that would be the minimum, anything below that is a disappointment for me, considering 054B would be the next-gen, blue-water frigate. Unless 054B is not but 057 would be, that is.

weig2000 said:

Assume this is indeed 054B:

054B: 147m, 18m
054A: 134m, 16m, ~4,000t
052D: 157m, 18m, ~7,000t

This presumed 054B is closer to 052D than to 054A in full displacement. ~6,000t appears to be quite reasonable.

Previously the prevailing consensus (sort of, with a rather large margin for error) is that 054B would be around 5,500t. Personally, I think that would be the minimum, anything below that is a disappointment for me, considering 054B would be the next-gen, blue-water frigate. Unless 054B is not but 057 would be, that is.

Click to expand...

052D/DL is around 7500 tons at full displacement.

Lining up the major surface combatants of the PLAN at their full displacement:
054A (4000 tons) - 054B (5500-6000 tons) - 052D/DL (7500 tons) - 055 (13000 tons)

054A to 054B: 1500-2000 tons displacement gap
(054A to 052D/DL: 3500 tons displacement gap)
054B to 052D/DL: 1500-2000 tons displacement gap
052D/DL to 055: 5500 tons displacement gap

Notice how the displacement gap between the 054-series FFGs and the 052D/DL DDGs has narrowed - From the 3500 tons between the current 054A and 052D/DL to a mere 1500-2000 tons between the upcoming 054B and 052D/DL.

Slipping in a bit from the 055 Large Destroyer Thread II -
We've got some discussion on what would China's "medium destroyer" that is meant to succeed the class and roles of the 052D/DLs would be like. Judging by what we've discovered that could represent the true size of the 054B, I'm thinking that the "medium DDG" could very well be:
1. A completely new hull design as a departure from the 052-series DDGs
2. Dimension and displacement raised significantly from the 052D/DL, and
3. A direct Chinese counterpart to the Flight 3 Arleigh Burkes, i.e. ~9000-9500 tons, but perhaps with an even bigger hull than the Burkes.

Anyways, that's just my own two-cents, so do take it with a pinch of salt.

Heavily armed escort for Chinese fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden:

by78 said:

New chest ribbon bars. If I'm interpreting this correctly, in order of priority, one ribbon bar is reserved for indicating wearer's command level (i.e. battalion, divisional, etc.), followed by ribbons for medals and commendations (if any), and then followed by the seniority ribbons.

Click to expand...

The new ribbon bars in the flesh.

Looking at how similar the new 054B is in size to the 052D, it makes me wonder why they didn't just reuse the 052C/D hull but without the Aegis radar and fewer armaments

sndef888 said:

Looking at how similar the new 054B is in size to the 052D, it makes me wonder why they didn't just reuse the 052C/D hull but without the Aegis radar and fewer armaments

Click to expand...

Probably because they wanted to completely rearrange the interior spaces so that the engines are higher up and away from the hull for noise reduction purposes (facilitated by IEP), resulting in a requirement to lower topweight as there is less balancing mass near the bottom of the hull.

The Coast Guard's "first line" service members have all switched to the new uniforms.

A joint drill between the 42nd and 43rd Gulf of Aden escort task forces.

sndef888 said:

Looking at how similar the new 054B is in size to the 052D, it makes me wonder why they didn't just reuse the 052C/D hull but without the Aegis radar and fewer armaments

Click to expand...

You mean the 052B+.

You can easily take the 052B hull for that. Essentially a 052B updated with a major MLU . None of the super large fixed PARs, but instead we have smaller, rotating AESAs.