PLAN Anti-Piracy Deployments

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

Gents, this is my favorite thread!

crobato said:

Kind of, but its going to be a big pain to live three months inside a FAC.

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That's right. It's difficult enough being at sea for weeks at at time on an CV..not to mention a ship as small as a FAC..

Not if we have something such as the Shichang as a "mothership" for rotating crews to relax. You can also have your helos stationed there. Coupled with the Weishanhu and there should be enough supplies for a flotilla of FACs to do anti-piracy patrols.

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The Shichang? That's a hospital ship. Just where are the PLAN going to anchor that ship.? Those goffy greedy pirates may mistake it for a merchant ship. You just can't have it anchored at sea. It'd be a sitting duck if the proper security was not in place. I really feel deploying FACs and any sort of 'mother ship" would be a logistical nightmare for the as yet inexperienced PLAN. Let's give them a chance to work out the kinks in this mission first and see what sort of ships they send to Africa to relieve the 169 & 171.

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

bd popeye said:

The Shichang? That's a hospital ship.

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Last I checked, it's a training ship with some mission modular capability and a flight deck with two helo landing spots.

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

Come on, joshuatree! Why do you insist the use of FAC? Note that in most case of intervention, the navy need helicopters to arrive at the scene as fast as possible. Do you know any FAC in Chinese navy that can carry helicopter?

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

SteelBird said:

Come on, joshuatree! Why do you insist the use of FAC? Note that in most case of intervention, the navy need helicopters to arrive at the scene as fast as possible. Do you know any FAC in Chinese navy that can carry helicopter?

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Who's insisting? I've posted I agree with the current profile of the PLAN deployment. I'm merely looking at other options as others have suggested a LPD or the 54. If the anti-piracy patrols continue (and the piracy problem doesn't appear to be abating anytime soon), you'll eventually need to start rotating in other vessels.

I've also pointed out the USN uses PB for anti-piracy patrols so it's not like there isn't precedent. At the end of the day, I'm just participating in discussion. :coffee:

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

joshuatree said:

I've also pointed out the USN uses PB for anti-piracy patrols so it's not like there isn't precedent. At the end of the day, I'm just participating in discussion. :coffee:

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These patrol boats are used in anti-piracy are RHIB's... these boats are normally hoisted onboard a larger ship and launched when needed.

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

joshuatree said:

Who's insisting? I've posted I agree with the current profile of the PLAN deployment. I'm merely looking at other options as others have suggested a LPD or the 54. If the anti-piracy patrols continue (and the piracy problem doesn't appear to be abating anytime soon), you'll eventually need to start rotating in other vessels.

I've also pointed out the USN uses PB for anti-piracy patrols so it's not like there isn't precedent. At the end of the day, I'm just participating in discussion. :coffee:

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Believe me, the PRC is always very careful before every decision. So, when they decide to let the Wuhan, Haikou and Weishanhu go first they have their correct reasons and our members have pointed out a few. After the vessels have finished their mission, you'll see the rotated ships are those with similar size and functions. For the type 071, the possibility is zero, and the reasons have been pointed out by some members in their posts.

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

joshuatree said:

Last I checked, it's a training ship with some mission modular capability and a flight deck with two helo landing spots.

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My bad..But never the less it would require several weeks if not months to train up the crews and establish the logistics of deploying FACs to the African waters.

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

Pointblank said:

These patrol boats are used in anti-piracy are RHIB's... these boats are normally hoisted onboard a larger ship and launched when needed.

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That's not entirely true. The USN has Cyclone class patrol boats that crossed the Atlantic on their own power to the Mideast for their 18 month assignments. They are definitely not RHIBs.

Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

joshuatree said:

That's not entirely true. The USN has Cyclone class patrol boats that crossed the Atlantic on their own power to the Mideast for their 18 month assignments. They are definitely not RHIBs.

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True..But the USN has the logistics available to support these ships..by the way the crews are rotated every 6 months.

Despite the age of this information below the USN continues to deploy these type ships to the Gulf region. They are home ported in Bahrain while deployed.

At the end of April 2004, Typhoon and Sirocco departed Little Creek, Virginia for the Persian Gulf to relieve USS Firebolt (PC-10) and USS Chinook (PC-9). The ships were to be deployed for 18 months while crews would be swapped every six months. The ships were escorted by USNS Patuxent (T-AO-201) during the trans-Atlantic portion of the trip. In June 2004, Typhoon and Sirocco arrived in the Persian Gulf to assist in maritime security operations and enforce a 2,000 meter exclusion zone around the Al Basrah (ABOT) and Khawr Al Amaya (KAAOT) oil terminals.

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Re: Somali pirates and Chinese navy

Yes. If the PRC wants to deploy FACs to do patrols, they need a logistical base. The ideal is to have an offshore base so the crews can be rotated and the ship maintained and resupplied. A replenishment ship alone is not enough. The FAC has its own disadvantages by the lack of a helicopter, a short ranged sea search radar, and not even height on the bridge to give a good lookout of the horizon using the Mk. 1 Eyeball. You probably still end up needing a larger ship to act as a command platform.

The Type 022 alone brings its own unique problems. A stealth boat may not show on civilian radars and can end up getting collided. So the ship has to have radar reflectors added. I wonder how those ships get by in the crowded seaways near Shanghai but I guess its probably due to eyeballing.