PLAN Fleet supply vessels

ACuriousPLAFan said:

Pennant #903 is actually Kekexilihu of the Type 903A AOR, not the Type 901 AOE.

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Oops! My mistake.

Source from @伏爾戈星圖 say 2 901A AOE are building in Longxue Island (龍穴島) Shipyard.

@5unrise where did you get the information that the 4th 901 AOE has been launched at Guangzhou?


AFAIK (at most from @伏尔戈星图 on Weibo) the 3rd 901 AOE had been launched only sometime ago.

ACuriousPLAFan said:

@5unrise where did you get the information that the 4th 901 AOE has been launched at Guangzhou?

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AFAIK (at most from @伏尔戈星图 on Weibo) the 3rd 901 AOE had been launched only sometime ago.

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I was doing a regular sweep of the Chinese wiki on PLAN ships last night, and saw the entry for the fourth Type 901 AOR changed from "construction" to "launched and fitting out". The wiki has claimed for some time that the fourth Type 901 is expected to launch sometime in 2024. For context, the third Type 901 is said to "enter service soon". This change aligned with Icloo's post that there are now three Type 901 AOR in service, which led me to accept the claims at least at that moment. I have also seen discussions on twitter, weibo and this forum linking the Type 901 construction with both the timing and number of future PLAN carriers, including the 004 - I think that's a common enough speculation to be reported in general terms (keeping in mine I didn't weigh in with my own opinion).

In retrospect I should have confirmed a higher bar of information before putting up that post, or to frame the post in less certain terms. The above is more an explanation of my thought process than a defence.

FWIW I have checked some sat imagery via other folks of Guangzhou Longxue (the builder of Type 901 and 903) and there are no obvious new hulls observed fitting the characteristics of Type 901. Its possible something was missed but it seems unlikely. Also, to repeat myself, Chinese Wiki is hilariously unreliable on Type 901 and there were false claims on its entry for many years.

I've deleted my post for now due to insufficient information.

Some images from a tour of Type 903A Kekexilihu.

must say I am a bit surprised that China has not restarted the production of the Type 901 tanker program

the PLAN surface fleet has grown in the last 5-6 years and even more for the big ticket items and flat decks

I think two of these tankers would be needed to sustain operations

asif iqbal said:

must say I am a bit surprised that China has not restarted the production of the Type 901 tanker program

the PLAN surface fleet has grown in the last 5-6 years and even more for the big ticket items and flat decks

I think two of these tankers would be needed to sustain operations

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The Type 901 is not a tanker per se (or to be more specific, a replenishment oiler (AOR)), but a fast combat support ship (AOE).

And there are to-be-verified rumors/claims that there are two new 901 AOEs under construction (likely in a pair) right now, with one of them launched sometime ago.

Makes sense that they would build more Type 901. Given that Type 003 will soon enter service.