052C/052D Class Destroyers
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Based on new data point, it seems the current max for destroyer division is up to 8 ships for destroyers, not counting frigates and corvettes serving under the unit.
2nd Destroyer Division SSF Zhanjiang.
161, 162, 163, 164, 165 = All 052D
167 Shenzhen 051B refit
168 Guangzhou 052B in MLU
169 Wuhan 052B still active
= 8 ships.
3rd Destroyer Division ESF
131, 132, 133, 134 = All 052D
136, 137, 138, 139 = All Sovremenny, two refit.
= 8 ships
6th Destroyer Division ESF
150, 151, 152, 153 = All 052C
154, 155, 156, 157 = All 052D
= 8 ships
9th Destroyer Division SSF Liuyin Hainan
170, 171 = Two 052C
172, 173, 174, 175 = four 052D
= 6 ships
10th Destroyer Division NSF Lushun
119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124
= 6 ships
1st Destroyer Division NSF Qingdao
112, 113 = Two 052
115, 116 = Two 051C
117, 118 = Two 052D
101, 10X = Two 055
= 8 ships but I am not sure as or if the 055s will be spun off into a new destroyer division.
by78
General
I still don't understand what this statement means. Could you break it down? If it helps, you may assume the gas turbines are the most expensive components of the ships.
It may not be the most expensive but I may wonder how many China can produce how many of these particular turbines in a year given the quotas and rations they have for domestic gas turbines with the air force. On the other hand, as years pass, gas turbine production may have also scaled upwards.
The sensors however, might be the most expensive with each face having many thousands of elements. Given a certain physical wavelength which will fix the size and spacing of each element, the number of elements would be proportional to the size of the array. The Type 055's main arrays are visually bigger than the 052D, but not by much while the number of VLS is nearly double. Given that the Type 346X arrays are for servicing the SAMs and not for the ASMs, you can assume a standard layout of 16 ASMs for each destroyer, which leaves 48 HQ-9 SAMs for the 052D and 96 HQ-9s for the 055, so its practically double when it comes to the SAMs. So the bang for the buck here favors the 055.
Another thing is that the number of crew on the 052D and the 055 might be about the same at around 300, so missile bang per crew favors the 055. This does not favor 054A frigates when you have about 40 missiles (32 SAM + 8 ASM) for about 165.
Well, the most expensive components are probably the weapons themselves and the electronics like the radar. But I would not be surprised if propulsion would be like 20% of the total cost of the ship. There are also two other problems. Production capacity and maintenance costs. The more engines you have the more parts you need to manufacture and maintain.
I suspect the engines are one of the most time consuming components to manufacture in the whole ship. The radars and electronics might be more expensive but I suspect each component in that is more easy to mass produce and that costs will scale down faster with increased production compared with the turbines given what I know about the semiconductor industry. For example they can integrate the components more or switch to larger area silicon wafers and decrease the amount of components in the radar like that. I doubt they are presently using 12" aka 300mm wafers even.
The US Burke class destroyers also have four gas turbine engines like the Type 055. But there is a reason why the US Navy is pushing for frigates now. The limited amount of large destroyers they have aren't enough to patrol the oceans and train sailors properly. Hence the recent disasters with Burke class destroyers. For the missions they do I think the Burke class is kind of oversized and not cost effective to be honest. The Type 055 makes sense as a command ship or as part of a carrier group to provide air defense but I think it is overkill for long range patrols. The Type 052DL is likely much more cost effective.
Some high-resolution images of 052D at sea...
This should be 161 Hohhot with her squadmate 169 Wuhan, which is the Type 052B.
Would have been neater if 167 Shenzhen exercised with them. 168 Guangzhou is in the state of refit.
Well even the improved 052D has been commissioned, but no words on the commissioning of the 2nd-4th 055s.DDG 122 Tangshan.
