The PLAN was interested in a large destroyer from as early as the late 1960s. A development program, code-named "055", initiated in 1976, was cancelled in 1983 after encountering insurmountable technical obstacles from industrial underdevelopment; for example, the required gas turbine power plants could neither be produced domestically, nor imported at acceptable prices.[1] In April 2014, an image emerged of a full-scale mock-up of the Type 055 superstructure - with enclosed integrated mast for radar and other electronics at the Chinese naval electronic testing range in Wuhan.[2][3]
Lhasa was the second ship of the class to be laid down and was launched on 28 April 2018 at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. On 27 January 2021, she was spotted at Hainan Island with hull number 102. The ship was commissioned on 7 March 2021 and assigned to the North Sea Fleet.[8][9] The Tibetan newspaper Lhasa Daily reported that the Vice Mayor of Lhasa traveled to the Qingdao military base to visit the officers and sailors of Lhasa.[8][10]
In January 2022, Chinese state media reported Lhasa as being "combat-ready".[11] In July 2022 Lhasa took part in her first far-sea exercises, in which she circumnavigated Japan.[12]
References
↑ "Summary of Historic facts (Part 3, Reviews of Large Size Destroyer Research)". Historical Data of Destroyers. Historical Data of Chinese Shipbuilding Industry (in Simplified Chinese). China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Department of Equipment and Technology of People's Liberation Army Navy. pp.10–11.
↑ 中国第二艘055型万吨大驱拉萨舰官宣亮相[China's Second Type 055 Destroyer, the Lhasa, Officially Debuts]. Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese). Toa Payoh, Singapore. 7 March 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.