Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.
The Kirov-class cruisers were a class of six cruisers built in the late 1930s for the Soviet Navy. After the first two ships, armor protection was increased and subsequent ships are sometimes called the Maxim Gorky class. These were the first large ships built by the Soviets from the keel up after the Russian Civil War, and they were derived from the Italian cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli, being designed with assistance from the Italian Ansaldo company. Two ships each were deployed in the Black and Baltic Seas during World War II, while the last pair was still under construction in the Russian Far East and saw no combat during the war. The first four ships bombarded Axis troops and facilities after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. All six ships survived the war and lingered until the 1970s in training and other secondary roles before being scrapped.
The Type 052Luhu-class is one of the first modern multi-role guided missile destroyers built by China. There are currently two units in active service with the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force. It was succeeded by the Type 051B.
A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They are similar in concept to the torpedo boats of World War II; in fact, the first missile boats were modified torpedo boats with the torpedo tubes replaced by missile tubes.
A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.
The Type 053 frigates were a family of Chinese ships that served with the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force, and a small number of foreign navies.This article covers the entire Type 053 family except for the final three successors, the Type 053H2G, Type 053H3 and Naresuan class frigates.
The People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force is a branch of the People's Liberation Army Navy in China. It consists of all surface warships in operational service with the PLAN. It operates 661 ships. The ships are organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet, and the South Sea Fleet. The People's Liberation Army Navy is turning away from its traditional focus on coastal and littoral warfare and instead prioritising the development of blue water capabilities. This has led to a significant reduction in fleet numbers as the PLAN has replaced a larger number of smaller ships with a smaller number of larger and more capable ships, including destroyers, frigates, corvettes, amphibious warfare ships and large auxiliary ships.
The Type 051C or Luzhou class destroyer is a long-range air-defence guided missile destroyer built by China in its ongoing effort to create a true blue water navy. The ship uses the hull design of the older Type 051B, but is equipped with the advanced Russian S-300FM air defence missiles systems. Currently, two ships of this class have been launched and deployed by People's Liberation Army Navy North Sea Fleet.
The Norinco Type 63 is a Chinese amphibious light tank. First fielded in 1963, it is in many ways similar to the earlier Soviet PT-76. However, contrary to the popular belief, it does have some essential differences from the PT-76 in the vehicle's waterjet propulsion system, etc. It is also known under its industrial designation, the WZ-211. Type 63 is being replaced by Type 63A.
The Type 025 torpedo boat, also known as the Huchuan or Hu Chwan class, was once the backbone of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in its confrontations with its much larger opponents in the Republic of China Navy. Although no longer serving in that capacity, this class is still active. While relatively unsophisticated, the class has enjoyed a longevity in active service thanks to a philosophy within PLAN which has continued to favor its use. Powered by Soviet-era engines, the hydrofoil-equipped boats are capable of 50 knots and carry two torpedo tubes for torpedoes, with some known to be armed with naval mines.
The Type 037 corvette is a series 400–500 ton corvette type classes in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy. Unlike western navies, the People's Liberation Army Navy does not have dedicated patrol boats in its inventory. Instead, a large variety of corvette type classes, in the form of missile boats and submarine chasers fulfill the tasks of patrolling China's territorial waters. The Egyptian Navy operates eight vessels.
The Type 072 landing ship are large landing ships built by Shanghai-based Zhonghua Shipyard in the 1980s to replace the aging World War II-era ex-US Navy L-1511 tank landing ships in service with the PLA Navy. The Type 072 is the PLA Navy’s first indigenous large landing ship. A total of 3 Type 072 are in service all of them are in service with the East Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
The Type 067 landing craft, utility, also known as Yunnan class, entered the People's Liberation Army Navy service from 1968–1972. This class is the enlarged version of Yuch'in class landing craft mechanized, developed into a landing craft tank (LCT) capable of carrying either a medium tank, or two armored fighting vehicles, or a company of infantry. Some Type 067 have been converted to buoy tender/cable layers, designated as Type 911, which includes two sub types, Type 911I and Type 911II, one for buoy tender, the other for cable layer.
The Hatsuharu-class destroyers were a class of Imperial Japanese Navy destroyers in the service before and during World War II. The final two vessels in the class, completed after modifications to the design, are sometimes considered a separate "Ariake class".
The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a Taiwanese-designed class of fast and stealthy multi-mission corvettes built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. It is designed to counter the numerous and increasingly sophisticated People's Liberation Army Navy ships by utilizing hit-and-run tactics, and thus featured clean upper structure design with very few extrusions to reduce radar signature, pre-cooled engine exhaust to reduce infrared signature, and a reduced visual signature to reduce chance of detection.
The Danlin class cargo ship is a class of Chinese cargo ship that is in service with People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Danlin class cargo ship is the armed version of its unarmed sister ship in civilian service, and both entered service between 1960 – 1962.
The Type 079 landing ship was a class of landing ship medium (LSM) of the People's Liberation Army Navy. There are two subclasses of this type; 079I and 079II.
