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.
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 People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force is the surface warfare branch of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), consisting of all surface vessels in operational service with the PLAN. The PLAN Surface Force operates 661 ships organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet.
The Zubr class, Soviet designation Project 1232.2, is a class of Soviet-designed air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC). The name "Zubr" is Russian for the European bison. This class of military hovercraft is, as of 2023 the world's largest hovercraft, with a standard full load displacement of 555 tons. The hovercraft was designed to sealift amphibious assault units from equipped/non-equipped vessels to non-equipped shores, as well as to transport and plant naval mines.
The P 4-class torpedo boat, Soviet designations Project 123-bis and Project 123-K, commonly called the Komsomolets class, were Soviet aluminum-hulled torpedo boats. They were armed with twin heavy machine guns and two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedoes. A large number of them were exported to allied states such as North Vietnam and China. They saw service in a variety of armed conflicts including World War II, the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Vietnam War and the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus.
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, with some known to be armed with naval mines.
The Type 22 missile boat is a ship class in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy. The first boat was launched in April 2004 by the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard at Shanghai. The boats incorporate stealth features and are based on Australian-designed wave-piercing catamaran hulls that are more stable than other fast missile craft in high sea conditions. 82 of these missile boats are currently in service with three flotillas having been produced over a span of seven years, operating in squadrons of eight vessels each.
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.
China first received a single unit of Soviet Osa-class missile boat in January 1965, and four more in 1966 through 1967 and the last two in 1968. The Hudong Shipyard built the Chinese version as Type 021-class missile boat at a rate of ten boats per year with several different versions. The majority of this class is being transferred to reserve status. Several dozen remain active and these active units are being rearmed with C-101 supersonic anti-ship missiles. Bangladesh Navy Type 021 missile boats rearmed with C-704 high subsonic anti-ship missiles. These boats are effectively used in swarm missile attacks.
The Type 073 landing ship is a family of landing ships developed and operated by the People's Liberation Army Navy, it consists of several models. This article details the development of this class that begun in the 1960s. The most recent and modern model of the class is the Type 073A, which were built and commissioned in the 2000s.
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 Sovremenny class, Soviet designation Project 956 Sarych (buzzard), is a class of anti-ship and anti-aircraft guided-missile destroyers of the Soviet and later Russian Navy. The ships are named after qualities, with "Sovremenny" translating as "modern" or "contemporary". Most of the ships have been retired from active service and one converted into a museum ship in 2018; as of 2021 three remain in commission with the Russian Navy with several in overhaul. Four modified ships were delivered to the People's Liberation Army Navy, and remain in service.
The Type 909 is a class of Chinese auxiliary ship. Four were built for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as weapon trial and oceanographic research ships.
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.
Type 074A landing ship medium with NATO reporting name Yubei class is a new member of Type 74 series LSM, it is unique in that it is catamaran hull design. More than ten are in service by mid 2015, and this ship is the first LSM in PLAN to incorporate infrared stealth feature in that the exhaust is near waterline. A speedboat launching / recovering facility is also added. Type 74A LSM can carry 3 Type 96 or Type 59 tanks, or 6 Type 63 (tank)s, plus a platoon of 70 fully equipped troops, or 250 fully equipped troops.
The Type 15, codenamed the Black Panther, is a Chinese third generation light tank family operated by the People's Liberation Army Ground Force, People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps, and People's Liberation Army Air Force Airborne Corps. The tank has also been exported to the Bangladesh Army. It is the effective successor to the Type 62 light tank that was retired from the Chinese army in 2013. The export version of the tank is known as VT-5.
