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Southern Theater Command Navy | |
---|---|
Active | 1949–present |
Country | People's Republic of China |
Allegiance | Chinese Communist Party |
Branch | People's Liberation Army Navy |
Type | Naval fleet |
Part of | Southern Theater Command |
Garrison/HQ | Yulin Naval Base, China |
March | "The People's Navy Moves Forward" |
Commanders | |
Commander | Admiral Ju Xinchun |
Political Commissar | Admiral Yang Zhiliang |
The South Sea Fleet (SSF; 南海舰队), concurrently the Southern Theater Command Navy (南部战区海军), is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy. Responsible for South China Sea, the fleet provides naval forces to the Southern Theater Command. The fleet is headquartered in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China.
Initially, the fleet's strength consisted mostly of former Kuomintang ships and personnel, which either defected or were captured by the People's Liberation Army. One of three fleets of the People's Liberation Army Navy, the SSF's duties were to protect the city of Guangzhou and the Pearl River regions, and support the PLA in capturing islands that were still in the hands of the Kuomintang forces. The fleet's development has been slow, because most of China's shipbuilding industry is located on the northern or eastern coasts. In the 1970s the fleet underwent a major buildup, due to conflict in the Paracel Islands and other reefs in the South China Sea. In 1974, the SSF took the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam, which resulted in the sinking of one South Vietnamese frigate while damaging another. The latest incident was in 1988, when a Chinese naval task force engaged Vietnamese naval forces, sinking one Vietnamese warship and damaging another.[ citation needed ]
Most of the fleet's surface ships are located at Zhanjiang naval base, while all of the fleet's submarines are at Yulin Naval Base, on Hainan Island. The SSF has many other bases included Guangzhou, Haikou, Shantou, Mawei, and Beihai, while naval air force bases are at Lingshui, Haikou, Sanya, Zhanjiang, and Guiping. The fleet's area of operations is divided into six zones.[ citation needed ]
The South Sea Fleet consists of the following departments:
South Sea Fleet further divides into the following ship detachments:
The fleet headquarters was, at first, at Guangzhou, but was later relocated to Zhanjiang.
Naval air force bases:
The flagship of the fleet is the Shandong (17), a Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier.
The East Sea Fleet, concurrently the Eastern Theater Command Navy (东部战区海军), is one of the three fleets of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army Navy. Responsible for the East China Sea, the fleet provides naval forces to the Eastern Theater Command.
The Type 053H3 is a class of Chinese frigates that entered service with the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force in the 1990s and 2000s. The class comprised ten vessels, all of which remain in active service except for two which have been sold to the Bangladesh Navy. They were a follow-on of the Type 053H2G class. The Zulfiquar-class frigate used by the Pakistan Navy was based on the Type 053H3.
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 People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The PLAN force consists of about 250,000 men and over a hundred major combat vessels, organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet, and the South Sea Fleet. Below is the organizational structure of the PLAN.
The Huangpu-class gunboat were gunboats of the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy, with production first begun at Jiangnan Shipyard on January 20, 1953, after request was submitted in October 1952.. These boats were designated as Type 53A, and a slightly modified version was designated as Type 54A. They entered service in the 1950s and had been completely taken out of active service by the early 2000s and were transferred to law enforcement agencies. However, just like the Shantou, Beihai and Yulin classes that were transferred for law enforcement adaptation, these obsolete and aging boats are not satisfactory in their new roles due to their low maximum speed, sometime as low as 10 knots, which was not fast enough to catch the smugglers’ high speed motorboats. As a result, these boats were subsequently transferred again, this time to reserves, subordinated to naval militia in various Military Maritime Districts in China as training boats and port security / patrol boats within the confines of the harbors.
The Type 054A is a class of guided-missile frigate from the People's Republic of China. It is a development of the Type 054 frigate; compared to its predecessor, the Type 054A has medium-range air defense capability in the form of Type 382 radar and vertically launched (VLS) HHQ-16 surface-to-air missiles.
Lanzhou is the lead ship of the Chinese Type 052C destroyers. The ship was laid down in late 2002, launched on 29 April 2003, and commissioned in July 2004. The destroyer is active with the People's Republic of China's South Sea Fleet.
Haikou is a Chinese Type 052C destroyer. The ship was laid down in 2002, launched on 30 October 2003, and commissioned in late 2005. The destroyer is active with the People's Republic of China's South Sea Fleet.
The Type 052D destroyer is a class of guided-missile destroyers in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy. The Type 052D is a larger variant of the Type 052C; the Type 052D uses a canister-type, instead of revolver-type, vertical launching system (VLS) and has flat-paneled active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The new VLS is not limited to surface-to-air missiles, making the Type 052D China's first dedicated multi-role destroyer.
Guangzhou (168) is the lead ship of Type 052B destroyer of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 15 July 2004.
Wuhan (169) is the second ship of Type 052B destroyer of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned in December 2004.
Guangzhou (160) was a Type 051 destroyer of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Yuncheng (571) is a Type 054A frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned in December 2009.
Hengshui (572) is a Type 054A frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 26 December 2012.
Liuzhou (573) is a Type 054A frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 26 December 2012.
Sanya (574) is a Type 054A frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 30 November 2012.
Yueyang (575) is a Type 054A frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 3 May 2013.
Sanming (524) is a Type 053H3 frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 25 December 1999.