| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 400 tonnes (390 long tons; 440 short tons) |
| Length: | 40 m (131 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 8 m (26 ft 3 in) |
| Draft: | 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power: | Internal combustion engine |
| Propulsion: | 1 × Diesel engine , 400 hp (298 kW) |
| Speed: | 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
| Sensors and processing systems: | 1 × navigational radar |
| Armament: | 2 x 14.5 mm (0.57 in) guns |
The Type 058 minesweeper is a Chinese riverine minesweeper developed for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and by the early 2010s, it has already been retired from active service from PLAN.
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to engage in minesweeping. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, waterways are kept clear for safe shipping.
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and northeast England, and "beck" in northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always: the language is vague.
The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the PLA Navy, is the naval warfare branch of the People's Liberation Army, which is the armed wing of the Communist Party of China and, by default, the national armed forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLAN can trace its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese Civil War and was established in September 1950. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union provided assistance to the PLAN in the form of naval advisers and export of equipment and technology. Until the late 1980s, the PLAN was largely a riverine and littoral force. However, by the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union and a shift towards a more forward-oriented foreign and security policy, the leaders of the Chinese military were freed from worrying over land border disputes, and instead turned their attention towards the seas. This led to the development of the People's Liberation Army Navy into a green-water navy by 2009. Before the 1990s the PLAN had traditionally played a subordinate role to the People's Liberation Army Ground Force.
In 1967, PLAN begun development of a class of riverine minesweeper to counter magnetic mines, and it was decided to adopt a low-magnetic hull for the minesweeper, utilizing the manganese-aluminum based low magnetic steel. [1] The first unit was completed by Jiangnan Shipyard in 1971, [2] and subsequently, three more were completed. However, due to the Chinese industrial and technical capability at the time, processing the manganese-aluminum based low magnetic steel to the requirement was extremely difficult and costly, [3] and after completing four minesweepers, no more units were ordered despite the relatively successful service in PLAN. It was decided to develop a fiberglass-hulled minesweeper, Type 7102 minesweeper as a successor of Type 058. [3]
Jiangnan Shipyard is a historic shipyard in Shanghai, China. The shipyard has been state-owned since its founding in 1865 and is now operated as Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co. Ltd.
Fiberglass (US) or fibreglass (UK) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet, or woven into a fabric. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinylester—or a thermoplastic.
Type 7102 is a Chinese minesweeper developed for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and by the early 2010s, it has already been retired from active service from PLAN.
