Builder Wuhu Shipyard Launched 2004 Acquired 2004 | Cost > ¥ 100 million Completed 2004 Commissioned 2004 | |
The 3200-horsepower class tug is a little known class of naval auxiliary currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Built by Wuhu Xinlian Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (芜湖新联造船有限公司), formerly Wuhu Shipyard, since 2004, the name of this class is taken from the installed power of the vessels, with the exact type designation still remaining unknown. After the first pair was built, as of the mid-2010s, a total of twelve of this class have been confirmed as being in active service. The unit price of each ship is more than a hundred ¥.
The 3200-horsepower class series ships in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by three-digit number. The second Chinese character is Tuo (拖), meaning tug in Chinese, because these ships are classified as tugboats. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is service with, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, 北) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet. However, the pennant numbers may have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention.