Class and type Beituo 632 Armament Unarmed Aviation facilities None | Electronic warfare
& decoys None Aircraft carried None | |
Beituo 632 class tug is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and a total of six of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. Unlike other tugs in Chinese service, Type 632 class is the only tug having a chimney with rectangular/square cross section, and thus easily distinguishable by the sharp edges of the chimney.
Beituo 632 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 (ζ), 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, δΈ) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, ε) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, ε) for South Sea Fleet. However, the pennant numbers may have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention.