 | ||
List of active People's Liberation Army Navy ships is a list of ships currently in active service with the People's Liberation Army Navy. There are approximately 496 ships listed in the tables below that constitute active ships, but this figure does not include the 232 various auxiliary vessels of the PLAN. A summary of ship types in service with the PLAN include an aircraft carrier, amphibious transport docks, landing ship tanks, landing ship medium, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, missile boats, submarine chasers, gunboats, mine countermeasures vessels, replenishment oilers and various auxiliaries. In addition, there are also nuclear and conventional submarines presently in service.
Contents
All ships and submarines currently in commission with the People's Liberation Army Navy were built in China, with the exception of the Sovremenny-class destroyers, Kilo-class submarines and the aircraft carrier Liaoning. Those vessels were either imported from, or originated from Russia or Ukraine. As of 2008, English-language official Chinese state media no longer uses the term "People's Liberation Army Navy", instead the term "Chinese Navy" along with the usage of the unofficial prefix "CNS" for "Chinese Navy Ship" is now employed.
Summary and method
(by type)
* Figure includes both coastal and ocean-going auxiliaries, from tugboats to hospital ships. Not counted towards total number of active ships.
The tables below list the various ships according to their class and date of commission. The newest class of ship is listed first, with proceeding classes listed afterwards, arranged in order of age. Column headings include: "Type" (i.e. Chinese class designation), the types "NATO designation", the ships "Pennant number" (or hull number), the ships name in English and Chinese (Han 中文), ships "Displacement" in tonnes, and the "Fleet" in which it serves (e.g. North Sea Fleet, South Sea Fleet and East Sea Fleet).
The "Status" column is colour coded, green indicates relatively new and modern classes in service, while red indicates obsolescence and being in the process of decommissioning as newer types are brought into service. A third colour, blue, specifically indicates a ship which is not yet in commission, but has been launched and is in the final stages of construction, or has been handed over for sea trials. Any ships with a status colour of blue is not counted towards the total number of active ships.
Where a specific piece of information is not known, the cell is left blank.
Auxiliaries
For a complete list of auxiliary vessels currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy please see: People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force#Auxiliaries. Note that it may contain significant inaccuracies.
Nomenclature
Ships of PLAN are named per Naval Vessels Naming Regulation (中国海军舰艇命名条例) that was first issued by the Central Military Commission (CMC) on November 3, 1978, and subsequently revised July 7, 1986. Per CMC convention, warships of the size of a cruiser or larger are named by Joint Staff Department, and others are named by PLAN, in accordance with the following table:
A distinct difference between PLAN and most western navies is that unlike its western counterparts, PLAN does not use ship prefixes internally. However, a system of ship prefixes similar to that of west has been developed by many internet sources for similar classification:
Image gallery
Not all classes are pictured here.