PLAN Fleet supply vessels

[Cloud_Nine_]

Interesting feature: she is asymmetrical... A requirement to do UNREP with two different sized (and thus UNREP station) carriers perhaps?

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

A side-by-side satellite imagery comparison between the (from left to right) 903/A, 901, and the new AOE/AOR. Posted by @水灵海豚玩拼图 on Weibo.

 

[Blitzo]

View attachment 173221View attachment 173222
Interesting feature: she is asymmetrical... A requirement to do UNREP with two different sized (and thus UNREP station) carriers perhaps?

901 class and Supply class are also asymmetrical in some structural features (including key things like kingposts).

Carriers and LHDs refuel and resupply on their starboard side, meaning any replenishment ship would be providing fuel and stores on its own port side.


It's less about a requirement to do underway replenishment for different sized ships, but rather that in general a replenishment ship would only resupply and refuel a carrier or LHD on its port side kingposts to begin with; so there may be more kingposts and have its exposed deck on the port side to be better suited for carrier/LHD replenishment, while the starboard side is more for general replenishment of surface combatants, other amphibs etc.

 

[Tomboy]

Here is the superstructure already manufactured in the adjacent drydock, it appears to share some similarity with 901 class ships, mainly the shape of the bridge and mast but otherwise has a completely different superstructure design.

 

[nimitz123]

A ship of this size needs to have VLS rearm. So can we assume that PLAN has perfected this technology ?

 

[Tomboy]

A ship of this size needs to have VLS rearm. So can we assume that PLAN has perfected this technology ?

No because no navy in the world actively practice that for good reasons. Also what is your reasoning behind your statement that a ship of this size needs to have VLS rearm?

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

If true, this is an interesting development. I always thought that it would be more likely to see a successor to the 903A, likely around the 30-35K ton range, rather than seeing a 901 successor, given there's really only one other class of supply ships in the world that compare to it (Supply-class). Could hint that China intends to form larger CSGs in the coming years for longer distance and duration missions given the lack of overseas bases? Even if it's still relatively close to him.

A successor to both the 903/A and the 901 classes seems reasonable, and a 901 successor/evolution should have always been on the cards, in fact I'm surprised it's taken this long.

Something 901 sized or larger (i.e.: Supply class size or larger) would be expected as more of a CSG oriented AOE.
903/As or something larger in the 30,000t category would be suitable for SAGs, ESGs, and augmenting AOEs in a CSG.

(acronym overload)

Given that the 903/A-class AORs date back to the early-2000s with the first two hulls, I would agree that it's time for the 903/A AOR to have its own successor class of AOEs/AORs, similar to how this unknown large AOE at Guangzhou is to the 901 AOE twins.

Full-load displacement of around 30000 tons, i.e., roughly about the same size as the Jacques Chevallier-class AOE/AOR of the French Navy should do. Not too big a displacement increase should still enable Chinese shipyards to rapidly construct these ships, similar to how the current batch 903As are being constructed and put into active service with the PLAN (at least 5 hulls since 2023).

These medium-sized AOE/AORs would be crucial to support the PLAN's ever-expanding surface combatant fleets (in SAGs) and amphibious assault fleets (in ESGs) for operations across the oceans farther from home, considering that newer warships are getting larger and having greater demands for better seakeeping and longer endurance capabilities.

 

[Cloud_Nine_]

Da Bao sensei works fast. Also yuuuge.

 

[CR400BF5033]

Looking at the engine room from the satellite image, it's still 4x diesels and the arrangement is similar to original 901? Hope there are some better engines otherwise it will be hard for this 901 ProMax to follow CSGs.

 

[AndrewS]

Looking at the engine room from the satellite image, it's still 4x diesels and the arrangement is similar to original 901? Hope there are some better engines otherwise it will be hard for this 901 ProMax to follow CSGs.

The original Type-091 uses 4 gas turbines?

But presumably they will use more powerful gas turbines as the ship is significantly larger (~70K tonnes?)