054B/new generation frigate

PapaOsama

Junior Member
Registered Member
First of all how absolutely sure are you the 054A is truly limited to 27 knots? We see it regularly with Liaoning battle groups. Don't assume everything you read on paper is absolutely true to the right number. Top speeds you read about is just some kind of general assumed ceiling but it may not be the actual operating ceiling. Only the PLAN knows their true ceiling.
I remember that it said 27 knots on the information poster when I went on board one.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
Isn't there a general rule that if you want to sustain 30 knots you pretty much have to have a war ship that runs on turbines, and not piston engines?
I'm not an engineer, I'm just making a casual observation here.


All ships have to obey the same laws of physics. We know the size and shape of the Type 054A so the hydro-dynamic forces acting on the ship can be calculated. The Type 054A runs on piston engines. We know what the PWR power to weight ratio is for such engines.
Therefore the design speed of the Type 054A can be calculated. I do Not think it is 30 knots.

Yet somehow the Iver Huitfeldt is able to sustain it, and it's rated at 30 knots.

Why don't you do some calculation and tell me about the weight of those MTU engines?

No such rule that a diesel powered boat or ship is slow.

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Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
Yet somehow the Type 901 AOE is based off on diesel engines.

The idea here is that the carrier group itself does not sustain over 30 knots, and if it does so, it will burn the fuel out of the escorts as they are forced to run their gas turbines at max power. The high speeds are reserved for the occasional sprints, while slower frigates would already act as picket ships by fanning out ahead of the fleet to spot for aircraft and submarines.
 

tphuang

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Yet somehow the Iver Huitfeldt is able to sustain it, and it's rated at 30 knots.
Do we have evidence it can sustain it vs just reaching it for very short spurts?
Why don't you do some calculation and tell me about the weight of those MTU engines?

No such rule that a diesel powered boat or ship is slow.

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Nobody is saying that diesel boats can't go fast. What we are saying is that you need certain power to sustain quick dashes in a carrier group.

Sure, a replenishment ship is unable to sustain the same speed, but it can trail the action. It doesn't need to sprint 6 days from Pearl to 1500 km off Taiwan or sprint 9 days from SCS to Persian Gulf. You need all your escort there to protect your prized carrier. Your primary escort of next 20 years need to be able to carry out all the missions that might come up.

Anyways, you clearly support the idea of CODAD propulsion and I don't. I will just leave it as that.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
I think the 901 uses 4 turbines?
I agree with you btw. You don't "need" turbines for 30 knots, and you certainly don't need 30 knots "sustained to keep up with a carrier group". That is not how things work in real life.

There is a CCTV TV documentary about the ship and the onboard engineer described four diesel engines. This does not surprise me as China and the PLAN loves their diesels.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
Do we have evidence it can sustain it vs just reaching it for very short spurts?

Nobody is saying that diesel boats can't go fast. What we are saying is that you need certain power to sustain quick dashes in a carrier group.

Sure, a replenishment ship is unable to sustain the same speed, but it can trail the action. It doesn't need to sprint 6 days from Pearl to 1500 km off Taiwan or sprint 9 days from SCS to Persian Gulf. You need all your escort there to protect your prized carrier. Your primary escort of next 20 years need to be able to carry out all the missions that might come up.

Anyways, you clearly support the idea of CODAD propulsion and I don't. I will just leave it as that.

Diesels can run it as long as they can as long as they have the fuel for it.

It is not necessary for frigates to sprint. The Royal Navy had Type 41 and Type 61 frigates and destroyers that were diesel powered, ran only up to 24 knots, but these were used to radar picket and air defense ships ahead of a carrier group. Decades later after many surface warships in between are consuming expensive high grade fuel, the Royal Navy is going back to all diesels for the Type 31.

Your frigate running at full power sustained to keep up with a sprinting carrier group can find itself running out of fuel quicker before the destroyers did.

Remember that you always have to keep focus on what a frigate should be. It needs to be cheap, reliable, dependable, maintainable, and in the worst case, expendable. It needs to be cheap to operate, and using cheaper diesel fuel aids in the bill. You have a powerplant set up that is already highly trusted, and you already have a base of mechanics ready to fix, engineers to maintain them. You already have your primary escorts with the 052D and 055; you don't need another ship with the cost and mission creep that will eventually compete with them.

If the PLAN wants to go with a one gas turbine, four diesel engine, with electric motor setup, this is an entirely new and untested platform that will necessitate a change of the Type designation, maybe to 057 or 058. They will also build a few ships first, anywhere from two to four, then see how it goes, then fix all the issues for the next batch. Its not something they will build at least eight ships at one time.
 

charles18

Junior Member
Registered Member
Yet somehow the Iver Huitfeldt is able to sustain it, and it's rated at 30 knots.

Why don't you do some calculation and tell me about the weight of those MTU engines?

No such rule that a diesel powered boat or ship is slow.

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The Type 054A frigate is a monohull and also a war ship.
You gave me an example of a catamaran that is a ferry. How is this related to the topic?

Why don't you give me an example of a piston engine powered, monohull, warship that can sustain 30 knots, I'd appreciate it.
also
We're talking about propeller driven. Let's stay on topic please.
 

Gloire_bb

Captain
Registered Member
Do we have evidence it can sustain it vs just reaching it for very short spurts?
Classic of long-range diesel warships - Deutschland class - could, on 1920s technology level(though suffered of high vibration near top speeds).
100 years later it is no less doable...thou if you need sustaining high speeds, turbines are just a far more straightforward(superior) choice.
But that doesn't mean diesels can't.
 
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