plawolf
Lieutenant General
The operational environment and demands for an ASW ship has changed considerably since WWII.
During most of WWII, sonar and radar had very limited range, and was only really useful after a sub had been detected. Thus, the primary means of hunting submarines was to have lots and lots of aircraft and ships, preferably small, fast ships that would not be easy prey for sub torpedoes and could quickly speed to the location of a sighting to deploy their sonars before the sub could slip out of range.
WWII sub chasers were effective because they are so small and could be built in vast numbers. But that does not mean that they were, or are, the most effective platforms for the job.
With modern subs getting so much more quieter, and modern weapons having far greater ranges, the old sub chaser tactics simply would not work any more.
In addition, the small size of the 056 would limit the size of any sonar and processing equipment that could be carried, which in turn would limit its effectiveness at detecting modern subs.
The range issues is also critical for a blue water navy like what the PLAN is now aiming to be. Smaller ships means less endurance, that would place a much greater burden on underway replenishment ships on any PLAN task force, and would almost certainly slow the task group down as replenishment usually are only done between 12 and 16 knots.
Thus, all in all, if the PLAN wants to address it's current ASW weaknesses, they would be far better off using a much bigger platform. It would not surprise me all that much if the next 054 model turned out to be a ASW version, or one that has a much heavier emphasis on the ASW field instead of just focusing on adding more anti-air capabilities, since between the 052Cs, 051Cs and 054As, the PLAN seem to have that nicely covered already.
I see the 056s as more of a first island chain and South China Sea patrol ship. The lack of a hanger could also be because they were never intended to venture far enough out to sea to need a hanger as the waters they would typically be operating in would be calm enough that a helo would be fine just lashed down, or it would be able to fly to a land base if a storm came in that an 056 can't outrun or go around.
Regarding ASW cover for major naval bases, well, China does not want to develop an US style SOSUS network because of concerns about the vulnerability of such a network to sabotage and attack during war times, but they would have no such concerns about laying a limited SOSUS network to monitor the waters around sensitive sites like naval bases.
In addition, the best weapon against a sub is always another sub. And China has enough advanced SSKs that any USN sub thinking about sneaking across the line to get a better peek is running a massive risk. Especially in the noisy, shallow complex waters of China's coast.
Under such conditions, a Song, Yuan or Kilo lying in wait would be next to impossible to detect using passive sonar. OTOH, any waiting Chinese SSK could just switch on their active sonar if they hear anything suspicious, or call in an MPA or helo from the naval base if they don't want to give any their location.
The PLAN only have to get lucky once, and if they catch a USN SSN sneaking about in Chinese territorial waters, you can bet your butt they will impound it, or sink it if it tried to flee.
During the cold war, American subs could act with the kind of recklessness they now brag about because they were confident that the threat of all out nuclear war would give the soviets pause even if they did catch an American boat in their waters, and also because the threat of all out nuclear war was hanging over everyone's head, so they were given a lot more slack than they would be allowed today.
Sending subs to sneak about in Chinese territorial waters would carry so much risk for the Americans, that without the threat of all out nuclear war as an excuse, no sane or logical commander would authorize such moves, if out of nothing more than sheer common sense.
If the Chinese caught a US SSN, even an older LA class, the technological and intelligence value of the boat and the political value of the incident would be immeasurable.
Frankly, the US would struggle to come up with a better way of helping the PLAN than to have one of it's own subs get caught in Chinese waters.
During most of WWII, sonar and radar had very limited range, and was only really useful after a sub had been detected. Thus, the primary means of hunting submarines was to have lots and lots of aircraft and ships, preferably small, fast ships that would not be easy prey for sub torpedoes and could quickly speed to the location of a sighting to deploy their sonars before the sub could slip out of range.
WWII sub chasers were effective because they are so small and could be built in vast numbers. But that does not mean that they were, or are, the most effective platforms for the job.
With modern subs getting so much more quieter, and modern weapons having far greater ranges, the old sub chaser tactics simply would not work any more.
In addition, the small size of the 056 would limit the size of any sonar and processing equipment that could be carried, which in turn would limit its effectiveness at detecting modern subs.
The range issues is also critical for a blue water navy like what the PLAN is now aiming to be. Smaller ships means less endurance, that would place a much greater burden on underway replenishment ships on any PLAN task force, and would almost certainly slow the task group down as replenishment usually are only done between 12 and 16 knots.
Thus, all in all, if the PLAN wants to address it's current ASW weaknesses, they would be far better off using a much bigger platform. It would not surprise me all that much if the next 054 model turned out to be a ASW version, or one that has a much heavier emphasis on the ASW field instead of just focusing on adding more anti-air capabilities, since between the 052Cs, 051Cs and 054As, the PLAN seem to have that nicely covered already.
I see the 056s as more of a first island chain and South China Sea patrol ship. The lack of a hanger could also be because they were never intended to venture far enough out to sea to need a hanger as the waters they would typically be operating in would be calm enough that a helo would be fine just lashed down, or it would be able to fly to a land base if a storm came in that an 056 can't outrun or go around.
Regarding ASW cover for major naval bases, well, China does not want to develop an US style SOSUS network because of concerns about the vulnerability of such a network to sabotage and attack during war times, but they would have no such concerns about laying a limited SOSUS network to monitor the waters around sensitive sites like naval bases.
In addition, the best weapon against a sub is always another sub. And China has enough advanced SSKs that any USN sub thinking about sneaking across the line to get a better peek is running a massive risk. Especially in the noisy, shallow complex waters of China's coast.
Under such conditions, a Song, Yuan or Kilo lying in wait would be next to impossible to detect using passive sonar. OTOH, any waiting Chinese SSK could just switch on their active sonar if they hear anything suspicious, or call in an MPA or helo from the naval base if they don't want to give any their location.
The PLAN only have to get lucky once, and if they catch a USN SSN sneaking about in Chinese territorial waters, you can bet your butt they will impound it, or sink it if it tried to flee.
During the cold war, American subs could act with the kind of recklessness they now brag about because they were confident that the threat of all out nuclear war would give the soviets pause even if they did catch an American boat in their waters, and also because the threat of all out nuclear war was hanging over everyone's head, so they were given a lot more slack than they would be allowed today.
Sending subs to sneak about in Chinese territorial waters would carry so much risk for the Americans, that without the threat of all out nuclear war as an excuse, no sane or logical commander would authorize such moves, if out of nothing more than sheer common sense.
If the Chinese caught a US SSN, even an older LA class, the technological and intelligence value of the boat and the political value of the incident would be immeasurable.
Frankly, the US would struggle to come up with a better way of helping the PLAN than to have one of it's own subs get caught in Chinese waters.
