I don’t think the pace is really abating. We might get a short term slump as the yards regroup and start laying down new hulls, but my guess is planners have assumed these tensions aren’t going away just to be on the safe side, which means they’ll be committing to a much more rapid force build up as a hedge position. The planned fleet size might have grown a lot too, in response to their perceived trajectory of the geopolitical climate.
052C/052D Class Destroyers
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Yes, all the 8 055s and 25 052Ds will be commissioned by 2023.
Every once in a while the PLAN appears to do a reevaluation of their projects so you are not going the wrong route down the long term. Its hard to know what goes on internally. Such gaps can lead to a transition to new models, e.g. 052E, 055A, and the like. Its also hard to say what goes on inside those factories if they are already building new modules for the next batches until these modules are wheeled out to the drydocks. If there is an urgency, they may already be cutting and pressing steel to build new modules inside those factories, with new orders to build engines, radars, guns, VLS and so on with the subcontractors. It may still take a while before all these would manifest in the drydocks.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
via Henri K blog. The commissioning of type 52D is excruciatingly slow. The still have roughly 10+ ships in various stages of outfitting. Hope they speed up the process in light of changing geo politic. It is more urgent now
According to some sources, the Type 052D 122 Tangshan destroyer was admitted to active service on August 14 in Qingdao, by the 10th destroyer flotilla (Northern Fleet). If this is confirmed, it will then be the 14th in class to enter service and the 2nd since early 2020.
According to some sources, the Type 052D 122 Tangshan destroyer was admitted to active service on August 14 in Qingdao, by the 10th destroyer flotilla (Northern Fleet). If this is confirmed, it will then be the 14th in class to enter service and the 2nd since early 2020.
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Lethe
Captain
The estimates provided on Chinese Wikipedia for future service entry dates of 052Ds currently under construction seem somewhat optimistic. JN seems to average a bit over 2 years between launch and commissioning, DL a bit over 3 years. This gives us 15 units in service by end 2020, 18 by end 2021, 22 by end 2022, 25 by end 2023.
DL's commission is kind of tilted by the fact that just about every 052D of their production goes to the 10th Destroyer Division except for one ship, and the fact that DL's 052Ds seems to stay around for months moored without doing anything or having worked on, which means they have already passed their trials and there is nothing on the ship to be worked on, seems to point out a slow problem in the PLAN's end, specifically with the 10th Destroyer Division. Why all of the 052Ds of Dalian, except for one ship #163, are all destined to the 10th is another mind boggling question. Only one ship from Jiangnan went to the 10th, which is #122, and that lingered for a while in Jiangnan's outer pier.
I would expect all 25 to be in service by 2023. Its possible the 10th Destroyer Division will accelerate adoption after a slow start after the first "seed" ships that will help establish experience in using and maintaining these ships. A good way to observe progress in that division---which is being transformed from backwater fleet to front line destroyer squadron---is the kind of training the division is involved in. Recently 120 Chengdu for example, has participated in unrep and live fire exercises in coordination with 101 Nanchang and one of the Type 901s. If one of their destroyers gets a job leading a Gulf of Aden escort mission, that would be a good boost of confidence to that squadron.
156 should be Zibo.