- Yes
- No
Many centuries ago in the mythical era of… 2020… this was originally going to be a massive suggestion for the entirety of the Type 037 family of Corvettes and their sometimes confusingly named variants both foreign and domestic… however this is a subject that was even before the uniform ship suggestion rule, simply way, WAY, too large for a single suggestion, so this is going to be a whole series of suggestions eventually across the Chinese and Other sections, to give each class and national variant its own time to shine.
即墨 Jimo (710) (background) and 胶南 Jiaonan (711) (foreground), circa 2014-2015, during handover to Tanzania, later commissioned in 2015 as Mwitongo (P77) and Msoga (P78) respectively.
Jiaonan (711) seen above is the same ship seen in the previous suggestion for the Type 037IS with the original Type 76 turrets from her time at Liugong Island base in April 2007, so clearly there were refits for older ships going from the original Type 76 to the more advanced 76A or 76F turrets in the late 2000s and/or 2010s.
黄岩 Huangyan (743) at sea, 2008. though hard to see with the small picture, it’s clear that the covered main guns are the circular Type 76A instead of the oblong Type 76F.
DESIGN:
Fundamentally the Type 037IS is the mass-produced counterpart to the Type 037I, reusing the same exact lengthened hull as the Type 037I, but with different (read: far cheaper) gun and electronics armament for a different and much less tense era, with the intent of the 037IS being a mass produced second-line ship.
As the threat of WWIII ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, the needs of every major military on earth faced a complete paradigm shift, now focusing more on intervention in smaller-scale regional conflicts… or just total military stagnation… rather than the specter of all-out total war vs an entire bloc.
With China and the PLAN, this would lead to the last member of the Type 037 family with a true mass production number- the Type 037IS (NATO reporting name: Haiqing-class), produced by Qiuxin Shipyard starting in 1993.
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unlike the base model Type 037 or the 037Is and ID, the 037IS is intended more as a general purpose small ship with more limited capabilities as a submarine hunter, but also unlike the limited production Type 037I/ID, has an electronics suite and armament that is maxed out in combat capability and costs as well… 30mm automated twin gatling guns aren’t exactly cheap, and are notoriously beasts to maintain.
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As a result of these cost cuts and mission profile changes, the Type 037IS is the last of the Type 037 family to be designated a submarine hunter.
unlike the earliest production units (or at least initially) however, the main gun armament would advance and finally leave the primitive open top turret behind.
These particualar ships; whether as-built or refitted; are commonly; if incorrectly; called the “midlife” production model, and are fitted with the fully automated H/PJ-76 turret, internationally called the Type 76A.
HISTORY… OR LACK THEREOF:
for the Type 037IS in China, there’s really not much history to speak of. they have been in a few movies and done routine patrols for the past 20-25 years, and most are still in service today. that’s about it as far as can be found.
Jiaonan (711) and sister ship Jimo (710) seen above would be removed from PLAN service and sold to Tanzania in 2014, where they were there were refitted with further different armament, and have served with the Tanzanians since 2015.
The only other easily found ship to have the Type 76A guns, Huangyan (743), has had a much less flashy life, and is likely still in service.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Displacement (normal):
478 long tons
Displacement (maximum):
490 long tons
Length:
62.8 meters
Width:
7.2 meters
Draft:
2.24 meters
Propulsion: 4 12VE230ZC diesel engines, producing 2200 horsepower each for 8800 hp (6,562 kW), powering 4 shafts for a top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
the extra weight of the 037I and 037IS took a couple knots off the original ~30 knot top speeds of the base model Type 037
Range: 1700 nmi at 18 knots
Crew: 70-71
ARMAMENT:
unlike the original Type 037 and the 037I/ID, the 037IS has main and secondary gun armament both much easier to work in general, with the new 37mm main guns coming in a variety of mountings, each of which feature their own quirks.
this armament going forward would become the basis of the mostly standard gun armament on the followup Type 037G Corvette and Type 037II Guided Missile Escort, and partially on the final incarnation of the design in the Type 206 Gunboat.
2x2 Type 76A 37mm L/63 Radar FCS-linked Autocannon
both the Type 76A and 76F turrets had improvements over the almost barbaric level of obsolete open top turret, but where the 76A both excelled and showed to be a budgetary dead end was its full electronic suite- fully unmanned electronic turret, optronic Fire Control System for the gunner (bridge gunner in this case), an additional radar-linked FCS for locking on to and accurately tracking aircraft via the Type 723 radar… oh and the guns themselves are now only full automatic only, with fire rates of 350-400 or 750-800 RPM.
While this made the Type 76A system very clearly the best of the trio, this was very expensive for the peacetime general purpose role of the Type 037IS, and ultimately showed the much simpler, manned 76F to be more cost-effective, and has since instead become a mainstay of the PLAN.
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2x2 Type 69 14.5mm HMG
sadly the beastly 30mm autocannons on the Type 037Is were dropped, as the PLAN realized fairly quickly that with the end of the Cold War, these things (and the Round Ball radars that made them work!) were ludicrously surplus to requirement, and the costs needed to keep them running consistently were far in excess of any task the ships would ever have within their realistic capability. so stick some Type 69/KPVs on the superfiring positions instead. far cheaper, far more long term reliability.
EXPLOSIVES:
The Type 037IS is the first of the family to move away from the Submarine Chaser specialization, losing its depth charge and mine racks- but there’s more to this story.
2x1 Type 87 six-shot anti-submarine rocket launchers, firing the 240mm Type 81G Depth Charge.
https://weaponsystems.net/system/552-Type+87
The Type 87 is a major upgrade over the old Type 81, let alone the even even older Type 62/RBU-1200 copies. they are fitted with an automatic loading system, making them far more useful than the practical one-shot machines they always were, because who the hell is going to hand load some anti-submarine munitions in the middle of any battle or submarine chase fast enough actually do anything meaningful?
in addition to being autoloaded, the Type 81G warhead; which seems to be the only ever ordinance made for this launcher up to present day; has a nasty 34kg warhead, can be launched a full 5 kilometers, and has a total ammo count of 48- 6 in each launcher, and 3 full reloads each.
the high effectiveness and greatly improved efficiency was such that adopting the Type 87 gave enough of a reason to entirely drop the classical fantail rail-laid depth charge + mine combo entirely.
due to just how good this launcher was upon its entry into service in the late 1980s, it’s apparently totally ubiquitous for any ship of any class to carry ASRLs and be built ever since to have these.
ELECTRONICS SUITE:
Type 723 navigation / surface search radar
Thomson-Sintra medium frequency SS-12 VDS sonar (Chinese-produced copy)
SOURCES :
if anyone has sources from some book source that covers this ship class (any language) can you please let me know? i’ve never been comfortable with relying solely on sometimes sketchy websites.
Type 037 corvette | Type 037I Haiqing-class submarine chaser
The Type 037I submarine chaser (NATO reporting name: Haiqing class), is a follow-on class of submarine chasers to the preceding Type 037-class of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. There are two designations of this class, the base Type 037I and the improved Type 037IS. The earlier boats were built by the Qiuxin Shipyard of Shanghai, and later by Huangpu Shipyard.[citation needed] The ships are armed with two 6-tubed anti-submarine mortar launchers. The earlier boats are fitted with two manually…
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/037型反潜护卫艇#037IS型反潜护卫艇
http://www.navypedia.org/ships/china/ch_cf_710.htm
海上轻骑兵—中国海军037系列猎潜艇（二）_网易新闻 - a little before halfway through page 2