- Yes, with the missiles
- Yes, without the missiles
- Yes, as a premium ship
- No
- The standard version with dual 37mm guns
- Lianjiang as she initally appeared (with a single 76mm gun)
- Both versions!
- No
- 4.3
- 4.7
- 5.0
- I said no
Design
The design of the Type 037II Houjian-class missile boat, also known as the Red Arrow-class, was derived from the many variants of the Type 037 submarine chaser, which have already been covered in many previous posts. It was designed by an American firm, initially being designed with a 76mm OTO-Melara gun and Harpoon missiles, but following the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, these weapons would never arrive. It had a displacement of 520 tons, a length of 65.4 metres, a beam of 8.4 metres and a draft of 2.4 metres. It was powered by a couple of SEMT-Pielstick diesel engines with 15,840 HP transferred to three propeller shafts.
Six ships have been built, with one of them having being turned into a museum ship:
- Yangjiang (770)
- Shunde (771) - Retired in October 15, 2021
- Nanhai (772) - Retired in October 15, 2021
- Panyu (773)
- Lianjiang (774)
- Xinhui (775)
Armament and equipment
The ships of the class were equipped with a Type-347G fire control radar, a Type 352 search radar and a Type 765 navigation radar.
Its armament consisted of a pair of 37mm Type 76 anti-aircraft guns in a turret, with a fire rate of 800 RPM, being accompanied with two 30mm Type 69/AK-230 CIWS turrets mounted on the rear of the ship. Lianjiang, the fifth ship of the class, would instead be equipped with a 76mm AK-176M gun, similar to that found in the Pauk/MPK Pr.12412-class corvette until her eventual loss and repair in 2008.
The main spotlight of this ship’s armament would be a pair of triple YJ-8A anti-ship missile mounts, capable of travelling at around Mach 0.9 and having a range of 42 kilometres. It would have a warhead weight of 162 kg and was significantly lighter than its contemporaries at just 842 kg.
Service History
The first ship, Yangjiang, was commissioned on 1991, successfully conducting tests of its YJ-83 missiles in July 1992. The rest (except Lianjiang and Xinhui) followed suit in 1995 over the course of a few months. Though more ships were planned to have been made, due to the economical situation of the Chinese Navy at the time and their high costs, no further ships were made. These four ships would first be deployed rotationally with two ships serving at a time in June 1997, immediately after Britain handed over Hong Kong to China. For unknown reasons, the final ship of the class, Xinhui, was commissioned four years after its sisters had been commissioned in 1999.
The service of the fifth ship of the class, Lianjiang, would be a very unfortunate one as it would experience a fatal collision just 5 years after being commissioned in 2001. On an early morning in June 2006, it would collide with a freighter from Hong Kong and sank, killing 13 sailors and injuring four. It would eventually be salvaged, repaired and recommissioned in 2008, with its 76mm gun being replaced with the dual 37mm found on its sisters.
The Nanhai and Shunde were decommissioned on October 15 2021, with Nanhai going on to serve as a museum ship in Jieshou, Anhui. As of 2021, the other four ships are still in active service.
Gallery
Sources
