''Huainan'' (123) is a Type 052DL destroyer of the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...

Development and design

The basic ship type and layout of the ''Type 052D'' guided-missile destroyer is the same as that of the

Type 052C destroyer The Type 052C destroyer (NATO/Office of the Secretary of Defense, OSD Luyang II-class destroyer) is a ship class, class of guided-missile destroyers in the China, Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force (PLAN). The Type 052C introduc ...

, but compared to the earlier Type 052C destroyer, the Type 052D superstructure has a larger inclination angle and provides better stealth performance. At the same time, the 052C helicopter hangar is located The left side of the hull axis was changed to the center axis of the ship on Type 052D; a pair of small boat storage compartments were added on both sides of the hangar, similar to the design on the

Type 054A frigate The Type 054A (NATO/ OSD Jiangkai II) is a class of guided-missile frigate from the People's Republic of China. It is a development of the Type 054 frigate; compared to its predecessor, the Type 054A has medium-range air defense capability in th ...

. The close in weapon system is composed of a H/PJ-12 short-range defense weapon system located in front of the bridge and a 24 Hongqi-10 air defense missile system located on the top of the hangar, which is combined to form a ladder interception. The original 100mm naval gun was replaced by a higher height and better stealth model H/PJ45 naval gun. On May 13, 2019, the extended version of the 052DL was exposed. The hull of the 052DL is basically the same as the 052D, but the helicopter deck is lengthened to prepare for the Zhi-20 to board the ship. The Type 52D is the first Chinese surface combatant to use canister-based universal VLS, as opposed to the concentric type VLS carried aboard earlier vessels. 64 cells are carried; 32 forward and 32 aft.Li: page 44 The VLS is reportedly an implementation of the

GJB 5860-2006 GJB 5860-2006 () is a Chinese military technical standard describing a vertical launching system (VLS) for all types of missiles aboard surface combatants. Cells have a square crosssection with sides, and may be , , or deep. Each cell carries on ...

standard. The VLS may fire the extended-range variant of the

HHQ-9 The HQ-9 () is a long-range semi-active radar homing (SARH) surface-to-air missile (SAM) developed by the People's Republic of China. The naval variant is the HHQ-9 (). Description The HQ-9 is a derivative of the Russian S-300. Justin Bronk d ...

surface-to-air missile,

YJ-18 The YJ-18 (, NATO designation CH-SS-NX-13) is a Chinese family of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles. Description The United States Department of Defense believes the YJ-18 is similar to the Russian 3M-54 Klub, with a subsonic cruise m ...

anti-ship cruise missiles, and CY-5 anti-submarine missiles.

Construction and career

''Huainan'' was launched on 15 April 2019 at the

Jiangnan Shipyard Jiangnan Shipyard () is a historic shipyard in Shanghai, China. The shipyard has been state-owned since its founding in 1865 and is now operated as Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co. Ltd. Before 2009, the company was south of central Shanghai at ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. She was commissioned in 2021. On 2 March 2021, ''Huainan'', ''Tangshan'', ''Qiqihar'' and ''Zhangjiakou'' conducted a training exercise in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...

. In February 2023, the destroyer was deployed to the south

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

to engage in joint exercises with the South African and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

navies that were to be held in waters off South Africa. The exercise began on 18 February and involved the frigate '' Admiral Gorshkov'' and tanker ''Kama'' from the Russian Navy along with the People's Liberation Army Navy frigate ''

Rizhao Rizhao (), alternatively romanized as Jihchao, is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Shandong province, China. It is situated on the coastline along the Yellow Sea, and features a major seaport. It borders Qingdao to the northeast, Weifang t ...

'' and the support ship '' Kekexilihu''. Several vessels from the South African Navy were expected to participate including the frigate ''

Mendi Mendi, Papua New Guinea, is the provincial capital of the Southern Highlands Province. The Lai River flows by the town. It is served by Mendi Airport. The town falls under Mendi Urban LLG. Geography The town is located in the Mendi River ...

'' as well as the Warrior-class patrol vessel ''King Sekhukhune I'' and the hydrographic survey vessel SAS ''Protea''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huainan 2019 ships Ships built in China Type 052D destroyers