P 4 Class Torpedo Boat

The P 4 class torpedo boat (TB) were aluminum-hulled torpedo boats of the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy. Based on the Soviet K-123 hydroplane design, they were armed with twin machine guns, and two torpedoes. This class is currently considered obsolete, but was not completely retired from active service, being placed in reserve until the mid-1990s.

The P 4 torpedo boats consisted of two primary types; the K-123 type with radar, and B-123 type without. The Chinese-built units made the radar standard for all boats, and replaced the original heavy machine guns onboard those former Soviet boats delivered to China with heavy machine guns.

The PLAN transferred this class to the naval militia for training purposes, and because these boats are kept and maintained on land due to their small size, they are normally in better condition than larger units that are kept in the reserve and mothballed fleets.

In addition to naval militia training duties, some of the surviving units have been converted into target drones, and have thus been returned to active service, functioning as minor support auxiliaries. As with the , the drone is controlled by larger converted gunboats such as the , , and classes.

Three P 4-class torpedo boats (T-333, T-336, and T-339) in the service of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam launched an abortive attack on the American ''Allen M. Sumner''-class destroyer on August 2, 1964, in the first Gulf of Tonkin incident (see Edwin E. Moise, Gulf of Tonkin and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 1996:73-93).

The vessels T-1 and T-3 of Cyprus Navy were dispatched to engage the first Turkish flotilla at Operation Atilla as it approached Kyrenia. One vessel was destroyed by air attack, and the other by artillery from Turkish destroyers.

P 6-class torpedo boat

The P 6-class torpedo boat ("Project 183 Bolshevik") is a development of the P 4-class TB originally intended to be a successor of P 4, but it instead complemented P 4 when both types served with each other. As with the P 4 class, the P 6-class also comes in two versions, one with radar and the other without, 183T and 183 respectively. The P 6 class TB is larger than the P 4-class TB, with its size increased by 3 times and being more heavily armed, with two 21-in torpedoes replacing the 18-in torpedoes of the P 4-class, and twin 25 mm gun mounts replacing the 14.5 mm gun mounts of P 4-class.
*Length:
*Width:
*Draft:
*Displacement: full
*Max speed: max
*Endurance: at ,
::::: at
*Propulsion: four diesel engines at each
*Armaments:
**Two torpedoes
**Four guns (II x 2), with 1000 rounds of ammo
** 8 depth charges
*Units built: 560 total (for former-USSR)

P 8-class torpedo boat

P 8-class torpedo boat is another development of P 6-class TB, which is a P 4-class with hydrofoil added. Although only a small number was built for the Soviet Navy, a large number of its derivative was built by Chinese as Type 025-class torpedo boat.

P 10-class torpedo boat

P 10-class torpedo boat was an experimental boat based on P 6-class, and it was a P 6-class powered by gasturbine engine to evaluate its feasibility of gasturbine engine for maritime use.

Variants

*B-123: also known as 123B, P 4-class torpedo boat without the radar.
*K-123: also known as 123K, P 4-class torpedo boat with the radar added.
*Project 183: P 6-class torpedo boat without the radar.
*Project 183T: Project 183 P 6-class torpedo boat with radar added.
*P 8-class torpedo boat: P 6-class torpedo boat with hydrofoil added.
*P 8-class torpedo boat: P 6-class torpedo boat with gasturbine engine installed for evaluation.

Surviving boats

* ''36'' in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast
* ''60'' in Komsomolets Torpedo Boat Memorial, St. Petersburg
* ''123'' in Kaliningrad Oblast
* ''131'' in Victory Museum, Moscow
* ''341'' in Pamyatnik Geroicheskim Moryakam Chernomortsam, Novorossiysk
* ''K-12'' in Ha'apala and Israeli Navy Museum, Haifa
* ''T-8224'' in Bangladesh Military Museum, Dhaka
* ''Unidentified'' in Kaliningrad
* ''Unidentified'' in Diorama, Sevastopol
* ''Unidentified'' in Katernikov Square, Kronstadt

References

;Notes

;Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:P 4 Class Torpedo Boat
China–Soviet Union relations
Torpedo boat classes
Torpedo boats of the People's Liberation Army Navy