Ankang class ambulance craft is a class of little known naval
auxiliary ship
An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense.
Auxil ...
currently in service with the
People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
The exact type still remains unknown, because the only official Chinese governmental information released on these crafts is that they are classified as fast ambulance craft,
[ and has received NATO reporting name Ankang class,][ or 安康 in Chinese, meaning Well-Being. By Chinese classification, any naval vessel with displacement above a thousand ton is classified as ship / warship, and any naval vessel with displacement less than a thousand ton is classified as a boat / craft. Ankang class is the only boat / craft in the Chinese navy that is capable of hosting a helicopter, though it only has a landing pad, but not any ]hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
.[ A total of five units of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.][
Ankang class series boats in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by three-digit number. The second Chinese character is Yi (医), short for Yi-Liao (医疗), meaning medical care in Chinese, because these ships are classified as ]crew boat
A crew boat, also called a crewboat, crew transfer vessel, fast support vessel, fast supply vessel or fast intervention supply vessel, is a vessel specialized in the transport of offshore support personnel, deck cargo, and below-deck cargo such a ...
s. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the boat is service with, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet
The Eastern Theater Command Navy (), or East Sea Fleet (ESF; ), is one of the three fleets of the People's Liberation Army Navy, operating in the East China Sea under the Eastern Theater Command. It was the first naval force formed by the Peop ...
, North (Bei, 北) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet
The Southern Theater Command Navy (), or the South Sea Fleet (SSF; ) is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, operating in the South China Sea under the Southern Theater Command. It is headquartered in Zhanjiang, ...
. However, the pennant numbers are subject to change due to changes of Chinese naval ships naming convention, or when units are transferred between different fleets. Specification:
References
{{Ship classes of the Chinese Navy, state=uncollapsed
Auxiliary ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy