Chinese Type 632 Tanker arriving in Shanghai, China

Type 632 tanker is a type of 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 Republic of China 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 Chines ...

(PLAN). Designed as a type that is capable of transporting both water and oil, these ships entered service from 1972 onward. Type 632 tanker has received the

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

as Fulin class. These ships had all retired by the late 2010s. Type 632 tankers in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by a three-digit number. The second Chinese character is You (油), meaning oil in Chinese, or Shui (水), meaning water, because these ships are classified either as oil or water tankers. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is in 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 Peopl ...

, North (Bei, 北) for

North Sea Fleet The Northern Theater Command Navy (), or the North Sea Fleet (NSF; ) is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, under the Northern Theater Command. In September 1950 the Qingdao Army Base was redesignated as a naval ...

, 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, G ...

. However, the pennant numbers may have changed due to the change in Chinese naval ships naming convention.

References

{{Ship classes of the Chinese Navy, state=uncollapsed Auxiliary ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy Auxiliary transport ship classes