Type 7102 is a Chinese minesweeper developed for the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...

(PLAN), and by the early 2010s, it has already been retired from active service from PLAN. Type 7102 is designed to supplement or replace earlier Type 058, which despite its successful development, failed to enter service in large numbers. The reason Type 058 did not enter large production is due to its construction material, which was the manganese-aluminium based low-magnetic steel, was extremely difficult to process because the limitation of Chinese industrial and technical capability at the time. As a result, an alternative was sought and it was decided to develop a

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

-hulled minesweeper, which was designated as Type 7102. Construction begun in May 1972 at

Wuhu Wuhu () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province of China, province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei City to the n ...

Shipyard (芜湖造船厂), the predecessor of th
Wuhu Xinlian Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (芜湖新联造船有限公司)
and after two and half a year, the boat was launched in December 1974. From April through September 1975, both riverine and sea trials were completed at the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

River. The minesweeper was formally handed over to PLAN in November 1975, but only a single unit was built, and has since retired from active service in the Chinese navy.

References

{{Ship classes of the Chinese Navy, state=uncollapsed Minesweepers of the People's Liberation Army Navy