Type 946

submarine rescue ship A submarine rescue ship is a surface support ship for submarine rescue and deep-sea salvage operations. Methods employed include the McCann Rescue Chamber, deep-submergence rescue vehicles (DSRV's) and diving operations. List of active subm ...

with

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 ...

Dazhou (大舟, meaning Great Ark) class is a type of coastal submarine rescue ship developed by China for 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 ...

(PLAN). A development designated as Type 946A is also in service with PLAN.

Type 946

The Type 946 is the first model of Type 946 series and the requirement of Type 946 was issued on January 22, 1970 from PLAN headquarters, with two ships to be built simultaneously. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard was originally assigned as the contractor, but this was later changed to

Guangzhou Shipyard International CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) Company Limited (COMEC), formerly Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited (GSI), is the largest modern integrated shipbuilding enterprise based in Southern China. It was founded in 1954 and is ...

. Construction begun on July 25, 1974, and both were launched on the same day, May 5, 1977, and sea trials for both begun in June 1977. Sea trials close to shore was completed from September 23 through September 30, 1977, and from November 26 through December 1977, sea trials in open ocean was completed for both ships. Both units were formally handed over to PLAN on December 26, 1977, and both were initially assigned to South Sea Fleet. However, one of the ship, Nan-Jiu 504 was reassigned to

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 renamed as Bei-Jiu 137. Specification: *Length (m): 79 *Beam (m): 9.5 *Draft (m): 2.6 *Displacement (t): 1100 *Speed (kt): 18 *Crew: 130 *Armament: 4 twin 37 mm gun & 4 twin 14.5 mm MG *Propulsion: two diesel engines

Type 946A

The Type 946A (Type 946 Jia, 甲) is the successor of the earlier Type 946, and it is an enlarged version of Type 946. Requirements were issued in September 1978, with Hudong Shipyard assigned as the builder. The ship entered service with PLAN in December 1982 and received NATO reporting name Dadong (大东) class, meaning Great East. Type 946A is the last purposely designed submarine rescue ship in PLAN service, and later ships would have both the submarine rescue capability and capability to resupply submarines, and hence referred as submarine support ships by Chinese. Specification:Type 946A
/ref> *Length (m): 82 *Beam (m): 11 *Draft (m): 2.7 *Displacement (t): 1500 *Speed (kt): 18 *Crew: 150 *Armament: 4 twin 25 mm gun *Propulsion: two 7400 hp diesel engine.

Ships

Type 946 series in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by three-digit number. The second Chinese character is Jiu (救), meaning service in Chinese, because these ships are classified as service ship. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is service with, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, 北) for

, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet. The pennant numbers have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention.

References

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