On June 18, 2020, at the PLA naval base in Xiamen, an ordinary event took place: the ceremony of entering into the PLA Navy a new corvette of Project 056A "Jingdezhen" (tail number 617).
Information about this really passed in passing. Well, what's wrong, one more corvette got into operation. Is not it?
Unfortunately, this is so. There are countries where the launching of a diving boat is already an event of the first magnitude, and somewhere a corvette is commonplace. Especially if from the beginning of this year alone No. 617 is the ninth in a row. And in total, the PLA Navy is in service with 57 project 056 corvettes.
If we compare with our fleet, then in terms of quantity we have so many anti-sabotage boats. But this, you see, is a somewhat different class of boat than a corvette.
The Chinese fleet today is the fastest growing fleet on our planet … Twenty years ago, such a statement would have caused laughter, but alas, this is the current reality.
The Chinese were able to do what few countries could: put the construction of warships on stream. Indeed, few have done this in history. What was the “fault” here, a rational approach, a planned socialist economy, a huge number of working hands, is not so important.
And now not all can be called the contemptuous term "Chinese Xerox".
Although in the Chinese corvettes there is a lot from the Soviet school. When creating their ships, the Chinese used much that was provided by the Soviet Union. Specifically, there are a lot of Soviet small missile ships in the corvettes, only the corvettes came out considerably larger than their predecessors.
Is it worth comparing Chinese corvettes, for example, with Russian ones? It seems that we are not even rivals in any region. And in the Pacific Ocean, even more so, our Pacific Fleet is in no way a competitor to the Chinese fleet. Neither the number of ships nor the quality.
However, it makes sense to compare. Despite the fact that the Chinese have been actively extracting technologies and equipment samples all over the world for the last twenty years, they really created their own design school, which is confirmed by the corvette of the 056 project. We are simply silent about shipbuilding, because only the Americans are really more powerful. Bye.
Our ship of project 20385 will be the subject of comparison.
Yes, they were built not as many as Chinese, but here it is clear, on the one hand, we do not have such opportunities as in the PRC, on the other, project 20380 is more impressive than 056, and not only in size. Although in size too.
Full displacement 20380/056 - 1300/2430 tons.
Still, an enlarged missile boat is not yet a full-fledged corvette. Although the German "Braunschweig" has a displacement of 1840 tons, which is also less than ours, but not so critical.
The Russian ship is 10 meters longer, 2 meters wider, and the draft is also larger.
The speed data is approximately equal, 056 is faster by 1 knot, the economic move is also higher, 18 knots versus 14.
In terms of cruising range, our ship has 4000 miles against 3500 for the Chinese.
Crew: 60 people on a Chinese ship and 100 on a Russian one.
But then serious discrepancies begin. And it immediately becomes clear that the difference in displacement and the number of crews gives its advantages.
The Chinese have equipped their corvette quite modestly in terms of radar equipment. Surveillance radar type 364 and fire control radar - type 347 (guidance of missiles SAM HQ-10). The richer Russian ship: Furke-2, Monument-A, MR-231 and Pal-N.
The sonar equipment is approximately equal, active and passive towed GUS, there are also intra-keel sonars.
Artillery armament. The Russian ship has a 100-mm gun, the Chinese has a 76-mm copy of the AK-176 mount. You don't have to comment further.
The anti-aircraft artillery of the Chinese ship consists of two 30-mm anti-aircraft guns H / PJ-17, ours also has two AK-630M. Russian weapons look preferable.
The anti-aircraft missiles of the 056 project are very, very good. This is the HQ-10 SAM, the Chinese version of the RAM SAM (RIM-116). A very effective complex, the only drawback is a small (8 pcs.) Stock of missiles. We have the Redut air defense system, a completely modern and high-quality complex.
The main missile armament. The Chinese ship is armed with 4 YJ-83 missiles.
Range: 120 km. Speed: subsonic and supersonic (not a fact, there are doubts about this) in the final phase of the flight. The Russian ship is armed with Onyx or Zircons, which can be launched from the UKSK system. But since the Zircon is comparable to the Caliber in terms of launch, it means that these corvettes can operate with the original Caliber, which is much more serious than the Chinese ones. And the Russian ship has 8 missiles.
Torpedo armament. The Chinese corvette has two 324 mm three-tube torpedo tubes, while the Russian one has two 330 mm four-tube torpedo tubes.
Of course, the Russian ship looks unambiguously stronger, but 2 ships against 57 is not a very nice comparison. Not in terms of a hypothetical confrontation, but in terms of the release of such ships.
However, we say that the Project 065 corvette, which is a continuation of the Project 037 missile boat project, is a very interesting ship.
In fact, this is a multifunctional ship, suitable for both patrol service and anti-submarine work, and has good anti-ship weapons. Anti-submarine armament was significantly strengthened for the ships of the 056A project, which generally transferred the corvette to the category of good full-fledged universal ships.
And despite the fact that the ship has its drawbacks, such as the absence of a hangar for a helicopter. There is a site, that is, the use of a helicopter is possible, but permanent basing is not provided. And this weakens the functions of anti-submarine defense and the reconnaissance capabilities of the ship.
But the main advantages of the 056 project corvette are its low cost and manufacturability, which made it possible to launch the production of the corvette in a series that inspires respect.
And the ship itself fully meets the requirements of today for a patrol ship, the main task of which is to protect the territorial waters. 056 will cope with this work, moreover, ships of this class will be able to eliminate the possibility of a more serious threat.
In any case, there is a case when the "Xerox" was very useful in ensuring state security. And the PRC demonstrates this quite well.
Afterword. The error that the "Caliber" can be fired from the "Uranus" launcher has been fixed. I admit, I apologize.
