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China has the largest navy in the world in terms of number of ships.
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The Type 055 is the largest destroyer class in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
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Chinese media has touted the Type 055 as the second most powerful in the world after the USS Zumwalt.
China currently has the world’s largest navy in terms of total number of ships. The Type 055 is the largest destroyer class in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
The Chinese Navy has 355 ships, more than the US Navy’s 297 ships.
China State Shipbuilding Corp. began construction of its largest ship, the Type 055, in 2014. The Type 055 destroyers have been in service since 2020.
The destroyer class is also known as the Renhai class cruiser. As a multi-purpose warship, it is equipped with weapons to fight missiles, ships and submarines, according to the South China Morning Post.
Today, six of them are in service, although the Chinese navy has said it plans to expand the class to a fleet of 16 ships.
Several military experts told the Global Times, a state media outlet, that the destroyer’s role is to deter foreign intervention in the event that China launches a military attack on Taiwan.
Chinese media have touted the ship as the world’s second most powerful destroyer, after the USS Zumwalt.
The Zumwalt is the largest destroyer in the world, with a displacement of 15,907 tons. The Type 055 is slightly lighter at 12,000-13,000 tons.
Unlike the American-made USS Zumwalt, which is aimed at land attacks, the Type 055 is an amphibious assault ship, according to the SCMP.
And while the Zumwalt has since been dubbed a “ship failure” after being plagued with equipment problems, the Type 055 has been hailed as “the most powerful destroyer in the world” by several military publications.
The Type 055 is the world’s first destroyer to test railgun technologies at sea, according to Military Watch Magazine.
There are six ships in the Type 055 class.
The very first ship in the class, the Nanchang (pennant number 101), was launched in June 2017 and commissioned in January 2020. Five more have been deployed on active duty since then: the Lhasa (102), Anshan (104), Wuxi (107), Dalian (105) and Yan’an (106), according to the geopolitical publication Special Eurasia.
The ships are part of China’s Northern Theater Command, which includes Mongolia, Russian Siberia and Korea; and the Southern Theater Command, which includes the South China Sea and Southeast Asia, by Special Eurasia.
The huge ships are powered by six turbine generators, according to The Diplomat.
The ships use four gas turbines that generate a total of 150,000 horsepower. They have a cruising speed of 30 knots (56 kilometers per hour). The ships can accommodate more than 300 crew members on board.
According to Global Times, Lhasa, the second ship in the class, was spotted as far as the Sea of Japan in June.
The ships cost 6 billion Chinese yuan ($920 million) per unit, according to Military Watch Magazine, making it much cheaper than the USS Zumwalt.
One Zumwalt unit costs the US Navy $7 billion, according to Foreign Policy.
Although the Type 055 is less expensive than its American counterpart, it costs more than other notable Chinese ships. According to the SCMP, the Chinese Navy’s Type 054D, which was once its prized class of warships, cost half the Type 055. The Type 055 represents a “major qualitative leap” for China in terms of developing first-class surface fighters, according to the SCMP. SCMP to a 2020 report from the US Naval War College.
Unlike the Zumwalt destroyers, the Type 055 has advanced stealth capabilities, according to Military Watch Magazine.
The Type 055 has dual-band radar systems, the Type 346B Dragon Eye, which the U.S. Navy was reported to have “failed to integrate” on the Zumwalts.
In addition to advanced radars, the Type 055 also carries torpedoes and can carry two helicopters: the Harbin Z-9 and the Changhe Z-18.
Read the original article on Business Insider
