The Dragon Enters the Bear’s Den

Two Chinese naval ships vis­ited the Russian port city of St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland on August 27. This is believed to be the first time that a Chinese war­ship has vis­ited the one-​​time Russian cap­i­tal, which remains the coun­trys sec­ond city and a major port, naval cen­ter, and ship­build­ing cen­ter of Russia.

The Peoples Liberation Armys mis­sile destroyer Guangzhou and the replen­ish­ment ship Weishanhu are on an 87-​​day cruise that is also tak­ing them to ports in Britain, France, and Spain. The two ships are under the com­mand of Vice Admiral Su Zhiqian, the deputy com­man­der of the South Sea Fleet. (The PLA Navy is divided into three fleets — the North, East, and South Sea Fleets.)

The two ships, expected to travel some 23,000 nau­ti­cal miles on their cruise, are among Chinas most mod­ern naval units. The cruise appar­ently has a dual mis­sion — train­ing for the offi­cers and enlisted men, and demon­strat­ing the increas­ing naval capa­bil­i­ties of China.

The Guangzhouwas built in China, being com­pleted in 2004. She is a multi-​​purpose destroyer, with anti-​​air, anti-​​submarine, and anti-​​ship weapons. A heli­copter is embarked in the ship, which has a full load dis­place­ment of 6,500 tons. It is sig­nif­i­cant that the Guangzhou is a Chinese-​​built ship and not one of the four Russian-​​built Sovremennyy-​​class mis­sile destroy­ers deliv­ered to China from 1999 to 2006.

The Weishanhu, a 22,000-ton replen­ish­ment ship com­pleted in 2005, can trans­fer fuel, pro­vi­sions, and muni­tions while under­way to ships along­side or astern. She, too, has a heli­copter capability.

– Norman Polmar

August 31st, 2007 | Eye on China | 370817 Comments »http://defensetech.org/2007/08/31/the-dragon-enters-the-bears-den/The+Dragon+Enters+the+Bear%27s+Den2007-08-31+11%3A18%3A30Ward You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.