China's PLAN Type 075 LHD

China’s Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard to Launch New Ship on Wednesday

"China's Hudong Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai is expected to launch a new ship on Wednesday. Some military observers believe it could be China's second Type 075 amphibious assault ship.

A new ship built by the Hudong Zhonghua company will undock from 1:20 pm to 2:50 pm on Wednesday, and a water area of 1,500 meters long and 350 meters wide near the dock will be restricted for navigation, according to a navigation notice released on the website of the Maritime Safety Administration of China on Monday.

The notice did not specify the type of the ship."


 
China’s Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard to Launch New Ship on Wednesday

"China's Hudong Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai is expected to launch a new ship on Wednesday. Some military observers believe it could be China's second Type 075 amphibious assault ship.

A new ship built by the Hudong Zhonghua company will undock from 1:20 pm to 2:50 pm on Wednesday, and a water area of 1,500 meters long and 350 meters wide near the dock will be restricted for navigation, according to a navigation notice released on the website of the Maritime Safety Administration of China on Monday.

The notice did not specify the type of the ship."



 
China’s Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard to Launch New Ship on Wednesday

"China's Hudong Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai is expected to launch a new ship on Wednesday. Some military observers believe it could be China's second Type 075 amphibious assault ship.

A new ship built by the Hudong Zhonghua company will undock from 1:20 pm to 2:50 pm on Wednesday, and a water area of 1,500 meters long and 350 meters wide near the dock will be restricted for navigation, according to a navigation notice released on the website of the Maritime Safety Administration of China on Monday.

The notice did not specify the type of the ship."




Lets hope that nothing goes wrong with the new type 075. Surely lightning can’t strike twice.
 
As expected ...






 
Here an even better video from the launch:

 
How many ships would it take to lift a PLA armoured or mechanised division?
 
Probably trying to get the US out of the supercarrier business. (j/k) But how many dumb politicians & pacifists will latch onto this and start pontificating about how we should replace them with baby carriers armed with drones?

Welcome to the future.
 
How many ships would it take to lift a PLA armoured or mechanised division?

That's an interesting question... But there's no open source mention of such capability or even an analysis attempt. So let me try.

PLA armored division was made out of two armored brigades worth of units. It's smaller than a US armored division, though each PLA brigade on its own may be bigger than the equivalent US armored brigade. PLA armored division was usually quoted at 10 to 11 thousand troops in late 90s. Since then there were various reorganizations but that's the last figure I know of. We know that later the PLA divisions were usually split to independent brigades and that 2 armored brigades would appear out of the previous 1 armored division.

To compare, we have an example of US 1st armored division being transported by ships in 2003, for the Invasion of Iraq. That was a large unit with 16 500 troops. 3 armored brigades, 1 combat aviation brigade, an artillery unit and a sustainment brigade. It had over 6000 pieces of large/heavy equipment. 9 large or medium ships were used to sealift all that stuff.
USNS Watking, a 63 000 ton ship
USNS Mendonca, a 62 000 ton ship
USNS Gilliland, a 65 000 ton ship
MV Catherine, a 21 000 ton ship
MV Asian Vision, a 55 000 ton ship
MV Jolly Turchese, a 39 000 ton ship
MV Skodsborg, a 15 000 ton ship
MV Thebeland, a 21 000 ton ship
MV Cape Diamond, a 29 000 ton ship

It took roughly 2 weeks from starting to load the first ship to finishing loading the last ship. The bigger ships were loaded over a period of 3 days. And since we're talking about huge ships, a single port was not sufficient (with all the commercial cargo as well), so it was done in two ports. (Rotterdam and Antwerp)

So 9 ships with overall tonnage of 370 000 tons for one large armored division.

As said, as PLA division equivalents are smaller, fewer ships would likely be needed. But likely still 5-7 ships, depending on their size, with total tonnage of 240 000 tons.

Going off topic even a little further, here are some quotes about PLA transport capabilities over time.
In 2006 Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense estimated that with mobilized civilian lift, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could transport five to six divisions of troops to Taiwan.
In early 2014 an Asian government source told IHS Jane's that with combined military-civil transport, the PLA could move eight to 12 divisions to Taiwan.
 
totoro Thank you. The US figures were to a friendly port in a friendly country with handling equipment intact. An opposed movement to Taiwan would be a somewhat more difficult undertaking.
 
Worth noting that the ships mentioned for the movement of 1st Armored are dedicated vehicle cargo (ro-ro) ships. They have in the vicinity of 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of cargo space each. Amphibious assault ships like the Type 075 LHD or the companion Type 071 LPH usually have in the vicinity of 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) each. They are simply not designed for carrying large heavy forces.
 
Well, the question did not specify what kind of ships. Of course, an amphibious assault by proper amphibious ships will transport much less stuff. It'd probably 6-8 or so large amphibious assault ships that US uses to transport an equivalent of a single armored brigade. (one of LHD, LPD and LSD each carry/land 2200 troops of marine expeditionary unit with equipment and supplies) Same limitations would apply to any country, including China. There's a huge difference between landing something on a beach, ready to fight right away, and landing the same unit in a port, to be assembled for action later on.

Anyway, this is all getting a bit off topic.
 
I think my question is relevent. The number and capability of PLAN amphibious shipping is being treated as if it matches US capabilities. It clearly does not. Moreover the US has WW2 and Korean experience of forced antry and over 70 years experience of unopposed sealift. China has zilch.
 
I think my question is relevent. The number and capability of PLAN amphibious shipping is being treated as if it matches US capabilities. It clearly does not. Moreover the US has WW2 and Korean experience of forced antry and over 70 years experience of unopposed sealift. China has zilch.

The US is on the other side of the Pacific and not all ships are available for combat at a moments notice. China will intend to keep all ships it produces active as a show of presence in the region and to also put pressure on its neighbors. They are engaging in a very concerning naval build-up.
 
Her island looks very like HMS Ocean. Capable looking ships.
 

Catapults and Arresting gears on a LHD o_O

gimme a break... the chinese put a miniature EMALS on a LHD to launch drones - because it would take too long to develop a VSTOL F-35 look-alike ?

My mind is blown.

That's a whole new take at the "escort carrier" &"CVL" concepts harcking back to WWII... weird idea. Time will tell if there is any pertinence to it, or if it was just an idiotic move...
 
That's a whole new take at the "escort carrier" &"CVL" concepts harcking back to WWII... weird idea. Time will tell if there is any pertinence to it, or if it was just an idiotic move
Sounds perfect for flying Sino-Predators off the coast of Somalia or whatever for antipiracy and counterterrorism operations.
 

Catapults and Arresting gears on a LHD o_O

gimme a break... the chinese put a miniature EMALS on a LHD to launch drones - because it would take too long to develop a VSTOL F-35 look-alike ?

My mind is blown.

That's a whole new take at the "escort carrier" &"CVL" concepts harcking back to WWII... weird idea. Time will tell if there is any pertinence to it, or if it was just an idiotic move...

hmm looking at those pics of the first and 2nd and third ones, theres nothing on the flight deck that looks like EMALS or any other catapult system.

as for CVL WWII ships, they do kind of look alike right? especially that super straight rectangular flight deck.

tbh, the LHD is more interesting to me than the Shandong or Liaoning since this design is from the bottom up a new and unique Chinese design.
 
Finally a model of China's new LHD project, the Type 075.

Said to displace 36,000 tonnes and operate 28 helicopters, under construction at Shanghai' Hudong-Zhonghua shipyards since late 2016.
Going by the model, it looks like the 075 will have a good self-defence capability, unlike most Western LHD's.

Regards
Pioneer
 
That's a whole new take at the "escort carrier" &"CVL" concepts harcking back to WWII... weird idea. Time will tell if there is any pertinence to it, or if it was just an idiotic move
Sounds perfect for flying Sino-Predators off the coast of Somalia or whatever for antipiracy and counterterrorism operations.
LOL. Or performing amphibious assaults on Taiwan, "escorting" "fishing" boats, etc.
 
Something puzzles me: the "thickness" of the flight deck edge; how angular it is. On western similar ship it seems to me to be more rounded. That deck edge by contrast looks like a thick, squared brick.
No idea if that's a significant detail or not.
 
Something puzzles me: the "thickness" of the flight deck edge; how angular it is. On western similar ship it seems to me to be more rounded. That deck edge by contrast looks like a thick, squared brick.
No idea if that's a significant detail or not.
i cant remember off the top of my head at the moment
but there were some other LHDs, also recent, that used that flat thick square edge. im surprised its not more angled to be more aerodynamic
 
At 21 kt it probably doesn't lake a large difference... still perplexed by that detail.
 
Koreas next ship seems to have the same flat square

ROK_Navy_LPX-II_aircraft_carrier.jpg
 

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