IDEX 2017: Chinese Navy to acquire new trimaran hull frigate

Triton

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IDEX 2017: Chinese Navy to acquire new trimaran hull frigate
Richard D Fisher Jr, Abu Dhabi - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
21 February 2017


Source:
http://www.janes.com/article/67930/idex-2017-chinese-navy-to-acquire-new-trimaran-hull-frigate

The China Shipbuilding Trading Corporation (CSSC) has revealed a new trimaran-hulled frigate concept at the IDEX show held in Abu Dhabi, telling Jane's that a version was being built for China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

The trimaran vessel, as displayed by CSSC at IDEX. (Richard D Fisher Jr)The trimaran vessel, as displayed by CSSC at IDEX. (Richard D Fisher Jr)

The specifications provided by CSSC for the trimaran vessel state that it displaces 2,450 tonnes, has a length of 142 m, a width of 32.6 m, a cruising speed of 25 kt, and an endurance of 30 days. A CSSC official added that its top speed is between 30-35 kt and that it has a crew of more than 100.

CSSC officials said the vessel uses diesel engines that power a "marine electric propulsion system" that in turn drive three pump jets. It does not have a secondary propeller propulsion system.

Although lighter than China's Type 054A frigate, the trimaran carries a similar armament of one 76 mm main gun, vertical launch tubes for 16 or 32 missiles, eight anti-ship missile launchers, two close-in weapon systems, and hangar space for two helicopters.

CSSC also revealed a concept for a 700 tonne derivative of the PLAN's Type 022 catamaran fast attack craft (FAC). It is armed with a 76 mm gun and four anti-ship missile launchers. CSSC officials said the PLAN has so far shown no interest in this version and there are no plans to build it.
 
Source:
http://slide.mil.news.sina.com.cn/h/slide_8_203_48662.html#p=1
 

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If they build them from steel and put some decent weapons on them, nobody can cry "copy". ;)
 
gTg said:
If they build them from steel and put some decent weapons on them, nobody can cry "copy". ;)

If they only drive it at 25 knots, people will wonder why they bothered with a trimaran. -
 
sferrin said:
Where have I seen that before? ::)

This is only a model...and this model has A LOT of differences to what you are trying to infer as usual...
The bridge, helo deck, rear and front outer pontoons, rear and front hull, superstructure, a very different length to beam ratio, and from the press release, a different main propulsion generation set....about the only thing similar is the rough trimaran configuration.
How many different ways do people think a trimaran frigate sized vessel can be made to look?? ???

China has been testing trimaran layouts in any event for years now....this discussion below from 6 years ago.
http://warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/reply/253560/Re-A-clearer-photo-of-the-China-Navy-trimaran#.WMHHgfnyjIU
 

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TomS said:
gTg said:
If they build them from steel and put some decent weapons on them, nobody can cry "copy". ;)

If they only drive it at 25 knots, people will wonder why they bothered with a trimaran. -

From the original posts press release:

The specifications provided by CSSC for the trimaran vessel state that it displaces 2,450 tonnes, has a length of 142 m, a width of 32.6 m, a cruising speed of 25 kt, and an endurance of 30 days. A CSSC official added that its top speed is between 30-35 kt.
 
Still, performance well with reach on a monohull without heroic efforts.
 
Triton said:
Is the PLAN bound for the Persian Gulf and getting ready to encounter Iranian boat swarms?

TomS said:
gTg said:
If they build them from steel and put some decent weapons on them, nobody can cry "copy". ;)

If they only drive it at 25 knots, people will wonder why they bothered with a trimaran. -
Triton said:
Is the PLAN bound for the Persian Gulf and getting ready to encounter Iranian boat swarms?


The chief advantage of a trimaran layout is not the speed potential, but the huge aft deck area.

Don't be so much influenced by what the USN does and asserts.
There's a whole world out there, and the USN has gotten little right with less than an avoidable 10-20 year delay for about 30 years.
 
The specs indicate an aluminum ship.

Chinese LCS
length: 140M
beam: 33M
displacement: 2500 tons (assumed to be empty)

Independence Class LCS
length: 130M
beam: 32M
displacement: 2300 tons (empty)

The 25Kts top speed probably indicates the lack of a marine gas turbine.

As for originality, here is someone else's trimaran concept. It should be noted that even two American contractors responding to the same RFP wound up with totally different designs.
 

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That last image is VT's Cerberus. It's a slower, steel vessel. Note that the side hulls are shorter and closer to amidships. This is a better position for "medium" speed trimarans. High speed trimarans are best off with long, very slim, side hulls positioned as far aft as possible (it's a compromise between resistance, seakeeping and layout). Cerberus also did clever things with pods (Z-drives really) to get a higher propulsive coefficient, but that only applies to propeller-driven trimarans, designs with waterjets aft can actually have worse PCs due to the waterjet diameter being limited by the narrow hulls - "depends".

Although TomS is quite correct that 35 knots is easily within the reach of a monohull corvette, the ride and seakeeping should be better with a trimaran. "should"

For smaller vessels such as corvettes, apart from speed the main reasons for going with a monohull are deck area and survivability - if you have a large internal mission bay then, in a trimaran, it can be located high enough to not endanger the ship if damaged (the monohull LCS ran into this problem, surprising exactly no-one). The downside is that the the underside of the box cross-structure can experience slamming in higher sea states - this is why the *overall* seakeeping of a smaller trimaran may not be much better than a monohull - you might gain on one aspect and loose out on another.

RP1
 

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